As part of our Human Outreach, this year’s iGEM Concordia team aims to educate the public on nanoparticles, as well as inform them about our project and goals.

On June 13th, Concordia’s iGEM 2016 team members Farhat and Edgar were interviewed by CJLO radio’s Patricia Petit Liang. They talked about the iGEM competition including the requirements for winning and our reason for participating. At the time, the team hadn’t started much lab work yet so they mainly discussed dry lab work tasks such as contacting sponsors, reaching out to the public through social media, creating animations as part of a web-series, and writing a safety protocol for nanoparticle handling and disposal.

The main focus during the interview was the introduction of nanoparticles; what they are, where they come from, what they’re made of, and what shapes and sizes they are found in. To showcase the uniqueness of the project, both members explained how plants are used for nanoparticle synthesis as an eco-friendly alternative to chemical synthesis procedures, and that the resulting nanoparticles are found in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the plant extract used.

Farhat and Edgar explained how the lab work is split into 3 phases: Synthesis of nanoparticles, Attachment of nanoparticles to cell membranes , and Microfluidics where two cells will be isolated and made to collide with each other to partake in the Battle. They also mentioned the various lab training sessions we had to take with EHS (Environmental Health & Safety) Concordia prior to starting lab work. In order to stress the importance of nanoparticle safety measures, our team representatives mentioned that nanoparticles themselves are more harmful than their macroscopic equivalents due to the fact that they can be easily inhaled during synthesis procedures. This lead to the discussion that nanoparticles must be synthesized in the biosafety cabinet and should either be stored there or in the fridge. Also, due to the lack of research on their long-term effects and the specific laws for disposal and handling of nanoparticles (despite some recommendations put forth by the government), they mentioned a safety protocol intended for members of this year’s team as well as potential future iGEM members following up on our project. (this SOP can be found here)

The interviewer asked about the observation of nanoparticles after the synthesis step, and they explained that this will be done under a transmission electron microscope. (TEM images here)

Farhat and Edgar said that they expect to gain valuable lab experience from this project during the following months, and took this opportunity to encourage undergraduate students to apply for next year’s iGEM Concordia team.

They concluded the interview by acknowledging the help we have gotten from our mentors; graduate students who guide us throughout our project, and by asking listeners to follow us on social media and stay updated!

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 to each flask.
To begin the reaction, pour 25-30 mL yeast in each flask
The yeast catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. The oxygen being released from the reaction creates bubbles in the detergent and causes the foam to expand.


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.

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iGEM Concordia's Interview with The Link

As members of the iGEM Concordia 2016 team, we made it our priority to spread the word about the iGEM Foundation and final competition, in hopes to inspire more students to participate in the future. A great way in which we were able to reach out to the public was through The Link, -a Concordia University-based student-run newspaper. Our team was fortunate enough to be featured in an article in the newspaper’s first issue of the year. Four members of our team: Julia Phillipp, Alaa Selim, Farhat Zafar and Nathalie Jreidini sat down with interviewer Kelsey Litwin from The Link to discuss iGEM and our project.

Among the things discussed during the interview, emphasis was placed on our work done for the human practices aspect of our project. We used this interview as an opportunity to discuss a bit about the possible dangers associated with working with nanoparticles in a laboratory setting and how our team wouldis addressing thoseese issues. This allowed us to introduce the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) we created which answered the need for better nanoparticle safety in laboratory practice. This SOP encompasses all of the information needed for the safe handling and disposal of materials in our experimental process that involve nanoparticle synthesis and attachment to cells. In addition to discussing the competition and our project, we brought up the importance of encouraging women to pursue careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Inasmuch, it is worth noting that our team has more female members than male, which could be considered somewhat surprising for what is often observed in terms of participant gender distribution for a scientific genetic engineering competition.

Overall, the success of this interview in reaching out to the community became evident when several Concordia students mentioned having read about us and learning about our iGEM project after viewing The Link newspaper or seeing our article with The Link online. We hope that this article and our public exposure has enticed people to join next year’s iGEM competition.

Here is the link to the online version of our newspaper article: http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/concordias-nano-warriors-battle-their-way-to-gold

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iGEM Concordia Featured on FrogHeart

As one of our team’s goals is to reach out to the public about science as well as to advertise our project, we came into contact with some of the web-owners of ‘FrogHeart.ca,’ a well-frequented science web blog which features commentary on topics such as nanotech and science policies. We were lucky enough to reach them in the early stages of our project, and received publicity during the preliminary stages of our experimental process. This truly provided us with the exposure we were looking for. On FrogHeart’s blog, viewers could access a general overview of our Combat Cells project idea as well as our future goals. Moreover, the blog post also discussed the iGEM Foundation and final competition as a whole.

We also provided a way in which the public could reach our team by leaving our email address at the end of the blog entry. The aim was to address any comments, questions or suggestions,as we were pleased to receive feedback from FrogHeart’s science enthusiasts.
To read the post, please follow this link: http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=21011

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Our Visit to Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School

In order to reach out to a group of young students and to gain a fresh new perspective on our project, several of our team members visited two Biology classes at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School and presented about iGEM, science as a field of study, and about our project. A major goal of our presentations was to educate the students about nanoparticles in general, and also about the science behind our synthesis, attachment, and microfluidics protocols within our experimental process.

During our presentation, we introduced the iGEM Foundation, what participating in iGEM is all about, and finally we discussed the final Jamboree using a video depicting last year’s iGEM competition. The presentations were also an opportunity to motivate the students to become involved in upcoming competitions, especially considering iGEM is open to high school students.

In order to render the presentation more appealing and to captivate a younger audience, we made use of animations to explain some basic experimental procedures in a fun and interactive fashion. Throughout the presentation, we communicated with the class by asking them questions on various topics as well as asked for their opinions on different areas of our project. This provided us with their perspectives and feedback which we could use and integrate into our Combat Cells project. The students were encouraged to participate in discussions during the presentation and to ask their own questions as well. We were pleased to hear that several of the high school students were aiming to pursue a future career in a scientific field. This left us with a sense that we accomplished our goal of bringing the students an interest in iGEM and the sciences.