Overview

As the Wellesley College iGEM team, one of our principle goals is to reach out to the young population in and around Boston and educate them about the exciting field of synthetic biology. We also aim to expose young adults to computing, highlighting the power of applying computational thinking to problem solving.

Our goal is to spark the interest of middle and high school students in synthetic biology and in computing through a short presentation and an interactive installation. We created a presentation that provide students with a brief background in synthetic biology and gives them an opportunity to learn about the work that we have done over the summer. 

The interactive installation provides the students with a more hands-on approach to the design and construction of genetic constructs. Our installation was designed to expose students to the concepts of biological parts, modularity, lab protocols, and safety. Through these activities we hope to encourage students to consider the possibility of entering the field of synthetic biology in the future. 

We want them to see the current and potential future applications of this field and how rewarding careers in synthetic biology and in computing can be!

SynFlo

Description

We introduced the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound group to Synthetic Biology concepts and let them interact with the SynFlo project.

Framingham High School

This summer, we participated in the Wellesley College Science Outreach program and integrated Madeline Barowsky, a Framingham High School student, into our team. As part of the program she worked with team members for approximately 60 hours and helped to develop Synbio Search and the Moclo Planner. She learned about the synthetic biology workflow, user centered design and the basics of programming using C# and XAML. At the end of the summer she presented in the Wellesley Science Center poster session.

Summer Poster Session

At the end of the summer research program, each student presented a poster summarizing the work they had done over the summer and explained it to the Wellesley College community and the Town of Wellesley.


Students from Wellesley and Framingham High School also attended the presentations. Through this experience, we introduced Synthetic Biology, the iGEM competition, and the power of applying computational thinking to problem solving, to our community.