Human Practices

We believe that informing the public about synthetic biology is an essential duty of young scientists like ourselves who are working in this field. This is the only way to spread understanding and promote acceptance.

In our experience, people are often skeptical or even disapproving of genetic engineering and synthetic biology, but we believe that is because of their lack of knowledge about the topic. The ordinary person with no connection to genetics has usually heard small bits and pieces in the media which focus on topics such as GM Maize or Dolly. As a consequence, people are often afraid of the new and unknown technology and oftentimes say things like “I don’t want my food to contain genes”.

While we strongly emphasize how important discussions about synthetic biology and the consideration of ethics are, we think that the first step that needs to be taken is to increase understanding and knowledge within the general public, for this is the basis for a responsible society capable of dealing with important issues.

Today’s children and youth are the foundation for tomorrow’s society and that’s why we decided to contribute our share in “spreading the word”. We visited a number of high school classes as well as two kindergartens where we offered insights into the world of bacteria, DNA, genetic engineering and of course iGEM. In addition to this, members of our team also gave two radio interviews which were aired in Munich. We invite you to read our reports, find out what experiences were made and discover why bacteria have teeth or smiley faces…