Team:Calgary/Public Engagement/IB Curriculum
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: IB CURRICULUM
IB Synthetic Biology and Research Applications
This lesson plan includes five units - four for standard-level IB students and one for higher-level IB students. Although this curriculum plan provides only an outline of the topics which should be covered in class, it showcases a variety of topics pertinent to synthetic biology right now and serves as a great framework to build upon.
Unit 1: Synthetic Biology - An Overview
- What is Synthetic Biology?
- Creating gene circuits/pathways and analyzing their parts
- Interdisciplinary approach to synthetic biology: bioinformatics, software, and engineering
- Importance of Public outreach and communication
- Future applications of biology and biotechnology
Unit 2: Bioethics and Research
- What is bioethics?
- Ethical restrictions on research
- Ethics analysis and assessment
- Biosafety and Biosecurity - the control of biological material
- Case Studies on past ethical problems
Unit 3: Medical Applications
- Biomarkers: production, recognition, and utilization
- Reporters: Genes, aptamers
- Detection of pathogens and mutants
- Gene therapy: insertions/deletions, insulators, enhancers
- Stem cells and gene engineering
- Engineering the microbiome: prokaryotic medicine
Unit 4: Building a Better World
- Food and Nutrition: cryoprotection, nutrient production
- Environment: Crop yield and ecosystem health
- Biosensors and bioremediation
- Electricity production
- Space tools, carbon utilization, and synthetic tissues
Unit 5: Biological tools and techniques
- CRISPR: origin, applications, modifications
- PCRs, gels, and blots
- Bacterial growth and manipulation
- Genome sequencing
- NCBI and other research databases
- Protein analysis
- Sequence analysis