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Revision as of 19:59, 26 October 2010
Human Practices: Synthetic biology in Poland
Since we took part in iGEM competition three years ago, we are still the only team from Poland. Synthetic biology is still an area which is slowly developing. However the remarkable change on this field can be seen. In Polish scientific institutions and universities terms as “bioengineering” and “synthetic biology” are commonly used and in high schools it became popular to talk about biotechnology and genetic engineering. Low interest in this area seems to be strange, taking into account that the precursor of term “synthetic biology” is Polish geneticist prof. Wacław Szybalski. There are more and more lectures, which introduce people into the area of synthetic biology, but still not enough. That is why our involvement in human practices in Poland is so important every year.
To spread the idea of iGEM competition among students, doctors and professors we prepared a set of presentation about synthetic biology and started a debate over this topic. The beginnings were difficult. On our first presentation only few students came, but later on our speeches became popular and we had more and more listeners. When we asked who is interested in joining our team this year and is prepared to give up on holiday plans, about 30 students got up. We decided to make an exam in English about genetic, synthetic biology, iGEM competition and our last year achievements. The results were satisfying. Most of the answers indicated that the majority of students understood the idea of the competition and assumptions of synthetic biology. In the end we choose 8 new students and opened for them doors to the beautiful world of creative biology.
Since synthetic biology is still developing, we need to count on next generation that they will continue our work. We decided to visit some high schools and share with them our enthusiasm:) How did it look like?
1. They fill in the a questionnaire You can see below
2. We tough them about assumptions of synthetic biology and iGEM competition using a presentation prepared for that occasion.
Special thanks go to Dr. Andrew L. Nelson who allowed us to use his amazing Robot Artworks! (see more on nelsonrobotics.org). There are some slides from our presentation:
You can see all of it by clicking here - unfortunately it's in polish. Still, please enjoy it!
3. We gave them the same questionnaire to compare the results
a tu jest tabelka
Nearly every student could tell or guess what biochemistry and molecular biology is about. After our speech a number of good answers slightly increased. Non of the students answered correctly on the question about systems biology and only a few of them heard about synthetic biology before we tough them. On these two field the disparity in correct responses was remarkable.
When we asked what GMO stands for, unfortunately most of the students wrote down that those are (correctly) genetically modified.. (and not) objects.. and that it only affects plants. However when in the next question we asked if they disapprove genetic modifications on living organisms like plants or animals, a great number of them answered that this is a necessity to expand our knowledge and to make our world a better place to live in. Our younger listeners got interested in iGEM project. They quickly understood what restriction enzymes are and how to create a new biobrick in laboratory. They are also welcome to join our team next year. It shows that lecturing younger people is beneficial.
That is why we decided to continue our human practices next year. We want to visit many other schools not only in Warsaw. Our main goal is to pass down a passion to the younger generation!
We have a great opportunity to face an other approach to science. Our team is involved in sociological research conducted by Izabela Wagner, Ph. D., from the Institute of Sociology, University of Warsaw. Dr Wagner is investigating the process of international socialization of biologists - how they get involved in the international world of science.
