Team:Concordia/publicengagement
iGEM Concordia's Interview with CJLO
Team Concordia is doing its best to inform and educate the public about our project. One approach to this has been to reach out to a local radio station. Two members of our team were interviewed by CJLO's Patricia Petit Liang. Anyone tuning into 1690AM could hear about our project, the iGEM competition and nanoparticles. The interview could also be heard live on the CJLO website. We obtained a copy of the recording which can be found below.
The interview explains the different parts of the project, which includes synthesis, attachment and microfluidics. We discuss the importance of nanoparticle safety and the steps our team is taking to spread awareness of this issue. We also mention what inspired us to pick this project and how students can benefit from participating in this competition.
Interview with CJLO
Concordia Athletic Sports Camp
The iGEM Concordia team wanted to get young kids excited about science while teaching them a bit about our project. On July 27th, we spent an afternoon with three groups of children from the Concordia Athletic Sports Camp. The ages of these children ranged from 6 - 8 years old. We started off by introducing ourselves and giving them a brief description of our project at a level that they could understand. We then proceeded to perform three experiments with the kids: while explaining the science behind what was happening. Some of these experiments were very hands-on for the kids and they seemed to enjoy these the most. For example, one of the experiments involved the kids making “goop” out of corn starch, water and food coloring. The kids could see how fun science could be while also learning about solids and liquids. We were happy to hear many of the children mention that they were interested in becoming scientists. Below you can find our introduction to the students as well as the protocols for the experiments we did.
iGEM Concordia's Introduction to the Concordia Athletic Sports Camp:
Hey everyone! My name is [...], this is [...], and [...] ... We are all part of a science research team called iGEM. This year’s iGEM team is taking part in a science fair competition where we need to make our own project and present it to other scientists from across the world. Together, our team has created a project where cells - the really small living building blocks of all larger living creatures - are being covered in mini battle-weapons. We can control these very tiny armored cells to fight in teams against each other. From there we can decide which of these battle-cells are the champions! Now that we’ve told you a bit about the science our team is involved in, we’d like to give you guys a taste of how cool science can be. There are so many different things that science can be used for! We hope that this may inspire you guys to get involved with science, and maybe one day you may choose to participate in a science fair too, like iGEM. So what we have done is set up 3 different stations with some neat little science experiments. We’ll split you guys up into 3 groups, and each group will get the chance to check out each station for about 5 minutes. Then you’ll get to switch to the next station with your group. Here at Station 1 we have Nathalie and Farhat, who will be showing you how biology is important in making chemicals react by making Elephant toothpaste.
Elephant Toothpaste:
Start with 10 mL of 30% H2O2 in 3 erlenmeyer flasks.
Add detergent and food coloring.
Pour 25-30 mL yeast in each flask
When H2O2 is added, a chemical comes out of the cells which breaks down the H2O2, which is an acid, and causes the release of gas.
The oxygen with the soap creates foam.
Oobleck:
Mix 2 cups starch with 1 cup water.
Give each kid a container.
When we press hard the starch comes together and traps the water inside, which makes it hard
Magic Pepper:
Start with bowl of water with pepper.
Tell kids to poke surface of water.
Then do same with soapy finger.
