Education and Engagement

Despite Alberta having many successful iGEM teams over the years, much of that success was not well known in Edmonton. Our team was completely student-run in beginning, having raised the registration fee ourselves as well as finding lab space to perform our experiments. While it did build a lot of character and work ethic, having to build an iGEM team from scratch was not something we would recommend to future high school iGEm teams. We wanted to inform the general public and students all over Edmonton about the amazing field of synthetic biology and its applications, in the hopes that future iGEM teams and other synthetic biology ventures would start cropping up in the Edmonton area. Below are some of the public engagement activities that we performed to reach this goal.

Community Outreach

We visited three different junior high / elementary schools in the Edmonton area, all in various parts of the city. We performed experiments and team-building exercises (Such as a strawberry DNA extraction experiment & cup-stacking competition) with the students, as well as giving introductory presentations on genetics and genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is not found in the standard biology curriculum in Alberta, and genetics is not introduced until high school. For many of the students we presented to, this was their first time hearing about the field of synthetic biology. Our main demographic were students aged 8 to 14. Our hope is that these students will take interest in genetic engineering as they come into high school and form iGEM teams of their own.

Media

We were featured on the Edmonton Examiner. In the article, we discussed the foundation of our team, how we discovered iGEM, what iGEM is, and how we came about our research idea. As well, we discussed the implications of our research, and the future of space exploration. This helped promote our team for our crowdfunding campaign on Experiment.com, and showed people across Edmonton that student-run research initiatives can be successful, in the hopes that more people would be willing to support and invest in student groups like ours.

Click here to read the article

We also maintained several social media handles where we promoted our team, as well facts and tidbits about the space industry and synthetic biology:

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanTundraEdmonton/ https://www.instagram.com/urbantundra_edmonton/

Discussion

We had the amazing opportunity to talk, by proxy, with CSA astronaut Robert Thirsk. An engineer and physician, Robert Thirsk also holds the surprising distinction of being the first person to ever receive a university degree in space (having been given an honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater: The University of Calgary). Dr. Thirsk proved us a look into the life of an astronaut, and incredible insight into the space industry and why more people, and governments, should be investing into the projects being developed by their space agencies. A busy individual, Dr. Thirsk responded to one of our questions regarding space exploration.

How do you convince taxpayers that spending money on a manned mars mission is their best interest?

Dr. Thirsks: The strongest driver for continued support for space programs is simply economic benefits. The Canadian Space Agency, funded by Canadian taxpayers, makes $3.00 Billion in revenue. Striving for space missions makes economic sense. There is also a trickle down effect, plenty of spin-off technologies comes from innovation in the space industry. For example, MD Robotics developed the Canadarm for use on the International Space Station. Developments from the Canadam include the NeuroArm, a robot designed for neurosurgery, and improvements to modern flight simulators. There is also a utilitarian component. Canada has the second largest land mass in the world, plenty of rural areas lack modern amenities such as internet access and TeleHeathcare. Developments in satellite technology would provide these amenities to people in our northernmost regions, as well as improved remote sensing technology. Successful space missions also inspire the public. If we can achieve the impossible in space, then we can adopt that mindset and face other problems back on earth (climate change, poverty, etc.). Dedicated space programs also educate younger generations and inspire the next generation of leaders. They promote international cooperation and instigate dialogue between countries that wouldn’t normally cooperate. Politics don’t get in the way when there is a common vision globally. I think those are enough reason for the Canadian taxpayer to support our space program, and other developments in the space industry.