Contribution | CAFA-Beijing

Introduction

Through participating in the iGEM competition, our team has gained valuable experience in wet lab work, Integrated Human Practices, and particularly in the field of science communication and community outreach. As a team composed entirely of members from arts backgrounds, our learning journey starting from scratch may hold deeper significance for iGEM's theoretical education and dissemination—we can help scholars from diverse fields access synthetic biology and become iGEMers. We are determined to contribute our efforts to the iGEM community and benefit future iGEM teams.

Basic Part

We designed multiple short peptide sequences using a computer-aided approach and selected three sequences that demonstrated relatively high stability in actual experiments, which have been submitted as Basic Parts.They are BBa_25682NRB、BBa_25NPAQ79，and BBa_257Q5CBQ.

Functional Description：Encoded under the IPTG-inducible T7 promoter, this melanin-inhibitory peptide functions as a competitive peptide analog targeting the α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (α-MSH). It effectively blocks melanin synthesis while simultaneously promoting collagen production.

HP-Social Section

CAFA-Beijing brought together six participating teams - BNUZH-China, LZU-GANSU, HainanU-China, BUCT-China, and YiYe-China - to jointly organize an art exhibition and an iGEM exchange salon. The event was also attended by the Beijing University of Science and Technology iGEM Club. This activity helped the iGEM teams engage in better interdisciplinary communication and spark new creative ideas. At the same time, we aim to engage people from all walks of life in paying attention to iGEM.

The project holds significant social value and wide-ranging impact. In terms of its dual drive for scientific research and public outreach, the project employs a dual model of "Public Science Lectures + Art Exhibitions" to dismantle public misconceptions about collagen peptides (such as clarifying the absorption mechanism of topical products and the principles of peptide pathway absorption), thereby moving biotechnology "from the laboratory into the public eye." Among these efforts, the art exhibition "Synthetic Landscapes" uses interactive installations (e.g., "Perceptual Circuit") and visual works as mediums to translate the microscopic process of peptide synthesis and genetic information into a tangible artistic experience. This approach sparks public interest in biotechnology and promotes the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

In terms of interdisciplinary integration, the project achieves cross-disciplinary collaboration of "Biotechnology + Art & Design." The team from the Central Academy of Fine Arts participates in product packaging, visual design (such as the VI system), and art installation creation, transforming scientific concepts into visual forms. This not only enhances the product's aesthetic value but also provides a model for interdisciplinary cooperation, helping to build an innovative ecosystem of "Scientific Research + Art + Market." Concurrently, a cross-university Bio-Art Alliance has been initiated, uniting teams from multiple universities (e.g., University of Science and Technology Beijing, Hainan University, Beijing Normal University Zhuhai Campus) to address issues such as the insufficient supply of comprehensive art materials and the difficulty of bringing scientific research projects closer to the mass market, thereby promoting resource sharing across fields.

Regarding the integration of product and public welfare, the developed recombinant collagen peptide products combine the advantages of "multifunctionality" and "low cost," which lowers the barrier to accessing high-quality anti-aging and whitening products, allowing more consumers to benefit from biotechnology advancements. Furthermore, public welfare activities (such as free skin assessments) are conducted, linking scientific research achievements with the practical needs of people's livelihoods to provide skin care solutions for the public, demonstrating the social responsibility of the research project.

The project generates positive impacts on various stakeholder groups:

For consumers, they gain access to more comprehensive and affordable care products that meet anti-aging and whitening needs. Additionally, through science outreach and exhibitions, their understanding of biotechnology products is enhanced, enabling more rational product choices.

For scientific research and art practitioners, it provides researchers with new perspectives for interdisciplinary collaboration (e.g., product commercialization pathways that combine biotechnology and art) and opens up a new field of "Science-Technology Art" for artists, creating new creative directions and collaboration opportunities.

For enterprises, it provides technical support (e.g., fusion peptide technology, patented achievements) for skincare and medical aesthetics companies, helping them develop differentiated products and enhance market competitiveness. It also offers visual design systems, helping companies build a "Science + Art" brand image that appeals to both high-end and younger consumer groups.

On the societal level, the project faces certain challenges. Public trust in biotechnology products still needs improvement, with some individuals expressing concerns about concepts like "recombinant" and "genetic engineering." Additionally, interdisciplinary collaboration is still in its early stages, and the efficiency of resource integration among universities, research institutions, enterprises, and the art sector requires enhancement. In response, the project will continue to enhance public trust through public welfare activities and transparent exhibitions (such as displaying experimental processes and product ingredients). Simultaneously, it will improve the cross-university collaboration network, establish regular communication mechanisms, and promote the efficient alignment of scientific research achievements, artistic resources, and market channels.

in the recombinant collagen peptide industry but also builds bridges between "science and the public" and "scientific research and art," providing a replicable model for the societal dissemination of biotechnology and cross-disciplinary innovation. In the long run, its achievements can be expanded to fields such as medicine (e.g., tissue repair materials) and food (e.g., functional collagen products), further leveraging biotechnology's role in improving people's livelihoods and advancing the Healthy China initiative. Simultaneously, it will help foster a social atmosphere that "respects science and embraces innovation."

Popular science month of molecular biology:

In the early days of the establishment of the igem team of CAFA-Beijing, we organized popular science education on basic molecular biology knowledge. In order to improve the interest and interactivity of popular science activities, we divide molecular biology into several sections, which are shared and explained by different igem members in turn every week. Through this activity, everyone's biological knowledge has been greatly enriched. We hope to provide broad education for those who wish to join iGEM but are limited by their professional background — making it possible for anyone to become part of iGEM.

In order to explain a complex molecular mechanism (such as protein expression, vector construction, transcription and translation) to non-professionals, team members must first thoroughly understand this knowledge by themselves. This process will expose the ambiguity in understanding and force them to study and discuss more deeply, thus consolidating their theoretical foundation. At the same time, it also cultivates interdisciplinary thinking and communication skills. Popular science lectures require team members to transform engineering language into a life language that the public can understand.

This popular science month of molecular biology has improved the public's scientific literacy and created an innovative atmosphere. This is also one of the grand goals of the igem competition. Through popular science, the team directly participated in the process of eliminating "biological blindness", so that everyone no longer felt mysterious and fearful about synthetic biology and genetic engineering, but discussed and accepted it based on rational cognition, laying a mass foundation for the healthy development of the whole field.

CAFA IGEM popular science education in WeChat official account:

CAFA-Beijing has been operating our original WeChat official account CAFA iGEM since its early days. Its content is mainly about popular science biological knowledge and biological art, which can bring multi-dimensional empowerment to education, which is in line with the core requirements of "connecting science and society" in the Human Practice part of IGEM. By sharing biotechnological projects and interdisciplinary knowledge, we seek to attract more iGEM participants and collaborators.

WeChat official account of our team combines complex biological principles with infectious biological art in a lightweight and popular form, which not only breaks the time and space restrictions of traditional classroom education, but also allows students, teachers and non-professional public to get in touch with biological knowledge conveniently, and lowers the threshold of scientific cognition through artistic expression, arouses the public's interest in biology, especially teenagers, and makes up for the gap between "knowledge transfer" and "interest cultivation" in traditional education. At the same time, WeChat official account's interactive attributes, such as message discussion and online question and answer, can build a communication bridge between scientific research groups, educators and the public. On the one hand, it can help the iGEM team to understand the social cognition and potential needs of synthetic biology more intuitively, provide real social feedback for project design, and make the research more suitable for practical application scenarios; On the other hand, it also provides a platform for the igem team of CAFA to practice popular science, so that they can improve their scientific communication ability and social responsibility and deepen their understanding of "scientific research serving society" in the process of spreading their own project ideas and explaining scientific principles.

In addition, the diversified contents presented by WeChat official account can also expand the breadth of education, help readers to establish the relevant cognition of "biological knowledge-social application-humanistic value", make the practice of the iGEM team in the Human Practice part more directional and effective, realize the closed-loop education of "knowledge popularization-interest stimulation-social communication-practice optimization",

promote the upgrading of science education from "theoretical indoctrination" to "literacy cultivation", and also make it possible for the iGEM team to improve the quality of science education.

Children's popular science picture book:

CAFA-Beijing cooperated with the National University of Defense Technology to launch a picture book for children's biological knowledge popular science education.

We are committed to lowering children's cognitive threshold and improving knowledge acceptance in the form of picture books. It is difficult for children to understand abstract biological concepts. The drawing that Central America is responsible for can transform complex knowledge into intuitive and vivid images, which conforms to children's cognitive characteristics of "visual priority", makes the originally obscure content easy to understand and interesting, and truly realizes the "downward infiltration" of science education.

At the same time, this form is an innovation in the form of popular science education and expands the boundary of iGEM education. Traditional iGEM science popularization is mainly in the form of lectures, handbooks and so on. This cooperation integrates "artistic creation" into science education, explores a new model of "professional drawing+precise knowledge" for children's science popularization, breaks the formula of "science popularization = pure rational expression", and provides a richer formal reference for the educational practice of iGEM Human Practice.

For the CAFA-Beijing, it is necessary to complete the whole process of "dismantling professional knowledge → transforming children's perspective → meeting drawing needs" in cooperation. We should not only accurately refine the core logic of biological knowledge, but also consider children's understanding boundaries. This process can significantly enhance the team's ability to "transform cutting-edge science into understandable content for the public, especially for young people" and truly achieve the educational goal of iGEM's "serving the society with science and promoting the popularization of science".

This cooperation has broken through the barrier of the spread of biological knowledge such as synthetic biology to children, made the frontier science education more accessible and attractive, and deepened the iGEM team's practical ability of popular science and social education responsibility.

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