Team:Bulgaria/Engagement

Public Engagement

Cell Model

During our work we made a survey and found out that Bulgarians were not familiar with the essence of synthetic biology. Therefore we decided to create a social campaign which aimed to introduce synthetic biology and inspire more young Bulgarians to do science. Our team held a number of events in the lab we are working in and involved students from various academic institutions. We popularized science in several high schools as well as in three of the biggest universities in the country. To educate people we went out in the busy streets of Sofia and showed people 3D models of cell organelles as well as structures of DNA and various proteins. That provoked interest in many of them and they were fascinated by synthetic biology and our innovative project.

Kids demo

We invited our colleagues from the Faculty of Biology at the Sofia University to see our lab and find what a great opportunity the world of iGEM and synthetic biology provide. Many of them were interested in the competition and wanted to take part in future iGEM teams. Furthermore we participated in the The European Researchers' Night where we made demonstartions and presentations of our project. During the event people were able to see different microscope slides, we also explained how paternity testing is done and how an electrophoresis is run. The audience could work with us and spread cultures and take part in a discussion we organized – for or against genetically engineered organisms. We were able to refute all controversial opinions and people intriguingly found out that genetic engineering is the door to many prominent future high-tech discoveries.

Kids demo

Our public engagement drew the attention of major Bulgarian media (BiT, Nova TV, BTV, Boomberg, BNR, newspapers and online newsfeeds) which gave us the opportunity to educate publicly from their TV screens about the benefits from and the science that goes with genetically modified organisms. As a result of those broadcasts a lot of people contacted us and we organized meetings in several cafés where we answered all of their questions. Although we had only several months, we are convinced that thanks to our efforts the people we were able to reach became more familiar with the essence of synthetic biology and that we even inspired their interest in science as a whole.

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