Team:CIDEB-UANL Mexico/HP-Cideb-SyntheticTunnel

Synthetic Tunnel

Description: As member of the iGEM CIDEB team 2013, one can notice that the diffusion of information about synthetic biology and iGEM in general is very important for people to understand, that including the work we participants do in this contest. Most people don’t know what iGEM is about and neither do they know about the activities we do in lab in order to complete our project. Becauce fo this, the team decided to make different activities to spread information about our work and about iGEM at our high school, we decided to make it more noticible by not only leaving these activities inside high school grounds, we decided to take it further. We made the activities not only for students inside, but for people in general so an entire society, reguardless of their age, can get closer to the terms we work with.

One of the main purposes of human practices is the diffusion of biotechnology and for this, we made usage of the “synthetic biology tunnel” which we borrowed from the iGem-UANL team (form the biology faculty). As we were searching for people to whom it could be exposed, we thought about the English course students that go on Saturdays, as a good chance to make a start. We startedtwith the arangements to make this possible, as was asking for permission to the principle of the course and also, asking the teachers for an hour of class to be able take the group to visit and have a complete and explined tour of the tunnel. Luckily they accepted, and as soon as we got notified, we started preparing everything to have the tunnel ready, including the explanations that were to be given.

So the basic idea of this activity was to show, explain and heve the students understand as much as possible from the information presented to them at the synthetic biology tunnel; which consist of 10 modules all making reference to different areas of the project we are working on, for example DNA, Biobricks and security inside the laboratories. At the Saturday courses there were 20 groups with approximately 30 people each, all with students of different ages, starting at 5 years old up to 18 years old. The principle organized a schedule for us, in which she gave us specific time and date for each group to have the tour to the tunnel. We gave the tour to all te groups in 4 Saturdays and after each day of the exposition was finished, the team picked up all the small parts from the tunnel to avooid getting anything lost, and stored them until next Saturday.

After all the expositions where done, we realized we had received positive feedback from the students that visited the tunnel. During the expositions, a big number of students were really paying attention and were really interested in the topics we talked about. They actively participated by asking questions of things they found themselves curious about and gave ideas they came up with at the time. They also mentioned that the explanations were very simple and easy to understand. This also includes the activity we did after every explanation, which tries to settle the ideas and make them easier for the students to remember.

At the end, the activity results in a bigger interest of the visitors in synthetic biology and in the iGEM contest. Students show a good response to the idea of joining to the next-years team. Even the teachers who accompanied the groups were very interested in the information given.

Activity: Each of modules had an activity which helps the students settle the ideas after the explanation given in each module. These activities made to give a more dynamic face to the explanations and avoid turning the tunnel into something boring, contrary to one of its objectives; they were all game-like activities which challenged the comprehension obtained from the explanations.
Objective: To reinforce the learning the students had in the modules with a fun and interactive activity, and have a more dynamic explanation.

Module 1. DNA: In the first activity, there was a table where it was drawn, but incomplete DNA with holes in the parts where nitrogenous bases should be. Students were given “nitrogenous bases” and they had to accommodate all the missing parts where they should go, based on the things they had just learned from the explanation. Module 2. Genes: This activity was based on the four parts of a gene, a set of blocks was attached to a tube in groups of 4, and each block had one of the 4 parts of the genes in four faces. The objective was that the students should form a complete gene by arranging the blocks in order. Module 3. Proteins: This section was based on the codons codes that produce the proteins, so for the activity we put a table with different codes of codons, and the students had to search for the amino acid that relates to the code, and finally form a complete protein.

Module 4. Genetic Engineering: The fourth activity was based on the design of different genes as part of genetic engineering. We used some pipe cleaners of different colors which served as genes. The students would have to combine them and put them in separate containers in a certain amount of time. Module 5. Synthetic Biology: This activity was to follow synthetic biology rules by copying a gen from a predetermined sketch, thus practicing the rules and putting them into practice. Module 6. BioBricks: After explaining what a BioBrick is and what it is used for, the students participated in the formation of a gene with BioBricks. We used Tetris-like parts to simulate BioBricks and with them the student had to form a bigger gene.

Module 7. Biological Machine: In this activity, after explaining the concept of energy in a biological machine, the students passed to the front to represent a machine that had to make its way through a maze trying to pass over the most possible factories, which means a source of energy, until they got to the end.

Module 8. Applications: In this activity, it was presented a case of how to use a biological machine, and the students were to classify them in a category: food, industry, medicine or environment.

Module 9. iGEM: Here, students had to simulate being our last-years iGEM project, by hitting with a toy hammer a strongman game, and see how “concentrated” they are.

Module 10. Ethic: In this last module, after learning about the importance of the security equipment in the lab, the students had to dress a friend with all the security equipment in less than 10 seconds, including security glasses, lab coat, gloves, mask, etc.