Team:IIT Delhi/Public Engagement
School Visits
The best learning takes place at school! iGEM IIT Delhi saw the standard textbooks studied by most of the students in India and we found that they were woefully lacking in knowledge regarding Synthetic Biology. To popularise Synthetic Biology as well as broaden the scientific know-how of students, the team visited 6 schools in Delhi -
- Sanskriti School, Chanakyapuri
- Modern School, Barakhamba Road
- Bloom Public School, Vasant Kunj
- Carmel Convent School, Chanakyapuri
- Springdale School, Dhaula Kuan
- Balbharti School, Pitampura
The sessions were highly dynamic and interactive . We kicked off with a mock quiz on biology. This was followed by hands-on experience in DNA isolation and bacterial streaking on LA plates. Kids were really excited working with micropipettes. Our team members also guided them regarding future opportunities in field as well as what to expect in the SynBio life. Since synthetic biology is relatively unknown in India, the team also gave an insight into the groundbreaking research in the field. We talked about our project and the possible technologies that could be revolutionised by its development. The session was concluded with a formal Q/A and the team talking about making a career in the field of biology.
Each year 1200 undergraduate and postgraduate students come to IIT Delhi. The much awaited Tour of stalls i.e. the annual club orientation is one of the most happening events on their arrival. iGEM IIT Delhi, being the premier synthetic biology club, ensured exposure towards engineering biology, more importantly focussing on the multidisciplinary aspect of the club. An iGEM introductory video was also shown. The students were fascinated by the potential applications of synthetic biology. Our tour of stalls was so successful that many freshers from diverse backgrounds approached us wanting to enroll in the club. With a very heavy heart we had to tell them that we will hold our recruitment drives next year. However seeing the excitement and wonder in their eyes made us appreciate the fact that what we do is seriously cool.
NIN 100 is a common course for the fresh entrants of IIT Delhi, it has a very important role to play in terms of informing and arousing interest among the students. Students learn about the exciting work being done in various disciplines of engineering and entrepreneurship opportunities. iGEM IIT Delhi prides itself on being counted in the proud company of speakers like Prof Ramgopal Rao, pratyush kumar(Boeing India VP), Pankaj Chaddha(Zomato Founder and CEO) and many more. Professors and around 900 undergraduate students attended the orientation. The main objective was to introduce students to synthetic biology, enlighten them about the futuristic technologies in the field and encourage them to research in the field. An emphasis was also laid on the impact these technologies have an in our day to day lives. We also held an 30 minutes long Q/A session where we discussed our current project and foundational science behind it. We were afraid to make it to technical but the enthusiasm from students across all departments be it CS or Biotechnology made us bold and we went into an astonishing amount of depth.
Tryst is IIT Delhi’s flagship annual technical festival. It seeks to bring leading scientific minds and budding enthusiasts from all across the country for one extravaganza. Tryst witnesses a footfall of over 40,000 annually. iGEM IIT Delhi had a stall in the central dias during the event and conducted an innovative Treasure Hunt event titled ‘Biomaniacs’ It was a brainstorming treasure hunt which was based biotechnology, its applications and history. The hunt had teams of participants racing through the sprawling IIT Delhi campus finding clues to see who could win the hunt. One of the participants had so much fun , he ended up joining the igem team. The event had an amazing response and saw participation from dozens of teams from multiple colleges.
iGEM IIT Delhi held a seminar for the entire batch of first-year students of DBEB. The students were introduced to the field of synthetic biology and were told about its tremendous potential. The students along with supervisors were given a guided tour of the lab by our team. They were familiarised with the equipment in the lab as well as necessary safety precautions and best practices of the lab They enjoyed the DIY approach and the hands-on experience of various simple processes like agarose gel electrophoresis, streaking and spreading. Kshitij Rai - our adviser and an integral team member recently got accepted for a PhD program in Rice University in Texas, he guided students regarding the vast research opportunities in Synthetic Biology . The students were enthused about synthetic biology as a career option as the event ended.
To gather funds for our 2018 iGEM project, we set up an innovative crowdfunding page on Ketto. The site provided us with a platform to interact with different people, who are interested in our research and provide them with an insight into our project and its potential applications and receive their valuable feedback. It also helped us establish a marketing platform. We are very thankful to our 21 supporters who helped us and whose support encouraged us in this endeavour.
Open house is an annual exhibition event in IIT Delhi. IIT has been conducting it for the past 13 years and it aims to provide an insight into path-breaking research work and projects of students and professors in IIT Delhi. This year it was conducted on 22nd April. ‘iGEM IIT Delhi’ has been participating since the past four years and this time it was a real treat to the eyes of the connoisseurs. We presented our project to technology enthusiasts, students and colleagues from other technical Institutes, school children, industries and the general public. We also introduced them to synthetic biology and iGEM. It was a great motivation and encouragement to the students, colleagues, and school students to develop a greater interest in the field of Synthetic Biology. We also loved talking to people from all sorts of backgrounds regarding Biotechnology and the promises it holds.
Contact us
Address
Undergraduate Laboratory
Department of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering, IIT Delhi