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Team:St Andrews/Public-outreach
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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%" /> | <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%" /> | ||
| - | <p>National Science and Engineering Week | + | <p><em>National Science and Engineering Week</em> 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> |
| + | <p> | ||
| + | We had a number of exhibits, each catering to a different audience: | ||
| + | <ul> | ||
| + | <li>For the littlest kids, we ran an interactive "Codon Game", where children could "build a gene" from little paper parts.</li> | ||
| + | <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> | ||
| + | <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> | ||
| + | </ul> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <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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Revision as of 15:45, 7 August 2012
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
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.
Festival's website
TEDxUniversityofStAndrews
Team member Josi presents "Spider Mutants and Bioterrorism - an Overview of Synthetic Biology as an Emerging Scientific Discipline" to a “TEDx” audience of over eighty scientists and non - scientists akin. Josi views the field as "ground breaking" and by the end of her talk, members of her audience too admit surprise at the wealth of possibilities that this new research area makes available. There is excitement at the tantalizing proximity of reality of these ideas.
Events website
TEDx profile
Feasting at "Food for Thought"
Superhero or Supervillain?
Who would you be?
Who will you be?
Synthetic Biology has already made possible the creation of the world's first "Spider Goat" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16554357); how long will it be before Spider-Man steps out from our books and into our everyday lives?
Team St Andrews spoke to crowds at University of St Andrews' "Food for Thought" 600th Anniversary Event on Sunday. Demonstrating the extraction of DNA from bananas; providing a background to the processes involved in Synthetic Biology lab work and encouraging children and adults alike to "Create [their] Own Superhero", the Team emphasised the imminence and relevance of this field of research, as well as the far reaching possibilities.
Media
- [25.07.2012] Streets of London: paved with platinum? – University of St Andrews Website
- [25.07.2012] Študij in raziskovanje v tujini: trdo delo, a tudi dovolj družabnosti – Delo
Online Debate
Engage in debate and learn more about our progress - "Follow" Team St Andrews on Twitter and "Like" our Facebook page!