Engagement - iGEM Peshawar 2016

Public Engagement

iGEM Peshawar travelled a total of 3400 miles and spent almost 60 hours spreading synbio awareness across Pakistan. Our roadshow stopped by schools, colleges and universities, engaging over 5000 students, teachers, parents, and members of the community. We also set up a 'Bio–Machines' lab at Magnifi–Science in Karachi — one of the biggest science fairs in the country. Because we were engaging a diverse audience, consisting of people of all ages and background, our activities were designed to keep everyone involved!

Because we were the first ever iGEM team from Pakistan and this was the first time synthetic biology was happening in the country, it was a very big deal for us. We knew that it was our responsibility to educate the masses about this cutting-edge science and its potential, as much as we could. Moreover, because we were working on air pollution — which happens to be a major problem for our country — we could create great impact about the potential of SynBIo in tackling this problem.

We left no stone unturned and wrote to and contacted as much media personnel as we could. Our efforts paid off and we got interviewed and featured in 5 national newspapers and 3 national TV News channels.

On National TVs

In Newspapers

The Integrators

by Hamid Zaman | Published in Express Tribune | August 29, 2016

Express Tribune is considered to be the most read online English news outlet. It is an online-only newspaper

Pakistan's 12 top biotechnology students to compete in iGEM in Boston

Published in The News International | September 26, 2016

The News International has a circulation of 140,000. Estimated readership is 140,000 x 4 because on average one newspaper is shared between four people.