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Team:Carnegie Mellon/Talks
From 2014.igem.org
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| - | <center><font size="5" color="FFBF00"><b>Educational Events</b></font></center> | + | <center><font size="5" color="FFBF00"><b>SynBio Educational Events</b></font></center> |
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| + | <p align="justify">Carnegie Mellon University hosted a round robin of workshops for Take Your Child To Work Day. Children of university faculty and staff were able to visit different campus groups to learn, work, or experiment. iGEM team members helped Genoa Warner and Taylor Canady, grad students in chemistry, facilitate a workshop called “Genetically Engineered Machines” for 35 participants ages 12-15. The main objective of the workshop was to introduce the participants to what the building blocks of genetically engineered machines: DNA. They did a simple, yet informative DNA extraction from frozen strawberries in the first session, and the same DNA extraction methods with a variety of fruits in the second session. A discussion after the extractions discussed the science behind materials used and how DNA manipulation can create new devices and advance biological processes for specific goals. While we spent time crushing strawberries, tomatoes, and kiwi, it was fun to interact with the participants and talk about how we are currently involved in a synthetic biology project for the summer. CARD RECEIVED FROM KIDS </p> | ||
| + | <p align="justify">The CMU iGEM outreach team was invited to the Environmental Charter School in order to give three presentations for the seventh grade science classes. Courtney and Nicole received notice on Friday afternoon and put together a two-part presentation that included a streamlined strawberry DNA extraction and “Creature Feature,” an adapted visual model of genetic engineering applications. The 60 teens had been taught about DNA, and were able isolate strawberry DNA using a streamlined kit designed by the iGEM team. With this new version of the strawberry DNA extraction, it took approximately 15 minutes of lab time, along with 20 minutes of an accompanying lecture that discussed the science behind a DNA extraction and how the extraction is useful for genetic engineering. This activity transitioned into the second lab, which focused on demonstrating how genetic engineering can help in situations where “creatures” may not have the characteristics to survive in a new environment. Students were given construction materials based on the genetic sequence they created out of beads, and tasked with the creation of a creature. This creature had to undergo a survival test due to an external force placing too much pressure on its evolutionary adaptations and so synthetic biology concepts came up as a way to help their creatures out by giving it a new feature. At the end of the lesson (and the dunk test), we had a discussion on real-world applications of synthetic biology, DNA extractions, and genetic engineering.</p> | ||
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| + | <li>“I want to do that (genetic engineering) when I grow up!” –Student</li> | ||
| + | <li>“We have more DNA!” –Student</li> | ||
| + | <li>“My (strawberry) DNA looks like cotton-candy!” –Student</li> | ||
| + | <li>“I’m gonna buy my creature an airline ticket so that it can survive the Great Flood” – Student</li> | ||
| + | <li>“Please survive… please survive” -Student</li> | ||
| + | <li>On a follow-up: “I'm excited about the new kits! The kids had a really good time with those activities and I thought the lessons were highly engaging. I'll pass on the information about the new kits to the rest of my science team.” – Hilary Buttenfield, Teacher at ECS</li> | ||
| + | </ul> | ||
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Revision as of 06:56, 17 October 2014
On July 11th, the Pitt and CMU iGEM teams went to give project presentations at Pitt with the TecBio group. Training and Experimentation in Computational Biology (TecBio): "Simulation and Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales" REU program is a 10-week summer program that provides a challenging and fulfilling graduate-level research experience to undergraduate students. Students receive classroom training in topics pertinent to the emerging field of computational biology, such as computational structural biology, cell and systems modeling, computational genomics, and bioimage informatics. For CMU and Pitt iGEM, this provided a wonderful audience for giving our first presentations of iGEM, biology, modeling, and outreach being worked on by the teams. A heavy emphasis was placed on the modeling aspect because of the nature of the program being more related to computational biology than anything else. Once the two presentations were done, we took questions and socialized over pizza and drinks. It was a good group to give our first presentations to and helped us tighten up our public speaking skills.
Also on July 11th, the CMU iGEM Team presented to the Summer Research Institute (SRI) participants. In this summer program, students spend ten weeks working on a research project with a faculty member. Research projects involve recombinant DNA techniques and biochemical methods directed towards the functional analysis of proteins and enzymes. In addition to wet laboratory techniques, students use software for DNA analysis and experimental design. This provided another platform for the CMU iGEM team to practice their project presentation and receive feedback along with the questions.
The SAMS girls that we experimented Creature Feature with were working on different projects on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Using newly acquired laboratory techniques and skills, they were tasked to analyze a favorite food or snack across different brands and test for labeling “truths.” For example, labels such as “organic” or “non-GMO project certified” were tested for validity against the same product with no label, and therefore assumed to be genetically modified. Using gel electrophoresis, the girls were able to tell whether or not the product had been genetically modified in comparison to a control and had to present their results. The CMU iGEM Team were asked to come in as a panel and audience to ask questions and further help them analyze the results. Since these projects were individual, each SAMS girl had to confidently present what the results were and any error that may have occurred in the procedure. Knowing the nature of laboratory techniques and mistakes made, the CMU iGEM team learned from the presentations, gave feedback, and gained insight on how complex the food biotech world really is. Overall, it was a great experience to be apart of and helped both the SAMS girls and the CMU iGEM team to foster intellectual conversation on the topics of label definitions and genetically modified organisms.
Carnegie Mellon University hosted a round robin of workshops for Take Your Child To Work Day. Children of university faculty and staff were able to visit different campus groups to learn, work, or experiment. iGEM team members helped Genoa Warner and Taylor Canady, grad students in chemistry, facilitate a workshop called “Genetically Engineered Machines” for 35 participants ages 12-15. The main objective of the workshop was to introduce the participants to what the building blocks of genetically engineered machines: DNA. They did a simple, yet informative DNA extraction from frozen strawberries in the first session, and the same DNA extraction methods with a variety of fruits in the second session. A discussion after the extractions discussed the science behind materials used and how DNA manipulation can create new devices and advance biological processes for specific goals. While we spent time crushing strawberries, tomatoes, and kiwi, it was fun to interact with the participants and talk about how we are currently involved in a synthetic biology project for the summer. CARD RECEIVED FROM KIDS
The CMU iGEM outreach team was invited to the Environmental Charter School in order to give three presentations for the seventh grade science classes. Courtney and Nicole received notice on Friday afternoon and put together a two-part presentation that included a streamlined strawberry DNA extraction and “Creature Feature,” an adapted visual model of genetic engineering applications. The 60 teens had been taught about DNA, and were able isolate strawberry DNA using a streamlined kit designed by the iGEM team. With this new version of the strawberry DNA extraction, it took approximately 15 minutes of lab time, along with 20 minutes of an accompanying lecture that discussed the science behind a DNA extraction and how the extraction is useful for genetic engineering. This activity transitioned into the second lab, which focused on demonstrating how genetic engineering can help in situations where “creatures” may not have the characteristics to survive in a new environment. Students were given construction materials based on the genetic sequence they created out of beads, and tasked with the creation of a creature. This creature had to undergo a survival test due to an external force placing too much pressure on its evolutionary adaptations and so synthetic biology concepts came up as a way to help their creatures out by giving it a new feature. At the end of the lesson (and the dunk test), we had a discussion on real-world applications of synthetic biology, DNA extractions, and genetic engineering.
- “I want to do that (genetic engineering) when I grow up!” –Student
- “We have more DNA!” –Student
- “My (strawberry) DNA looks like cotton-candy!” –Student
- “I’m gonna buy my creature an airline ticket so that it can survive the Great Flood” – Student
- “Please survive… please survive” -Student
- On a follow-up: “I'm excited about the new kits! The kids had a really good time with those activities and I thought the lessons were highly engaging. I'll pass on the information about the new kits to the rest of my science team.” – Hilary Buttenfield, Teacher at ECS
