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From 2011.igem.org

Human Practices

Contents

Public Outreach

Live-Lab

Advice to a Future Modeller

Letters to Companies

University Open Day

iGEM Protocol Guide

Introduction to Human Practices

A big part of synthetic biology is all about being aware of how the science is being perceived by the public. For example, it is important for us to be aware of whether our project is seen as interesting, confusing or even frightening to members of the public without scientific training. Based on feedback we can then convey information in an accessible manner, that can develop interest, expand understanding or allay fears as necessary.

Throughout our project we maintained a twitter account, regular video-logs (which are available on youtube) and one member of our team has been keeping an honest blog on the Life Sciences of Scotland website about her experiences with iGEM.

We also maintained a stop-motion camera operating in the lab. This was partly for allowing people to keep track of what we'd been up to during the day; and also partly because it's incredibly fun to watch a sped up version of yourself tearing around a lab - performing science at break-neck speed, whilst still observing all the safety protocols!

Another thing to keep in mind is that public presence is not just for the benefit of the general public. Through use of directed feedback, it also has some genuine implications for keeping a project relevant, ideas for future applications cohesive and a beleaguered iGEM team motivated!

To that end, we've undertaken a number of different approaches to establish contact between ourselves and parties that we believe might have a vested interest in our final product. These include questionnaires sent to several companies - including NASA and our attendance at a University open day. Attendance at the open day generated feedback from new scientists about our project, including how accessible they found the research and any potential uses they thought it could have.

Public outreach

Click the icons below to visit our Twitter and Youtube accounts, as well as Ellin's blog. A summary of all our video logs can be found on our Team Diary page or by clicking on the youtube account link below.

The video logs were made every week so that we could give everyone an insight into what it's like to do iGEM. It gave information about the team in a highly accessible and technologically relevant format; and best of all - it allowed us to communicate with people outside the lab in a more personal manner compared with a lab book.

Check out our Twitter feed for date specific information on our successes and our 'almost-but-not-quite' successes of the project.

Interested in a personal video log of each week of the project? Each of the 9 recorded weeks were summarised by a different team member.

Interested in seeing the weekly changes in an iGEMer? Why not take a look at Ellin's personal blog on the Life-Sciences of Scotland website.

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Live-lab

We recorded a time-lapse video every day at the lab. This one sums up all of Week 3. The video is posted on youtube so the whole world can have a look at what working in a synthetic biology laboratory is really like, though we are of course working so fast that the naked eye can hardly see!

One of the main purposes for making this video was to give the public the chance to get a look inside an actual laboratory, an experience that many scientists take for granted. We hope that this time-lapse video helps to alleviate some of mystery surrounding life in the lab.

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Advice to future modeller

Michal our biologist turned mathematical modeller put together a useful guide for future modellers giving some handy advice and practical experience in straight forward language he says "even a biologist could understand!" Be sure to check it out HERE

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Engauging Industries

As we began to see different methods for putting our project to use in industry it seemed like a good idea to get in contact with the individuals already in those industries and have them gauge how ground-breaking our new ideas would be.

A copy of the letter

To whom it may concern,

We are the University of Glasgow iGEM Team 2011. iGEM is an international undergraduate competition aimed at creating a useful genetic machine and was started at MIT in 2003. One important aspect of the competition is to consider an engineering design process and to take into account the requirements of people who may be able to benefit from our product. Our project aims to result in a microbial (E.coli) factory for the production of various small molecules, such as drugs and biofuels, in remote areas. We were therefore hoping you would be willing to give us your thoughts on some key issues surrounding both our project and Synthetic Biology.

Our project, named “DISColi”, is based on gene expression in response to various wavelengths of light. The controlled activation of these genes will produce three distinct and interchangeable outcomes: dispersal of cells within a biofilm; production of sought-after substances within the biofilm; and encapsulation of these substances to yield a pill-like product ready for use. Due to the engineering nature of Synthetic Biology the genes could be modified in a modular fashion to produce a wide range of desired products. We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to reply with your answers to the questions below which are related your work and Synthetic Biology:
1. Do you foresee our project having any possible applications in your field of expertise?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Further Comments:
2. Do you have any safety concerns about our project?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Further Comments:
3. Do you believe there are any current issues which could be effectively resolved by utilizing Synthetic Biology?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Further Comments:
4. Do you believe Synthetic Biology has the potential to benefit society on a large scale?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Further Comments:
5. Prior to answering this questionnaire, to what degree was your level of awareness of Synthetic Biology/iGEM?
Low [ ] Moderate [ ] High [ ] Further Comments:

Any help you could give us with this aspect of our project would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Stewart O’Neill
(On behalf of the University of Glasgow iGEM 2011 team)

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Discussing Synthetic Biology with Highschool students and their parents

Our iGEM team managed to secure a place at a University Open Day on the 7th of September for high-school students who were considering studying at Glasgow Universityand their parents. This gave us an excellent opportunity to interact with an unique group of individuals - members of the public who had a specific interest in life-sciences but did not have significant training beyond that available at a high-school level.

We created a poster with a broad summary of our project and manned it throughout the day, whilst a steady torrent of prospective students asked us questions about iGEM and synthetic biology. We received a number of questions and were challenged on a variety of aspects of the project, such as how each of the parts worked or what their function would be in something like industry.

Through explaining the project to a variety of people we became far more aware of areas in the project which were difficult to understand or didn't gel together well. As a result of this, we were able to change the ideas we put forward to explain what we were doing and even came up with a couple of new concepts for application of the project itself!

Overall, our attendance at the Open Day was a great success: it gave us a dry-run practice for the upcoming Jamboree, it allowed us to see our project through other people's eyes and, best of all, we had a fantastic day!

Here's our poster which we were presenting during that event:

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The iGEM Protocol Guide

When we were starting out in the lab, we spent so much of our time searching through the Registry trying to locate various protocols! We thought it would be really useful if some of the most commonly used protocols and information were all compiled into one place.

This is why we created the iGEM protocol guide. It contains all the protocols, from transformations to Minipreps, that we think future teams will need to get them started in the competition. We've also included some useful reference material on biobricks and some handy safety tips!

It is our intention that the guide will be made available to all teams competing next year, as we believe it will be a highly valuable resource for future iGEM teams. We also hope that future teams will contribute any material to it that they think will be helpful, allowing for this booklet to become an excellent reference material for the competition.

Check it out below!