Team:UT-Dallas/Human-Practices

The Problem

Even outside of iGEM, many synthetic biologists and bioengineers choose to take on projects that have the greatest applications in the developing world and areas of poverty. To us, this approach makes a lot of sense; these are the communities that have the greatest demand for the creative solutions and novel applications that synthetic biology can offer. However, there are significant challenges associated with actually translating what we produce in the lab to something that represents a real solution, especially in the communities that we choose to target.

We spoke with sociologist Richard Scotch about the potential difficulties of applying new healthcare technologies in developing regions. One of the main difficulties, he said, occurs when researchers, government officials or medical personnel underestimate the importance of cultural barriers that can separate patient and caregiver, especially in communities where rapid globalization is a significant trend.

The solution

is education (i'm working on it, don't worry.)

With this in mind, our team decided to reach out to our own community to spread science literacy with several events throughout the summer.

KidsU Biology and Genetics Learning Day

We coupled with a local organization, the Dallas Community Lighthouse, to put on a science exploration day in an underprivileged neighborhood.

sci·ence— from Latin scientia, “knowledge or truth”