Education
Promotion of iGEM & Introduction of Team Project at 2016 Summer Bio Camp (July 5~July 10)
To promote the concept of synthetic biology and to propagate iGEM competition, we gave out a discourse at 2016 summer bio camp held annually in the Department of Biological Science and Technology. We briefly passed on some general examples of synthetic biology and also encouraged them to think the problem from a different angle such as synthetic biology or engineering. Also, we taught them some basic knowledge of how we constructed biobricks with restriction sites and presented the projects of 2015 and 2016 NCTU_Formosa.
Online Survey—Raising the awareness of agricultural food safety issues & Promoting the concept of repellent peptide
The power of customer awareness is strong for it builds up the overall trends of the industry, especially food industry. Therefore, we wanted to advocate the idea of creating a new style of agriculture that is safe and environmentally-friendly for the purpose of kindling their awareness for choosing safe food ingredients. Accordingly, we designed a survey that gives out the information about our project, and some reported news of food safety scandal and asked them about their opinions. We put the survey online on our Facebook Fan Page. Also, it is a good way of describing what we are working on for the whole year.
(Online Survey Link: https://tony367.typeform.com/to/ZtmVG6)
Education Workshop(July18-July28)
National Taichung First Senior High School
Learning about iGEM Competition
Concept of Synthetic Biology
Basic knowledge of Synthetic Biology
Basic Mathematical Modelling
Laboratory Practice
Project Brainstorming
Presentation Skill Guidance
This summer, fourteen high school students in science class from National Taichung First Senior High School came to National Chiao Tung University to learn about iGEM. In the two-weeks workshop, they have learned a lot of basic concepts of synthetic biology associated with laboratory practices. Furthermore, they were grouped into two teams and assigned to acquire ideas and knowledge from 2015 high school team’s wikis. It not only broadened their horizons but sorted out their thoughts through the presentation.
On the last day of the workshop, each group presented their own project, which contained brainstorming, principles, and experimental designs. Their projects were creative, and yet there is still room for the more rigorous thinking. Through a series of compact training, we believe that they will be a competent high school team in the future iGEM competition.
National Chung Cheng University
Experience sharing of founding an iGEM team
Teaching Demonstration
How to Write Biobrick Sequences
Details of Biobrick Construction
This year, the student leader of National Chung Cheng University came to National Chiao Tung University to learn about the experience of establishing a new team. We exchanged the experience of team operation and academic advice. Besides, she also joined the two-week workshop with students from National Taichung First Senior High School. National Chung Cheng University will establish its first team next year. We are glad to have another companion in Taiwan.
Board Game
This year, NCTU_Formosa has designed an exciting board game, Pest Crisis. Pest Crisis is about scientists versus pests, fighting for crops. The player will separate into two groups, scientists, and pests. For scientists, players have to design biobricks to produce pesticides. Besides, pests have to evolve some traits to resist pesticides.
Preface:
With the influence of abnormal global climate change and the growth of the population, the crisis of food poverty cannot be overemphasized. Pest has long been the nemesis of scientists since the existence of agricultural civilization. A life-or-death battle of competing for food resources has begun. Whether you are the pests that evolve through the selection or the scientists that integrate synthetic biology into insecticidal toxins, squeeze your brain for the victory!
In the game, players can learn some basic principles of synthetic biology, and learn the concept of central dogma and the evolution. The Central Dogma of Biology is a flow of genetic information. DNA turns into messenger RNA, and mRNA turns into protein. Besides, the initiation of transcription requires four parts, promoter, RBS, insert gene and terminator. With all these parts, the scientists can design their own biobricks by teamwork to express the gene function on the play card. So players can not only learn the knowledge of synthetic biology but also understand the importance of teamwork. During the game, pests will keep developing phenotype to resist the attack from the scientists, so the scientists must keep building up new biobricks to win the game. That also help players know the pests problem is harmful to agriculture.
(see Guide Book)
Play with other iGEMers at 2016 iGEM NCKU Asia Conference.
Play with other iGEMers at meetup in NYMU.
We displayed our board game at 2016 iGEM NCKU Asia Conference and other meetups with other iGEMers. It is a great tool to let other iGEMers preliminarily understand our project. Since the game we design makes players cooperate, players have to keep communicating with each other. It helps players to talk a lot with their group member in the game. So players can know each other and become friends easily. Pest Crisis is not only game that is educational but also really entertaining.
Pest Crisis(Chinese version)
Pest Crisis-Guide book(English version)
We have designed both Chinese and English version of our board game and will reveal on the giant jamboree. Hope you will like it!
Board Game Introduction
