Difference between revisions of "Team:Kyoto/HP/Silver"

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Revision as of 00:03, 19 October 2016

HP/Silver

As one of the biggest obstacles synthetic biologists face outside of labs, we focused on improving public perceptions on genetic engineering. In order to engage this problem, we introduced our iGEM project to the general public in various events, as listed below.

  • <1-1 Engaging the general public>
    • ・November Festival at Kyoto University 11/20/2015-11/24/2015
    • ・May Festival at University of Tokyo 05/15/2016-05/16/2016
      • <1-2 Engaging scientists>
        • ・The 88th annual meetings of the Genetics Society of Japan 09/08/2016
        <1-3 Public Relations>
        • ・SPEC

      Through these activities, iGEMKyoto engaged in science communication with the general public. We were shocked to learn how unrecognized iGEM and synthetic biology were to the general public. Thus, we have attempted to improve its recognition through multiple channel. These activities fulfill SILVER criteria.


      HP/Gold

      As we constantly had discussions with the general public in various public events, we came to strongly recognize the people’s overwhelming concerns for application of genetic engineering.

      Faced with this problem, we attempted to solve it in two ways.

      First, we strived to improve upon our project design of Noro-catcher and introduced a new module to increase its safety. We expected this module to reassure the general public on oral administration of our device.

      Second, we further developed our HP activities to discuss how people’s fears for genetic engineering arise, and we came upon the hypothesis that lack of knowledge on the matter causes unnecessary fear. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an informational lecture/discussion about genetic engineering to students of the age range 13 to 18 with various backgrounds and conducted a feedback survey before and after lecture. By comparing these results, we observed the effect of additional knowledge on genetic engineering, with dramatic increase in their trusts for this technology. As mentioned above, our struggle to improve public perception on synthetic biology was reflected on our activities, fulfilling GOLD criteria.