Team:SCU-China/practice/education

Team:SCU-China - 2018

Education & Public
01. Indigo bakit

Indigo is an ancient dye, which has a critical application today. As one of the parts of our project, we hope to learn more about this dye. Considering that the dye used in traditional Hmong batik is indigo, we visited a Xiangxi batik workshop from August 20th to 21st, 2018.
A. About Batik
Batik is the ancient folk traditional textile printing and dying craft in China. After dyeing with blue enamel, it is dyed with wax, and the cloth surface has various patterns of blue-white or white-blue flowers. At the same time, in the dip dyeing, the wax as a dyeing agent is naturally cracked, which makes the cloth surface have a unique ice pattern. It is simple, generous, fresh and pleasing, and has ethnic minority characteristics.

（Fig1. Xiangxi Bakit craft）
B. About Indigo
Indigo is a blue dye that was used by ancient people to dye and coat many years ago. With the advancement of technology, indigo has been mainly used in the dying of denim fabrics in recent years. Generally, indigo is chemically synthesized on an industrial scale from aniline. We often need to use sodium dithionite as a reducing agent in the process. However, sodium dithionite decomposes to form sulfate and sulfite which can corrode equipment in dye mills and wastewater treatment facilities.

(Fig2. Indigo production process)
People began to search for new indigo synthesis methods that are more consistent with the concept of sustainability. Among them, the method of biosynthesis of indigo is a promising alternative synthesis method. The biosynthesis way has the advantages: first of all, it’s easy. Second, it solves the problem of storage and transportation of indigo. Indigo would fail after a long-term storage, while long-term indican remain stable. This makes it possible to transport indican over long distances without deterioration in dyes instead of traditional complex methods. This also brings new vitality to the batik process. Third, since the cells have been broken before it was used to dye, and E. coli is less pathogenic to the human body, we can guarantee that this method is sufficiently safe. Finally, our project provides an idea for the synthesis of indigo. We hope that later researchers will be able to find some better ways to synthesize indigo on our basis. We can’t decrease the needs of indigo, but we try to use syn-biologic way to produce it in a more environmental-friendly way.
C. About the interview

（Fig3. One of Mr. Shi’s works.）
During the interview, we asked the personal experience of the craftsman Shi Jiezhong, Mr. Shi, and the opportunity for him to embark on the batik craft road. Also, we also asked Mr. Shi about the primary process of batik and learned that the traditional batik dye indigo was extracted from plant bluegrass. From his perspective, Mr. Shi also helped us analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of chemical dyes and pure natural dyes. “Plant dyes and chemical dyes have their advantages, and the effects of their products are not the same,” said Mr. Shi. Mr. Shi's method of making indigo is the traditional method. The raw material he uses is Polygonum tinctorium, which means he needs to take a long time to produce a standard-compliant dye. Our project just solves the problem of obtaining dyes, which gives the art of batik more possibility. After the interview, we helped Mr. Shi to teach the pupils to make some Bakit crafts. In this part, we learned how to dye the cotton further. We discussed the practicality with Mr. Shi, but we didn’t get any useful information because he can’t understand our project clearly. However, we get to know that we still have a long way to go to let more public know syn-biology. We must not only carry forward the spirit of sublation in this process but also should always think about the possibility of combining traditional art with emerging science. The topic of this SCU-iGEM research competition represents a bold attempt by the members of the association and steadfast love of ethnic minority culture. We hope that this topic will be a meaningful exploration and give a new possibility to traditional culture.

（Fig5. One of SCU-iGEM members takes a photo with Mr. Shi Jizhong.）


02.Class in CUIT Summer Camp

In order to popularize our project and strengthen the connection with the public, we carried out the exchange activities with the summer camp students of Chengdu University of Information Technology. They came to Sichuan University to obtain more knowledge about life science. And we hoped to introduce the concept of synthetic biology to junior high school students, as well as to find a better way for public education. In the activity, we presented the basic regulatory logic of CRISPR -programmer and explained the way to use sgRNA to regulate downstream gene expression. One of the students was very interested and asked:"Is it possible to make the regulation quantified?" Our answer was yes. We explained that different levels of repression can be achieved by regulating the base distance between the parent promoters and the PAM sites. Although the students had little knowledge of synthetic biology, they showed a great interest, a strong curiosity and good acceptance for CRISPR -programmer. And their understanding of CRISPR -programmer got off the ground.
Then, we presented the application of CRISPR -programmer that we transformed specific genes into Escherichia coli to produce indigo. In this way, we can solve the pollution problem of chemical synthesizing indigo and the engineering E.coli which can produce indigo was called Endigo by us. After we explained the principles and methods of Endigo, one of the students questioned the production cost of it. This was a very good question. For industrial promotion, we have to think about the cost as well as the feasibility in laboratory. In fact, the price of indigo produced by our engineered E.coli was estimated to be lower than that of traditional chemical plants' products. So our Endigo is a very good choice. As we can see, Endigo is a pretty good option. However, one of the students also put forward his concern. Will people accept the biological way of modifying bacteria to produce indigo and color their clothes? As for the worry of this student, our team had considered carefully before. There is a fact that yogurt, lactobacillus beverage and other microbiological commodities have been benefiting the society for a long period of time. People have been no longer "talking about bacterial face goes pale". Our project is equipped with appropriate biosecurity, has a promising prospect utilization and it can be accepted by the public for sure. To make our project understood and accepted by more people was exactly the purpose of our public education. We also developed a course on gene routing design and guided the students to utilize synthetic biology method to solve existing problems. This course was very popular with them. One of the students, referring to our idea of Endigo, proposed that we should use E.coli to synthesize other industrial products, like improving the way of paper making and solving the problem of organic matter pollution in paper mills. It was difficult for us to give a perfect answer to this question. But we were glad to see the students being inspired by our project and trying to use synthetic biology to solve some problems.
We encouraged all students to continue to learn more about the relevant knowledge of what they are interested in, which may be the beginning of their journey towards synthetic biology.
Through this activity, we have gained a good experience of popularizing CRISPR -programmer and Endigo to those who have no scientific research experience. We hope that our project can be known and accepted by more people. The students' interest in and identification with our project greatly increased our confidence in our project, and we are of strong confidence for the spread of synthetic biology among students.


03. ACMA

In 2018, we held the Sichuan University 2018 Architects Competition of Microorganism Application (SCU_ACMA), which is a theoretical design competition sponsored by the College of Life Sciences of Sichuan University and SCU_iGEM. ACMA draws on the scientific research thinking of iGEM and encourages students to utilize various subjects’ knowledge to solve problems in real life. It provides a platform for students to develop their innovative ability, broaden their academic horizons and learn about the frontier of science.

Fig.1 Oral examination in preliminary competition
The theme of this competition was microbiology and industrial production. Each group is supposed to envision and design their projects, and finally participate in the oral examination. After the preliminary competition, 7 teams were chosen to attend the final. After their examination, the students of Sichuan Agricultural University and Sichuan University of Science & Engineering also showed their ideas at the final. More than 10 professors attended as judges, who scored based on the feasibility, innovation, degree of completion and prospect of the project. After the final examination, one gold medal, two silver awards and four bronze awards were issued. Abstracts of projects awarded Gold and Silver are listed as followed:

Fig2: Participants in the final examination

Fig 3: Participant in the final examination

Fig 4: Group photo of participants and organizers
In addition, SCU_iGEMers shared the idea of ACMA and the content of the competition with other iGEMers at CCiC. Many teams expressed their willingness to participate in such a competition and hoped to hold similar competitions in their schools, so this year we wrote a guide on ACMA for other teams’ reference.


How to organize a subject design competition about synthetic biology

Sichuan University-Architects Competition of Microorganism Application (SCU-ACMA) is a purely theoretical design competition hosted by college of life sciences of Sichuan university and organized by SCU-iGEM. It aims to develop students' academic horizons and cultivate students' independent research capabilities. SCU-ACMA provides students with a platform to develop innovative ability, open up academic horizons and approach the frontiers of science, encourages students to use the knowledge learned in various disciplines to solve real problems and explore unknown areas based on the scientific research methods of the international genetic engineering machine design competition.
A. significance
Considering undergraduate teaching situation and students’ academic abilities, SCU-iGEM encourages students to discover problems and propose solutions through accessing literature or other forms of research. In this way, students can promote capabilities of analyzing and sorting out kinds of information, learning from these information, as well as co-operating with others. In this competition, SCU-iGEM introduces the knowledge of synthetic biology to the participants and encourage them to apply the knowledge into the project design. SCU-ACMA is competition taking iGEM as a prototype through which we believe that students can have a profound thought of iGEM.
B．content
These contests are purely theoretical design competitions. The theme of the competition can be determined by the iGEM team leader based on the team's project in this year. Students are supposed to design and promote a project using synthetic biological methods according to the theme this year, and eventually take part in the presentation. Participants are required to submit application only. These competitions focus more on the teams’ innovation, projects’ feasibility, project application prospect and so on.
C. Process
The whole competition cycle is about five months and can be divided into the following sections in general:
  1. competition preparation (about 15d)
  2. competition initiation (about 3d)
  3. team registration (about 6d after the consultation)
  4. academic salon (about 10d after the signing up)
  5. project submitting (about 30d after the signing up)
  6. preliminaries (about 10d after the signing up)
  7. final contest (about 3m after the preliminaries)
  8. closing ceremony (together with final contest)
Followings are methods about how to hold a competition from these 8 parts. This guide concludes experience and main process of us. We encourage other teams who want to hold these kinds competitions to jump out of the existing frames and hold synthetic biological project design competitions with own features.
  1. competition preparation
    1. Determination of the competition theme. The theme can be related to the team’s project in this year, and organizer should guarantee to provide enough space for the rest of students.
    2. Formulation of competition rules. Pay attention to the comprehensiveness of the rules and the fairness of the competition. Please refer to the iGEM competition rules and correct some details to better match the team's actual situation.
    3. Preparation for competition promotion. The team can design a unique logo for the competition and prepare for the promotion of the competition, such as: design of competition posters and flyers and other work.
    4. Collaboration with other teams. This competition can be co-organized with other teams.
    5. Writing of the copy: You can write the notification template that may be needed before and after the competition, the invitation template sent to the judges, etc., so that you can improve your work efficiency after the start of the competition. In addition, it is strongly recommended that the team write a detailed text version of the competition plan before the competition as a reference.
    6. Contact the judges of the competition in advance.
    7. Find the appropriate notification method. After the game starts, we need a contact channel for the contestant. This can be email, SMS or social software.
  2. competition initializaiton
    1. Competition promotion: To let enough people know and participate in this competition, it is necessary to promote the competition in the school and attract students to participate. The promotion is mainly divided into two parts: online and offline. Offline promotion. By setting up consultation points and sending posters on the crowded squares, more people can understand the game. Online promotion. Send promotional copies, such as mass mailings via the Internet.
    2. Funny small games. Organize small games at the consultation point to attract students to understand the game.
    3. Students may not be able to get enough information of the competition, such as the detailed rules and schedule of the competition. We can gather the students who have already signed up or are interested in the competition, explain the rules of the competition to them, and introduce the knowledge of synthetic biology as well as the iGEM team. More details about this part are in the academic salon.
  3. team registration
    1. Provide registration opportunities for students who are interested in participating in the competition.
    2. Gather data of the participating teams.
    3. Publish the registration results. (pay attention to protect the privacy of the participating players.)
  4. academic salon
    1. Determine the contents. The contents can include the introduction of this competition and rules, sharing of projects and introduction of excellent projects in the past years.
    2. Contact lectures. We are supposed to contact proper students or teachers according to the projects determined this year.
    3. Rent a site. Rent a site according to the number of participants. The site with multimedia equipment is recommended.
    4. Contact people besides students and teachers. Invite all who are interested in the iGEM and project design to take part in the salon.
  5. project submission
    1. Provide the time for the enrolment teams to design the projects, and let them submit their own topic design within the specified time.
    2. After the deadline for submission, the information submitted by each group will be counted.
    3. Gather the projects and transfer them to the judges. After the end of the screening, inform the relevant teams to prepare for the preliminaries in time. The judges can be the captains of the previous and current iGEM competition teams and teachers in the relevant fields. The selection of the subject design is mainly to eliminate the project designs which are completely irrelevant.
  6. preliminary
    We suggest that the form of the preliminary can be the show of PPT and answering questions. Specific rules and forms can refer to the form in the giant jamboree. The main processes are as follows:
    1. Preparation. Determine the time and site in the early preparation. Arrange personnel to complete a variety of copywriting work. Notify the teams to arrive on time by SMS or email and so on. If there are foreign school personnel, prepare the seats in advance. Arrange the reception personnel according to the actual situation. According to the time of the staff, arrange the scheduling on site.
    2. Fieldwork. It is suggested that personnel should be arranged at the scene for scoring, timing and management of materials.
    3. After the preliminary, some teams are eliminated according to the actual situation, and the teams that has been promoted can be given about three months to further improve the subject.
  7. final contest
    The form are as the same as the preliminary, but much more formal. It is recommended to invite a famous professor to give a speech in the opening ceremony and encourage all who are interested in this competition to take part in. The main processes are as follows: The opening speech of the host→ introducing judges→ the opening speech of the teacher→the introduction of the competition process by the represent of the judges→ defense (every team has 20min including 15min for show of the PPT and 5min for answering)→ judges comment on the designs→ awarding ceremony.
  8. closing ceremony
    1. Rent a site. After the determination of the time of closing ceremony and the number of participants.
    2. Contact participants. Inform the teams, students and teachers to attend the closing ceremony.
    3. The contents. They include this year's team presentation, other team presentation, excellent presentation, awarding ceremony, competition summary and so on.
D. Evaluation criteria
It is suggested that we can evaluate a project from these aspects:
a) Project feasibility: to be able to consult the literature independently and engage in other forms of research, can better understand the task and put forward a reasonable implementation plan, and have the ability to analyze and organize all kinds of information and obtain new knowledge from it.
b) project innovation: the project embodies the innovative thinking, and the design method is innovative and original.
c) project perfection: the project is well designed and can be directly applied to experiments.
d) application prospect: the project can well reflect social hot issues at present, and come up with a perfect solution to the problem.
e) Project display: PPT or exhibition board effect; clear and fluent expression, scientific and rigorous elaboration of project contents and issues; reasonable time control.
Besides, to improve the attraction of this competition, it is suggested that the host can set a generous reward.
SCU_China 2018 iGEM Team