Team:Tuebingen/synbio
Synbio-Day
On a nice Saturday morning, we build up our pavillon in one of Tuebingen's main shopping streets to start our Synbio-Day 2015. The pavillon was hung with infographics about iGEM and synthetic biology in general to provide general information to people coming by. We also provided food and drink to any bypassers that were interested in further discussions.
People that came to our booth had the opportunity to take part in a quiz, in order to test and convey knowledge about synthetic biology. Exemplary questions were the definition of a gene and a genetically modified organism, or what happens to you if you were to consume genetically engineered food.
The people, who came up to our booth, had a broad variety of background knowledge. Ranging from layman to a doctorand in motor proteins we had lots of different interested guests. Discussing with them was very interesting, as we could either teach them something new, or even learn something from them.
In conclusion, we can say that the SynBioDay was a success and we hope, that we could share some knowledge with the general public in order to better inform them about synthetic biology and still some of their fears that were born from ignorance.
The field of synthetic biology is often dealt with in the media and in many cases, the possible consequences of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food are discussed highly controversial. Most recent, possible consequences of the TTIP (“Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership”) between the U.S. and the EU, one of the consequences being the import of genetically modified organisms in food that is provided by companies in the USA, were discussed rather emotionally in the media as well as in public.
A main reason for the high emotionality regarding this topic is the fact that knowledge about genetics and general methods used in gene technology and ecology is rare in the public. In Europe, GMOs are widely seen as unhealthy and harmful to the environment and humans. easoning whether a single GMO will have harmful impacts on the environment is hard for scientists, but even harder for people with less knowledge about genetics and ecology. Therefore it appears to be the easier solution to ban GMOs in food.
On September 17th, we therefore invited 40 pupils in their final high-school year from the Mildred Scheel Schule Böblingen to our institute, in order to introduce this controversially discussed topic to them. Our intention was to convey the theoretical as well as the practical background of synthetic biology by talking about gene technology, presenting our iGEM project, and performing daily used gene technology methods with them.
We performed an experiment to prove the existence of the cry1Ab gene that codes for a delta-endotoxin in the genome of genetically modified corn. These cry-toxins are pore-forming toxins that are naturally produced by Bacillus thuringiensis. Their incorporation in the Incorporating the encoding gene into the corn genome helps perish a corn parasite, the European corn borer, during corn cultivation because of the insecticidal effects of cry-toxins.
The day started with an introduction to synthetic biology and frequently used methods followed by the practical part. During a lunch break, we give an insight into the implications of GMOs and gene technology in general, followed by a vivid discussion. The practical part began with a DNA extraction from food samples brought by the pupils (popcorn, polenta, cornmeal, etc.). The extracted DNA was then used for a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in order to amplify the cry1Ab gene (if present) as well as a corn specific invertase gene that helps to determine if the corn genome has actually been extracted from the samples, as well a positive and negative control to be able to compare the data the samples gave. The PCR products were finally separated via agarose gel electrophoresis to check if the cry1Ab gene was amplified? was present in their own maize samples.
Another approach to show the pupils basic methods of gene technology was a restriction digest. The pupils were given one of five different plasmids, which they should identify by a restriction digest. Using plasmid cards, they were able to determine which plasmid they have by comparing their digest result with the restriction sites present in the five plasmids. This little exercise on the interpretation of scientific data, and the test on the cry1A(b)-gene were well received by the pupils as they were able to figure out what it is like to analyze their own results and draw conclusions from that. We discussed together what might have gone wrong and what information they got from the corn samples.
They were excited to learn methods like PCR and gel electrophoresis, because such experiments are usually not carried out in school. Especially the loading of an agarose gel was very fascinating for them and led to a lot of questions concerning the theoretical background.
All in all, we hope that the pupils enjoyed this excursion to the field of synthetic biology and got a profound first impression, so that they are motivated to form a well-founded opinion about different forms of gene technology and maybe go into gene technology themselves after they finish school.