Team:St Andrews/Public-outreach

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   <h1>Public outreach</h1>
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   <h1>Get Involved!</h1>
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   <p class="lead">Our iGEM Story</p>
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   <p class="lead">Synthetic Biology is too exciting - we can't keep it to ourselves. We want you to get involved!</p>
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<p>We had a stall at the Scottish <em>National Science and Engineering Week</em> and participated in our University's 600th anniversary event <em>Food For Thought</em>. In May, we delivered a well received <em>TEDx talk</em>. We're also active online on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/StAndrewsiGEM12""><em>Twitter</em></a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/StAndrewsiGEM12"><em>Facebook</em></a>, where we hold little online debates and give you a peek into synthetic biology research!</p>
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       <li><a href="#science-discovery-day">Science Discovery Day</a></li>
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       <li><a href="#science-discovery-day">NSEW Science Discovery Day</a></li>
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       <li><a href="#june">June</a></li>
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       <li><a href="#tedx">TEDxUniversityofStAndrews</a></li>
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      <li><a href="#f4t">Food for Thought</a></li>
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      <li><a href="#media">Media</a></li>
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      <li><a href="#social">Social networks</a></li>
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      <li><a href="#slovenia">Young Researchers' Conference</a></li>
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      <li><a href="#debate">Ethics Forum and debates</a></li>
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<h1>Science Discovery Day</h1>
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<h1><i>NSEW Science Discovery Day</i> <small>Synbio for the whole family</small></h1>
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<img src="http://www.fifesciencefestival.org.uk/images/layout/fsf-logo.jpg" alt="Fife Science Festival 2012 logo"/>
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<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/491730/iGEM/images/174604_164683770237235_2032842602_n.jpg" alt="Fife Science Festival 2012 logo" align="right" style="margin:2%" />
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<p><a href="http://www.fifesciencefestival.org.uk/index.php"><em>National Science and Engineering Week</em></a> exploded in Fife, Scotland with a regional "Science Discovery Day". Team St Andrews worked to convey the fundamental concepts of synthetic biology in new and exciting ways.</p>
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<p>
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We had a number of exhibits, each catering to a different audience:
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<ul>
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<li>For the littlest kids, we ran an interactive "Codon Game", where children could "build a gene" from little paper parts.</li>
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<li>We had interactive visualizations of <em>DNA</em> and <em>Thermus aquaticus polymerase III</em>, complete with 3D glasses, thanks to an impromptu collaboration with the Psychology department!</li>
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<li>For those who like to see the things we work with, we had a display of of E. coli on plates, under a microscope and in broth. Children and adults alike were fascinated by our live experiment, extracting DNA from bananas using everyday kitchen equipment.</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<p>We took every chance to mingle with the crowd and to answer questions. The varying exhibits were helpful in starting discussions. Being able to refer to an actual colony of E. coli or the 3D structure of Taq pol III made these discussions more interesting.</p>
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<p>
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<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/9jW4K/embed"></iframe>
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<p>National Science and Engineering Week exploded in Fife with a regional "Science Discovery Day". Team St Andrews worked to convey fundamental concepts in Genetic Engineering and Synthetic Biology in new and exciting ways. The interactive "Codon Game", 3 - Dimensional Visualizations of DNA and DNA polymerase and the display "E. Coli: Under the Microscope" were well received. Children and adults alike were fascinated when DNA was extracted from bananas using everyday kitchen equipment.</p>
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<h1><i>TEDxUniversityofStAndrews</i></h1>
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<img src="http://www.tedxuniversityofstandrews.com/images/logo.png" alt="TEDxUniversityofStAndrews logo" align="right" style="margin:2%;margin-top:0" />
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<p>Team member Josi Buerger presented a lively talk "<em>Spider Mutants and Bioterrorism - an Overview of Synthetic Biology as an Emerging Scientific Discipline</em>" to an audience over eighty strong at <a href="http://www.tedxuniversityofstandrews.com/">TEDx University of St Andrews</a>. She revealed the ground-breaking but occasionally controversial nature of synthetic biology and iGEM's role within it. Members of the audience showed surprise at the progress, discussions and possibilities that synthetic biology represents.</p>
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<p>Josi recounts that the other talks and the audience were mainly in the field of the social sciences and that her talk had impressed and rattled the audience with its originality and raised questions they would otherwise have left unasked.</p>
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<p>Here's the <a href="http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/5671">TEDx profile</a> for the event at the main TED website.</p>
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<a href="http://www.fifesciencefestival.org.uk/index.php">Festival's website</a>
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<h1>Feasting at <i>Food for Thought</i></h1>
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<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/6rDib/embed" style="padding:2%;padding-right:4%"></iframe>
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<blockquote>
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<p>Superhero or Supervillain? </p>
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<p>Who would you be?</p>
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<p>Who will you be?</p>
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<p>Synthetic biology has already <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16554357">made a spider goat possible</a>. How long will it be before Spider-Man steps out fiction and into reality?</p>
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<p>Team St Andrews spoke to crowds at University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary Event <em>Food for Thought</em> on Sunday. The DNA extraction from bananas and a "create your own superhero" game were popular with the kids again. We took full advantage of having a stand next to the tent entrance: At least two of us were constantly engaged in conversation with visitors, giving mini-lectures explaining the basic principles of synthetic biology, DNA and iGEM and discussing the surrounding ethical and safety concerns.</p>
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<h5>The event's flyer</h5>
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<p>We also made these graphics to explain synthetic biology:</p>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/c/cc/ExplanationPlasmids.png" />
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<h5>Demystifying plasmids</h5>
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<p>Plasmids are like machine parts. Naturally, bacteria trade them around to disperse useful genes. This mechanism is useful if we deliberately put genes (and other useful stuff) into them.</p>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/4/4d/ExplanationBacterialTransformation.png" />
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<h5>Demystifying bacterial transformation</h5>
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<p>And this is how you get a plasmid into a bacterium!</p>
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<h2><em>Week 1</em></h2>
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<h2>4 June 2012</h2>
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<p>Full time work on Team St Andrews' iGEM Project finally begins!  After an initial Group Meeting, two thirds of our student members continue in depth research into those project ideas generated previously; the rest begin work on Team St Andrews' Wiki.</p>
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<h2>5 June 2012</h2>
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<p>"CLC bio" and "Epoch Life Science" are the latest businesses to offer support to Team St Andrews. The former promises CLC bio Main Workbenches to members of the team while the latter offers products and expertise in DNA/ RNA preparation for molecular manipulation.</p>
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<h2>Team "ω-3" weekly summary</h2>
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<p>Research into polyunsaturated fatty acids has been active for over 15 years, with successes varying from creating transgenic plants enriched in ω-3 fatty acids to expressing an entire synthetic pathway from a gene clusters extracted from marine bacteria. We want to expand on this area of research by attempting to express a aerobic synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids in E.coli, which has never been done before. By combining the genes of the cyanobacteria Synechococcus and trypanosome T. brucei into E.coli, this vector should be able to synethise a unsaturated fatty acid up to at least 22-carbon length!</p>
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<p>This week, our team has been focusing on preliminary research by reading relevant scientific papers and understanding the various pathways and methods of recombination. We’re focusing on groundwork research done in the early 1990s that appears to have fallen off the radar, and are excited to see where this path will take us!</p>
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<h2>Team "Metal Binding Protein" weekly summary</h2>
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<p>"After a short meeting (which was dominated by the excitement of receiving our very own iGEM pins) we decided to split our iGEM family of nine into three groups.  Josi, Veronica and Yiwang were to look into Omega-3 production; Constantine, Michael and I were to investigate Metal Binding Proteins and Antti, Alexey and Zoe were to focus on setting up the wiki.</p> 
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<p>The wiki team duly produced a sophisticated template.</p>
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<p>The research teams, however, were unanimously agreed that biology is hard.  Our motif quickly became standardised.  Read, Think, Re-read, Re-think, Repeat.</p>
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<p>After three days, our previously nomadic team settled in the University’s new Biomedical Sciences Research Complex.  This proved to be a good move as it was followed by breakthroughs on all fronts.  Metal binding peptides were located in their tens and the decision was made to try and express them on the surface of cells in display proteins as well as cytosolically.  A membrane protein was found, preliminary peptides selected, and a primer design tutorial set up for the following Monday.  All this success left us with one very important and so far unanswered question- how exactly are we going to assay all this?" (Team Member Hannah Taylor, Week One Report, 12/06/2012)</p>
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<h2><em>Week 2</em></h2>
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<h2>12 June 2012: Team "Metal binding protein"</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>[25.07.2012] <a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2012/Title,89409,en.html ">Streets of London: paved with platinum?</a> – University of St Andrews Website</li>
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<p>·    Using E. Coli DH5-alpha: good at replicating vectors but not good at expression
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<li>[25.07.2012] <a href="http://www.delo.si/druzba/znanost/studij-in-raziskovanje-v-tujini-trdo-delo-a-tudi-dovolj-druzabnosti.html/ ">Študij in raziskovanje v tujini: trdo delo, a tudi dovolj družabnosti</a> – Delo</li>
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·    Using pGEX-6P-1 vector with internal GST tag, selected with ampicillin
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http://ecoliwiki.net/colipedia/index.php/pGEX-6P-1 (further information via the “source” link)
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·    Purpose:
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o  First day: incorporate desired vectors into vector-replicating E.Coli and incubate them on selective plates to select out recombinant colonies with antibiotics
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o  Second day: incubate the selected colonies in large quantities for vector harvesting
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o  Third day: harvest vector from cell pallet thus pure vector miniprep.</p>
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<h2>12-15 June 2012: Team "Metal binding protein"</h2>
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<p>Using E. Coli DH5-alpha: good at replicating vectors but not good at expression
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·    Using PET-15b vector: with internal His tag, selected with ampicillin
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http://ecoliwiki.net/colipedia/index.php/pET-15b (further information via the “source” link)
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·    Purpose:
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o  First day: incorporate desired vectors into vector-replicating E.Coli and incubate them on selective plates to select out recombinant colonies with antibiotics
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o  Second day: incubate the selected colonies in large quantities for vector harvesting
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o  Third day: harvest vector from cell pallet thus pure vector miniprep.</p>
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<h2>Omega Squad Week 2 Summary</h2>
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<h1>We're online too <small>Come say hi! :)</small></h1>
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<p>This week, we took the first steps to put our grand scheme into laboratorial action! It also occurred to us that if we started calling ourselves DJ Omega 3 & the Fatty Acids, we would intimidate the other squad.</p>
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<p>First of all, we chose a vector to work in, pET-15B. We started looking into promoters suitable for both the vector and the chain of genes we want to express, and figured out how to use the Registry of Standard Parts. The next step was to design primers for all four of the genes of our pathway - and that was certainly a steep learning curve!</p>
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<p>Preliminary tasks done, let’s head to the lab! We carried out a transformation, growing the vector in a DH5-α strain of E. coli with ampicillin as the antibiotic marker. Well, we attempted to carry out a transformation. It failed, much to the glee of the Metal Mickies. Fortunately, we were able to use some pET-15b grown in E. coli for a different purpose. The colonies were allowed to grow, and we then carried out a mini-prep to isolate the vectors. Visualization was done by running the DNA on an agarose gel and using UV light. Once we were sure the transformation was successful, it was time to add the restriction enzymes!</p>
 
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<p>Also, a PCR was run with the genomic DNA of Leishmania major, the trypanosomatids that are providing us with the 4th gene of our synthesis pathway. We ran 5 samples total: 3 using high-fidelity PCR at different temperatures, and 2 of Clontech’s PCR kits at 2 temperatures. We added the primers for Δ6 elongase (GenBank LmjF32.1160). This gene is around 1.200 kb large. The results show that the Clontech kit run at 48° C gave the strongest result.</p>
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<h1><i>First Conference of Slovenian Young Researchers</i></h1>
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<p>A member of our team, Veronica Rezelj, was invited to speak at the First Conference of Slovenian Young Researchers, Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students from Slovenia and Abroad. Her talk presented her experiences of studying in Scotland and taking part in iGEM to an audience of about 200 people. She was asked to give a radio interview for Radio Slovenija, and an interview for the Slovenian main newspaper Delo.</p>
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<a class="btn btn-small" data-toggle="modal" href="#myModal" >Read the article</a>
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<p>Participants were invited to visit the Honorary sponsor of the conference, President of Slovenia, Dr. Danilo Türk, who emphasised international cooperation in science is crucial.</p>
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<p>Before the conference started on the 19th of July, Veronica was able to visit the Slovenian iGEM team, who have been very successful in the past. This was an informal and friendly meeting, where they got to know each other and shared experiences in the progress of the projects.</p>
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<h1><i>Ethics Forum and debates</i></h1>
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<h3>Ethics Forum with Morven Shearer</h3>
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<p>In addition to engaging with members of the public, we were keen to discuss Synthetic Biology and its implications for the modern world with our colleagues at University.  We hosted an "Ethics Forum" with Dr Morven Shearer from the School of Medicine and we advertised the event in the science departments beforehand.  At 4pm on Wednesday 4th July, our chosen meeting room was filled and we discussed the difference between Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering; concerns that arise when the BBC broadcasts news of the first "spider-goat"; as well as what should be done to combat false and exaggerated claims about scientific research.  Although many of the participants held contrasting views, even in response to the question of "What is Synthetic Biology?", some opinions were held by all. In particular we agreed, as scientists living in a world dominated by media headlines, the decisions we make when we share news of our work can be as influential as the decisions we make while carrying out our work.</p>
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<h3>Multimedia Debate and Poster Campaign</h3>
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<p>We facilitated two multimedia debates during our ten weeks of project work.  Participants were invited to write their responses on one of the many posters displayed around campus and town; by tweeting us, or by writing a comment on our Facebook page.  Our two debate topic were:</p>
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<li><p>"What is Life? Is there one truly fundamental and fully comprehensive definition? How does the advent of emerging Scientific Discipline Synthetic Biology affect our viewpoint?</p>
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<p>Recently, Synthetic Biology made possible the creation of the world's first artificial cell (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10132762">www.bbc.co.uk/news/10132762</a>). Dr Craig Venter of the J Craig Venter Institute led his team to design and produce an entire genome - all genetic information governing the function of a cell - in the Lab. The resulting micro-organism had no parents.  With such "advances" in this Scientific Discipline, how is our understanding of the concept of "life" affected? If new organisms can be created so readily, does the value we associate with mortality change?"</p></li>
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<li><p>"Juan Enriquez says autism, synaesthesia, photographic memory, and extreme concentration ability are mutations that let their hosts deal with overwhelming amounts of information. In today's environment, that's what gives you a competitive edge. It's human evolution in action. Geeks are a new species. Geeks harbor some surprising powers. For the first time in the history of evolution, a species has flipped the tables. They routinely outdo the evolution that made them. They haven't killed it, but they could. There is no technical barrier for human genetic modification. They've levelled up.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html">www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html</a>
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<p>Hold on to your evolutionary fitnesses, ladies and gentlemen: "Homo evolutis" is coming and it's coming to compete. What do you hope for, from technology of the future?"</p></li>
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    <h3>"Motivation in Scottish academic excellence"</h3>
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    <p>Veronica Valentina Rezelj was born and raised in Argentina. She moved to Slovenia during high school, where she completed the international Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Now she studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, which has a strong reputation for academic excellence.</p>
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<p>In the three years of her studies she was included in the University Dean’s list, and she is now involved in a undergraduate team taking part in the iGEM synthetic biology competition. Competitors construct and operate biological systems in living cells. ThisiGEM team seeksto use the combined dynamics of synthetic biology, computer science and engineering to create both a novel precious metal recycling scheme as well as a renewable source of essential fatty acids Omega-3. They are planning to recreate an Omega-3 fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in E. Coli, while also trying to produce a series of metal-binding proteins, through which they intend to create a new way of recycling them. By representing her Scottish university in this competition, she is not only gaining experience and knowledge in laboratory research, but she is also able to contact the global scientific community and with Slovenia, where she is planning to return after her studies.</p>
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Latest revision as of 01:05, 27 September 2012

St Andrews iGEM '12

Get Involved!

Synthetic Biology is too exciting - we can't keep it to ourselves. We want you to get involved!

We had a stall at the Scottish National Science and Engineering Week and participated in our University's 600th anniversary event Food For Thought. In May, we delivered a well received TEDx talk. We're also active online on Twitter and Facebook, where we hold little online debates and give you a peek into synthetic biology research!

NSEW Science Discovery Day Synbio for the whole family

Fife Science Festival 2012 logo

National Science and Engineering Week exploded in Fife, Scotland with a regional "Science Discovery Day". Team St Andrews worked to convey the fundamental concepts of synthetic biology in new and exciting ways.

We had a number of exhibits, each catering to a different audience:

  • For the littlest kids, we ran an interactive "Codon Game", where children could "build a gene" from little paper parts.
  • We had interactive visualizations of DNA and Thermus aquaticus polymerase III, complete with 3D glasses, thanks to an impromptu collaboration with the Psychology department!
  • For those who like to see the things we work with, we had a display of of E. coli on plates, under a microscope and in broth. Children and adults alike were fascinated by our live experiment, extracting DNA from bananas using everyday kitchen equipment.

We took every chance to mingle with the crowd and to answer questions. The varying exhibits were helpful in starting discussions. Being able to refer to an actual colony of E. coli or the 3D structure of Taq pol III made these discussions more interesting.

TEDxUniversityofStAndrews

TEDxUniversityofStAndrews logo

Team member Josi Buerger presented a lively talk "Spider Mutants and Bioterrorism - an Overview of Synthetic Biology as an Emerging Scientific Discipline" to an audience over eighty strong at TEDx University of St Andrews. She revealed the ground-breaking but occasionally controversial nature of synthetic biology and iGEM's role within it. Members of the audience showed surprise at the progress, discussions and possibilities that synthetic biology represents.

Josi recounts that the other talks and the audience were mainly in the field of the social sciences and that her talk had impressed and rattled the audience with its originality and raised questions they would otherwise have left unasked.

Here's the TEDx profile for the event at the main TED website.

Feasting at Food for Thought

Superhero or Supervillain?

Who would you be?

Who will you be?

Synthetic biology has already made a spider goat possible. How long will it be before Spider-Man steps out fiction and into reality?

Team St Andrews spoke to crowds at University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary Event Food for Thought on Sunday. The DNA extraction from bananas and a "create your own superhero" game were popular with the kids again. We took full advantage of having a stand next to the tent entrance: At least two of us were constantly engaged in conversation with visitors, giving mini-lectures explaining the basic principles of synthetic biology, DNA and iGEM and discussing the surrounding ethical and safety concerns.

The event's flyer

We also made these graphics to explain synthetic biology:

  • Demystifying plasmids

    Plasmids are like machine parts. Naturally, bacteria trade them around to disperse useful genes. This mechanism is useful if we deliberately put genes (and other useful stuff) into them.

  • Demystifying bacterial transformation

    And this is how you get a plasmid into a bacterium!

    • Media presence

    We're online too Come say hi! :)

    First Conference of Slovenian Young Researchers

    A member of our team, Veronica Rezelj, was invited to speak at the First Conference of Slovenian Young Researchers, Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students from Slovenia and Abroad. Her talk presented her experiences of studying in Scotland and taking part in iGEM to an audience of about 200 people. She was asked to give a radio interview for Radio Slovenija, and an interview for the Slovenian main newspaper Delo.

    Read the article

    Participants were invited to visit the Honorary sponsor of the conference, President of Slovenia, Dr. Danilo Türk, who emphasised international cooperation in science is crucial.

    Before the conference started on the 19th of July, Veronica was able to visit the Slovenian iGEM team, who have been very successful in the past. This was an informal and friendly meeting, where they got to know each other and shared experiences in the progress of the projects.

    Smiley face

    Ethics Forum and debates

    Ethics Forum with Morven Shearer

    In addition to engaging with members of the public, we were keen to discuss Synthetic Biology and its implications for the modern world with our colleagues at University. We hosted an "Ethics Forum" with Dr Morven Shearer from the School of Medicine and we advertised the event in the science departments beforehand. At 4pm on Wednesday 4th July, our chosen meeting room was filled and we discussed the difference between Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering; concerns that arise when the BBC broadcasts news of the first "spider-goat"; as well as what should be done to combat false and exaggerated claims about scientific research. Although many of the participants held contrasting views, even in response to the question of "What is Synthetic Biology?", some opinions were held by all. In particular we agreed, as scientists living in a world dominated by media headlines, the decisions we make when we share news of our work can be as influential as the decisions we make while carrying out our work.

    Multimedia Debate and Poster Campaign

    We facilitated two multimedia debates during our ten weeks of project work. Participants were invited to write their responses on one of the many posters displayed around campus and town; by tweeting us, or by writing a comment on our Facebook page. Our two debate topic were:

    • "What is Life? Is there one truly fundamental and fully comprehensive definition? How does the advent of emerging Scientific Discipline Synthetic Biology affect our viewpoint?

      Recently, Synthetic Biology made possible the creation of the world's first artificial cell (www.bbc.co.uk/news/10132762). Dr Craig Venter of the J Craig Venter Institute led his team to design and produce an entire genome - all genetic information governing the function of a cell - in the Lab. The resulting micro-organism had no parents. With such "advances" in this Scientific Discipline, how is our understanding of the concept of "life" affected? If new organisms can be created so readily, does the value we associate with mortality change?"

    • "Juan Enriquez says autism, synaesthesia, photographic memory, and extreme concentration ability are mutations that let their hosts deal with overwhelming amounts of information. In today's environment, that's what gives you a competitive edge. It's human evolution in action. Geeks are a new species. Geeks harbor some surprising powers. For the first time in the history of evolution, a species has flipped the tables. They routinely outdo the evolution that made them. They haven't killed it, but they could. There is no technical barrier for human genetic modification. They've levelled up.

      www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html

      Hold on to your evolutionary fitnesses, ladies and gentlemen: "Homo evolutis" is coming and it's coming to compete. What do you hope for, from technology of the future?"

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    University of St Andrews, 2012.

    Contact us: igem2012@st-andrews.ac.uk, Twitter, Facebook

    This iGEM team has been funded by the MSD Scottish Life Sciences Fund. The opinions expressed by this iGEM team are those of the team members and do not necessarily represent those of Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited, nor its Affiliates.

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