Team:Duke/Policy/NCSSM-Team

Question: How can the Duke iGEM team educate students on synthetic biology and provide means for discussion?

Our Approach: To teach a seminar at a high school taught by members of the Duke iGEM team to educate students on the field of synthetic biology; to introduce the iGEM competition to high school students; to aid in the creation of a high school team and development of a project

The relatively new field of synthetic biology is rapidly evolving, and iGEM plays a major role in the expansion of its horizons. Exposing young students to synthetic biology is essential to its growth, as the subject is not well known. To increase awareness, we developed a seminar with a curriculum intended to introduce synthetic biology, as well as the iGEM competition. The material taught includes everything from elementary DNA structure to the impact of synthetic biology on society. All material is taught utilizing presentations, discussions, and labs.

The NC School of Science and Math, located in Durham, is a residential public high school for academically gifted students across the state. NCSSM hosts an annual summer research symposium in which students of the school present their work. Our team was allotted a presentation time, as one of the members attends the school. During our presentation, we introduced our project, provided a broad overview of synthetic biology, and discussed the possibility of an iGEM team at NCSSM. The purpose of presenting at the research symposium was to determine the level of interest that students had in iGEM and synthetic biology. Once we established sufficient interest in these areas, we partnered with faculty and students of this school to design a seminar teaching students a basic synthetic biology curriculum. Our aim was for students to develop enough of an understanding of the subject matter to develop a project for the high school division of iGEM.

One of the several benefits of choosing NCSSM was working with students that have previously been exposed to high-level learning. Students at NCSSM are offered courses that cannot be found in other high schools, such as Molecular Genetics. This course awards students with a basic understanding of molecular biology and teaches basic lab techniques, like PCR, restriction digests, and transformations. Several of the students who signed up for our seminar were either enrolled in, or had completed this class. Further into the seminar, this will allow us to perform more complex labs, as students are already familiar with important lab procedures. Although this seminar will continue throughout the semester, students have already begun to grasp the concepts of synthetic biology fairly well. We have discussed basic DNA structure, a rough background in molecular biology, and standard biological parts. We intend on solidifying and building on this instruction to build a full scientific understanding of synthetic biology. After the scientific background has been set, a discussion of the bioethical, social, environmental, and health impacts will continue throughout the remainder of the course. This aspect of synthetic biology is arguably the most important, as it instills an understanding that allows students to grow into critical members of society who can contribute to discussion about the growing field. Educating students in this area is increasingly important, as bioethical implications become part of the picture, because the need for a basic public awareness upsurges. In the same interest, we are looking for channels to contribute to broader public discussion about the potential societal impacts of synthetic biology. The first thing that came to mind was TED. NCSSM has a TEDx committee which hosts a TEDx talk annually in the spring semester. We are conferring with the committee in order to see whether one of the speakers may discuss the ethical implications of synthetic biology. Another option we are considering is acquiring a license from TED to have a Duke iGEM TEDx talk that’s theme will revolve around these bioethical influences.

The next step was to consider the further development of an NCSSM iGEM team. We shared the idea with the students in the seminar, and a handful of them took interest immediately. In years past, NCSSM has had an inactive iGEM team that has registered for competition, but not submitted materials. This problem is due to lack of leadership and the ability and knowledge necessary to develop a project. This year, we intend on changing that. The students of the NCSSM iGEM team who are interested in taking charge of the project are taking the seminar at an increased pace, in order to be able to prepare for next year’s competition in time. They have practiced restriction digests, ligations, transformations, gel electrophoresis, PCR, and other lab techniques in training for when they begin their project. Our collective goal is to have an idea and approach for a project developed by mid-November so that we can recruit more members from the seminar, and begin working. Our (Duke) iGEM team is, and will continue to be, heavily involved in the startup stages of the project. Once a strong foundation has been laid, our team will step back slightly, and assist as needed. We hope to keep this network open so that in years to come the Duke iGEM team may continue collaborating with the NCSSM iGEM team to beta test parts, develop ideas, and implement the broader education of synthetic biology, all through the use of the seminar.

Although this seminar is currently only being taught at NCSSM, we hope to see other universities and colleges follow our lead in becoming more involved with local high schools. Not only does a wider spread understanding of synthetic biology enhance stimulating discussion of the ethical aspect, it also gives a chance for the innovation of further applications of the subject.