During the development of the PROTEUS project, we firmly believe that advances in science and technology occur not only within laboratories but also rely on effective dialogue and knowledge sharing with society as a whole. Our educational promotion activities are not a one-way dissemination, but a dynamic process of mutual learning and collective growth with groups from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, through educational and science popularization activities tailored to different groups, we have disseminated cutting-edge technologies to a broader public in a vivid, accessible, and interactive manner. Our education initiatives cover adolescents, college students, the general public, and vulnerable groups. This effort not only disseminates knowledge of synthetic biology and AI for science, helping others understand science, but also the valuable feedback obtained from these interactions has profoundly shaped the PROTEUS project itself. It has enabled us to continuously reflect and improve through communication, transforming PROTEUS into a more responsible, accessible, and user-friendly platform.
Street Science Popularization Interviews with Children
In public spaces such as parks and squares, we conducted casual and engaging random interviews with children and their parents.
We used simple metaphors like "the Lego of Life" to explain synthetic biology to the children, sparking their boundless curiosity and creative ideas.
The children's imaginative questions (e.g., "Can this AI design glowing Pokémon?") made us realize the importance of preserving pure curiosity and imagination in technology communication. This experience prompted us to prioritize the simplicity of language and visual friendliness in PROTEUS's software interface and project demonstrations, striving to enable non-professionals to intuitively understand the platform.
Science Popularization Interview Activity at The Affiliated High School of Beijing Institute of Technology
We held an interactive lecture and interview on synthetic biology and AI for Science with junior high school students.
We guided the students to reflect on how AI can be used to "design life," and their responses were filled with surprisingly insightful perspectives.
The students used metaphors such as "the Lego of Life" to describe synthetic biology and "super navigation" to illustrate the role of AI in scientific research. These vivid analogies became valuable inspiration for us to explain complex technologies to the public in subsequent efforts. Their concerns about technology security (e.g., worries about "opening Pandora's Box") also reinforced our determination to take "responsible innovation" as our core narrative, which is directly reflected in the project Wiki and all external demonstrations.
Exchange and Guidance with a High School Team
We engaged in mutual learning and exchange with a high school iGEM team.
While answering their questions about basic experimental techniques such as PCR and primer design, our own understanding of core molecular biology principles was "reinforced in reverse."
The detailed challenges encountered by the high school team in experimental operations reminded us that wet experiments are fraught with uncertainties. This prompted us to incorporate more experimental-level constraints into the design of PROTEUS's algorithms—for instance, prioritizing the generation of protein sequences that are easy to synthesize, express, and validate. Consequently, we strengthened the importance of communication between dry and wet experiment teams within our group, ensuring that AI-designed sequences can be practically implemented.
Seminar with iGEM AI & Software Teams from Multiple Universities
We held a technical seminar with dry experiment teams from Nanjing University, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Jilin University, and Tongji University. This provided a valuable opportunity for "technical benchmarking."
We conducted in-depth discussions on our respective technical paths in the field of AI-driven protein design, including language model-based gene mining, multimodal large model construction, specialized databases and design platforms for antimicrobial peptides, and enzyme activity prediction models.
These discussions confirmed that our technical route based on ESM2 fine-tuning is among the mainstream and cutting-edge approaches in the field. Meanwhile, the practical experiences of other teams in areas such as model architecture and the construction of evaluation metrics (e.g., activity, toxicity, stability) provided valuable references for optimizing PROTEUS. The shared "experimental validation" bottleneck across all teams also strengthened our determination to build a universal platform that effectively connects dry and wet experiments.
Technical Exchange with the YNNU-China Graduate Team
We also held a face-to-face exchange with the YNNU-China team from Yunnan Normal University.
Their project focuses on integrating existing protein design tools to build an integrated software platform, which demonstrates an important pathway to improving research efficiency in the field.
This exchange helped us more clearly recognize that the unique value of PROTEUS lies in exploring innovative protein design paradigms rather than tool integration. At the same time, we also acknowledged the common validation challenges faced by innovative paradigms. This directly led us to plan the integration of AlphaFold 3 structure prediction into our design workflow as a key validation step for AI-generated results, enhancing the reliability of our research outcomes.
Welfare House Visit and Public Welfare Science Popularization
We visited a local welfare house and prepared an interactive science popularization activity themed "The Wonderful World of Life Sciences" for the children there.
We carefully prepared 3D models of animal cells, plant cells, E. coli, and DNA. Through interaction with the children, we transformed complex scientific concepts into intuitive and engaging experiences using stories and games, and distributed science-themed gifts.
This activity profoundly educated our team: the light of science should shine on every corner of society. It strengthened our sense of social responsibility and reminded us that while pursuing technological advancement, we should also consider how to make scientific and technological achievements contribute to improving human well-being—especially the quality of life of vulnerable groups—in simple and low-cost ways.