GOAL
Our core goal is highly aligned with the spirit of the iGEM competition: to break down the barriers between science and the public, promote the popularization of synthetic biology knowledge, practical innovation, and global collaboration. We are committed to bringing synthetic biology from the laboratory to the broader public view. Through designing a series of diversified educational programs, we transform its core concepts of "standardization, modularization, and engineering" into activities that different groups can understand and participate in, and build a complete educational ecosystem covering knowledge popularization, hands-on practice, and community co-creation.
We hope that through these efforts, we can not only inspire people of all ages to be curious about and enthusiastic about exploring life sciences but also cultivate their ability to think like synthetic biologists — that is, how to design, construct, and test biological systems with new functions from scratch, thereby contributing to solving real-world problems.
Caring Classroom For Kids
What is this?
The "Caring Classroom" is a brand project of summer social practice for young college students in Chang'an Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, which has been successfully held for 17 years. This year, in cooperation with the Communist Youth League Committee of Chang'an Town, we specially launched a series of courses titled "Wonderful Biology Laboratory" with the theme of "synthetic biology". The activity aims to bring cutting-edge biological knowledge to local students and inspire their passion for biology through entertaining methods.
What did we do?
Under the planning and promotion of the Town's Communist Youth League Committee and our iGEM team, we carried out a two-week series of courses called "Wonderful Biology Laboratory" in Chang'an Town from July 28 to August 8, 2025, with approximately 35 children aged 7-12 participating in the courses. Starting from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives of biology, the course content depicted a vibrant and creative biological world for all participants through the knowledge chain of "colonies - cells - organelles - DNA".
What are the results?
The "Wonderful Biology Laboratory" series includes 5 specific teaching sessions, aiming to create a complete course experience through a closed loop of "theory - practice - feedback". The courses are respectively named "Microbial Artists - Petri Dish Graffiti Experiment", "The Microscopic World of Cells - Observation and Drawing of Slide Specimens", "Building a Cellular Planet - Understanding and Making Microscopic Structures of Cells", "The Energy Factory of Cells - Exploring Mitochondria", and "Handmade DNA Bracelets - Exploring the Principles of DNA Base Pairing". Detailed course information can be found in the *Inclusive Science Popularization Activity Toolkit*.
Lab Exploration For High Schoolers
What is this?
The "High School Students Entering iGEM Laboratory" program is a science popularization activity launched by our school's iGEM team for high school students, connecting classroom theories with cutting-edge scientific research. It aims to enable high school students to learn the basic knowledge and applications of synthetic biology, a cutting-edge interdisciplinary subject, through an immersive laboratory experience, thereby inspiring their interest and enthusiasm in exploring life sciences.
What did we do?
From April 27 to 29, 2025, in cooperation with Huitong College of Beijing Normal University, we received 7 students from Rong Hong High School to enter the iGEM laboratory. Under the guidance of teachers Shen Hongyu and Cao Yinghua, we led these seven high school students to learn about synthetic biology, the iGEM competition, and related project cases. At the same time, we instructed them on how to correctly use pipettes in the laboratory, and together they completed key experimental operations such as plasmid extraction and agarose gel electrophoresis, and conducted induction culture and observation of green fluorescent protein engineered bacteria .
What are the results?
This activity successfully stimulated the students' interest in synthetic biology and was highly praised by them. One of the students believed that this activity was very valuable, as it allowed the theoretical knowledge learned in class to be practically applied in real laboratory operations, and they gained a lot. When seeing the electrophoresis bands they had run with their own hands, they were filled with a sense of accomplishment.
Academic Cultural Festival: IGEM Exhibition
What is this?
The Academic Cultural Festival is an interdisciplinary and inter-professional interactive platform built by our school to promote academic exchanges and inspire scientific research interest. Every year during the festival, we set up an iGEM booth to introduce the iGEM competition and the basic knowledge of synthetic biology to students. We hope to simplify complex scientific concepts through vivid and interesting forms, allowing students to feel the charm of synthetic biology and gain more inspiration and support from interdisciplinary enlightenment.
What did we do?
During the event, we carefully designed a number of sessions. On the stage, we conducted engaging scientific demonstrations to visualize abstract biological principles, prepared vivid cases and interesting challenges, and actively interacted with students through question-and-answer sessions, encouraging them to put forward their own questions and ideas to ensure that they could truly understand and participate. At the same time, we set up many interesting games related to synthetic biology , allowing students to deeply understand knowledge points through hands-on operations and critical thinking.
What are the results?
This event was a complete success and received unanimous praise from teachers and students. Some students also shared the event on social media: they believed that this event helped them better understand the charm of synthetic biology and praised the interesting mini-games and cultural and creative prizes we designed. Meanwhile, through communication and interaction with students, we also obtained a lot of valuable feedback, which provided many constructive suggestions for our project and future science popularization work.
Bio-Art MOD
What is this?
This is a Minecraft mod jointly developed by our team and the iGEM team of Southern University of Science and Technology. In this mod, we integrated our team's project. By combining abstract synthetic biology knowledge with games and aesthetic creation, we aim to break the stereotype that "science = boring" and build an open platform integrating learning, exploration, and creation.
What did we do?
Focusing on the positioning of "decoration and beautification", we designed and developed a synthetic biology-based bio-art creation system, combining the "light regulation" concept of synthetic biology with artistic creation in the game. In the game, players can obtain core materials such as silk, hydrogel, and Escherichia coli by trading with the newly added "costumers" and "synthetic biology experts" villagers; combine these materials with specific genes in the "painting synthesis table"; and finally create an artistic painting through light regulation and custom patterns.
What are the results?
By combining our project with the game, we allow players to enrich their understanding of synthetic biology through an immersive game experience from material acquisition to work creation. At the same time, this cooperation and exchange with other iGEM teams not only promoted technical exchanges between teams but also enabled us to build an open-source community around the gamification of synthetic biology education, jointly promoting the iteration and innovation of the project.
Website: https://github.com/sinxy-sai/IrisCraft-Bio-Atelier-Adventures
SynBio Safari
What is this?
This is a series of educational games themed on synthetic biology designed by us. It aims to enable audiences from different backgrounds to quickly and intuitively understand the core concepts of synthetic biology through an interesting game experience. The series consists of three independent but interrelated games: Code Wall, Gene Jigsaw, and DNArena, allowing players to deeply understand the mysteries of synthetic biology while having fun.
Code Wall
Gene Jigsaw
DNArena
Code Wall
Based on the principle of base complementary pairing and combined with high-frequency letter hints, this game requires participants to guess English words related to synthetic biology and then complete the bases on the parent strand. The completed base combination is the password to be found. The entire game sets a time limit of one and a half minutes. Participants who answer 5 or more questions correctly within the specified time can receive carefully prepared prizes.
In the process of cracking the password, participants can personally practice the core rule of base complementary pairing in synthetic biology, intuitively feel the exquisite logic of DNA base pairing, truly experience the unique charm of synthetic biology in "decoding life" at the molecular level, and embark on the journey of exploring synthetic biology through interesting challenges.
Gene Jigsaw?
Focusing on the key "gene module assembly" technology in synthetic biology, this game uses real gene fragments as prototypes to make color-coded cards marked with different functional modules such as promoters, target genes, and terminators. Each module is clearly labeled with corresponding connection sites and functional descriptions. Participants will act as "synthetic biologists" and correctly assemble different functional modules into a complete gene sequence within a limited time according to the requirements of the task card. Participants who successfully construct the correct gene can receive carefully prepared advanced rewards.
By manually combining the cards, everyone can intuitively understand the regulatory principles of gene expression, truly feel the unique charm of "design on demand" in synthetic biology, and approach the wonderful world of synthetic biology through interesting interactions.
DNArena
Focusing on "gene combination and function realization" in synthetic biology, this game uses gene fragments as prototypes to make different gene cards, biological vector cards, and special cards. Participants will act as "synthetic bioengineers" and, according to the battle strategy, match gene fragments to biological vectors within a limited time, and use special cards at the right time to construct powerful "modified organisms" to conduct three rounds of battles against opponents.
By manually "modifying" organisms, everyone can intuitively understand the principle that "genes determine biological traits", truly feel the unique charm of "using genes to modify organisms" in synthetic biology, and uncover the mystery of synthetic biology through interesting battles.