Why?

This is the big question. Why would anyone do this? What are the advantages? Is it worth the effort? And there are so many different answers to these questions. Some of these answers can be found in Dr. Bohannon's TEDxBrussels talk can be found from feedback of the Dance Your PhD Contest. In his series of articles in Science, called the Gonzo Scientist, he talks about each year of the competition as well as number of his other projects. In Episode 13, he asked the participants of the DYPhD Contest why they did it.

In general, dancing their science helped them:

• Get jobs and scholarships.
• Summarize extensive research, into a few minutes of video.
• Explain their work to friends and family.
• Have lots of fun

On a larger scale, it's important for the general public to have understanding of the impact of scientific research. By gaining more support and awareness from the public, research and development can become more of a priority for the government and future elections.

What about us?

In our presentation at the iGEM Americas East Regional Competition, we wanted to test what it would be like to do something like this in an actual research setting. We imagined a situation in which dance is the commonly used method to present research. And that's how we designed our presentation, incorporating the dancers to explain our research naturally, without pointing out that these are our dancers.

This presentation has already turned up results:

• A packed auditorium for our presentation.
• The Best Model Award
• Advancement to the World Finals
• Gold Medal
• Lots of attention at our school and worldwide
• Everyone learned something new about synthetic biology

And these are just our initial results. Because our team is composed solely of undergraduate students from many different backgrounds, we're are still waiting to see how this unique experience will benefit them in their futures. And there is so much potential. In addition to learning a new, unique dance routine, we have learned from the experiences and challenges that we have overcome and are incredibly excited to see what comes next.

Who are we?

Michelle Rea Chemical Engineering, 3rd Year I was approached at the beginning of the school year about this project and thought it was an amazing opportunity to combine my art with research that I am interested in. Using dance as teaching and presenting tool in science is a totally new concept and the experience was definitely one of a kind as I learned about the research through dancing it out!

Sam Demetrious Fourth Year, Sociology Major I think the Queen’s IGEM team is so unique this year in such a fantastic way! By using dance to represent the scientific concepts, the research provided by the Queen's team can reach a wider audience and even impact individuals outside the synthetic biology community. The collaboration of arts and science is a wonderful learning tool, especially for those just beginning to learn about biology, such as a sociology student like myself.