Team:TrinityCollegeDublin/Outreach

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Outreach - presentation for children

Introduction

As one of our public outreaches our team decided to put together a tutorial for kids. The main topics of the tutorial were:

• Synthetic biology.
• Basic genetics.
• DNA and its structure.


During the reception and subsequent event, the children learned how to make a DNA model from pipe cleaners. This was a great way of explaining to the younger generation how DNA looks like and how it works. It certainly aided kids in their imagination and getting a clearer picture of the crucial molecule that distinguishes all species from each other.



Future Scientists


The children got the chance to perform their own experiment, which was the extraction of DNA from their own saliva. During the presentation children were introduced to the topic of transformation and were shown glowing red E. coli cells through a UV spectrophotometer.

Throughout the event kids were kept entertained by doing many tasks, such as checking if their partner’s earlobe was attached or detached or if they had a straight or Hitchhiker’s thumb. In this way, we were able to explain the frequencies of certain things occurring, i.e. dominant and recessive traits.

The children also took part in a DNA construction competition.



Don’t forget the parents!


We addressed the parents and explained to them our iGEM project. Throughout the event parents were occupied filling out the survey made to get an estimate of how much general public knows about malaria and whether or not they agree with the concept of synthetic biology.



What we took from it


Our team benefited from this tutorial because we got experience in making the public aware about synthetic biology. It was a great opportunity to teach young kids about a topic that we’re passionate about. We received great response from the parents/guardians of the children who took their time to fill out our survey. Also, this tutorial made us realise that the general public is not aware about malaria as much as the situation requires it to be.



Outreach - survey




Introduction


Our team conducted a survey with the goal to learn the view of the general public. It helped us gain an insight into other peoples’ ways of thinking, to better understand what the public fears in relation to synthetic biology, and how much they actually know about it. We received a great response from all of our interviewees and assimilated a great amount of knowledge about our society. The survey was divided into two categories; people under 30 years of age and people aged 30 years or more. An equal amount of subjects from both groups were surveyed in order to make our analysis as fair as possible.



Analysis of the survey


From the feedback we obtained, the respondents were aware of malaria and 23% of young people regarded the disease as very serious, 62% as moderately serious, and a minority of 15% thought it was not serious at all. In comparison, of the 30+ years of age group, a bigger percentage thought that malaria was a very serious disease; 69% while 31% considered it to be moderately serious. When asked about the awareness of emerging resistance against long-established antimalarial drugs, a larger percentage of young people were aware of the situation; 69%, whereas in the 30+ year old group only 38% of questioned knew about the problem. What is surprising is the amount of people who saw the need for the development of new antimalarial drugs: a very high 92%. This set of data is displayed in Figure 1.





A startling result was obtained when the interviewees were asked about medicine being produced by genetically engineered organisms. The same number of those questioned from both categories were familiar with synthetically modified organisms producing medications; 54%. Figure 2 shows the percentages of people from both groups that were knowledgeable about a set of medicines produced by GMOs.





One of the biggest surprises from our survey was discovering that a vast majority of the public was not familiar with the term ‘synthetic biology’. When asked about the meaning of the term many of our interviewees found it hard to give an answer. However, when the term was explained to them by one of our team members it became clear that a large percent of the respondents already knew what synthetic biology was but were simply not aware of the exact definition. In both factions the public agreed that synthetic biology and genetic engineering was a good way of replacing natural sources of medicines to make them cheaper and more affordable; a slightly bigger percentage of young people supported the idea. One of the questions posed by our team was about the concern that the people had regarding genetic engineering and synthetic biology. The results for that question can be seen in Figure 3 below.





Both groups agreed that there are more benefits coming from these fields of research than the possible risks created by them. The two groups also recognised the need for greater support for the development of the field of synthetic biology. This means there is still hope for the future.



Conclusions


From our survey it is clear that the younger generation regarded malaria as moderately serious, were aware about the emerging resistance to the antimalarial drugs and a higher percentage also knew that there is a need for the development of new antimalarial drugs. This gives us a clear picture that young people are educated about the problems in the world but at the same time are more hopeful and optimistic about the future and the possibilities of finding a new cure. The fact that malaria is also not affecting Ireland or Europe as much as other diseases, such as cancer, may be why young people don’t see malaria as a very serious problem. On the other hand, the older generation discerned the illness as very serious and were aware about the need for the development of new antimalarial drugs, however they were less aware about the emergence of resistance to the antimalarial drugs. A conclusion that can be reached from this data is that older members of our society are more realistic and find malaria a serious disease without being aware of the resistance. One respondent said: ‘There is always a need for new drugs.’ This explains why such a big percentage of the older group, 92%, see the need for the production of new drugs without being aware of the emerging resistance to the current drugs.

From Figure 3 above it is observed that 23% of young people had some serious concerns about the topic in question/examined, 31% had some concerns and 46% had no concerns. In comparison with the 30+ years of age group no-one saw any serious concerns regarding genetic engineering and synthetic biology but 77% thought it raised some concerns and 23% saw no concerns in respect to the query being asked. This shows that the older generation sees genetic engineering and synthetic biology more as a possible danger than younger people, however, it must be remembered that they still think that there should be more support for the development of the field of synthetic biology. The possible conclusion that comes from this piece of information is that although people may have some concerns or fears about something they do not fully understand, they still want more of it and they want it improved.