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Education & Outreach

Introduction

PRoSPER aims to enable long-term agriculture on Mars via a bacterial co-culture to reduce perchlorates in Martian regolith. Our project is space-based and focuses on long-term applications like space colonization, so education is vital. We not only need to explain the science behind our methods, but also must create understanding and foster dialogues with those in our community, and beyond, about humanity's future in space.

While synthetic biology is rapidly growing, it remains unknown or misunderstood by some of the general public. Through education, we hope to raise awareness about its potential to solve real-world problems while addressing ethical concerns and potential misconceptions. Education also allows us to promote critical conversations about applying these tools to planetary exploration. Most importantly, however, we aim to inspire younger generations by encouraging them to explore what synthetic biology makes possible on Earth and beyond.

These goals lead to an overarching theme through our education and outreach events: a need for inclusivity and the amplification of diverse opinions. We spent this season visiting children's centers to explain the imagination and creativity behind PRoSPER. We also took to elderly communities to have conversations about their opinions on space exploration and colonization. Through these events, we not only got to educate our communities, but we also learned how to improve PRoSPER through their stories.

Events

Children

Children

As part of our outreach and education efforts, we dedicated significant time to engaging with children in our local community. Many of our team members have fond memories of being introduced to science at a young age, and we wanted to give back by creating similar experiences for children in Ithaca. Early childhood is an ideal time to spark curiosity, and we hoped to plant the seeds of scientific interest that could one day grow into a passion, and maybe even inspire future scientists to PRoSPER!

Sciencenter Session One

June 22nd, 2025

At our local Sciencenter, we hosted a four stationed educational event for elementary school children to spark curiosity about synthetic biology. The first station was "Mission: Clean Mars". Here, the children were presented with trays of "martian soil" made from pom poms, representing perchlorates, and sequins, representing chloride ions. They were given tweezers, representing Synechococcus, and clothespins, representing E. coli, to portray the two microbes in our co-culture system. The tweezers and clothespins were only able to pick up their corresponding contaminate, explaining why two microbes were needed in our system. This activity explained how synthetic biology can be used to clean toxic environments and we showed interactive and colorful diagrams that explained the process at an elementary level.

The second station, "Plasmid Bracelet Making", introduced plasmid insertion and recombinant DNA technology through a familiar children's activity– bracelet making! The various bead types used in the bracelet represented vital portions of a plasmid, such as the antibiotic resistance gene, the operon, and the promoter. We began by explaining the meaning of each of these beads in a way children can understand by relating it to common ideas. For example, the insertion gene in the plasmid was explained as the structure giving a microbe a "super power". While the kids crafted their bracelets, they told us about what they were learning in school which was insightful (and adorable) for planning future events!

Our third station was the "Make Your Own Microbe" station! Here, kids learned about the process of transformation. We gave each kid a piece of white clay to represent a culture of bacteria. They then shaped colored playdough into a ring that represented their plasmid. The kids mixed their plasmid into the bacteria colony while we explained how the bacteria in the colony could pick up the plasmid which contained their "super power". After the mixing, we allowed the kids to shape their clay.

Our fourth station, "Design-A-Cell", taught kids about different organelles in bacteria and their roles, especially in terms of transformation. We had diagrams with different organelles, along with analogies tied to their roles, and allowed the kids to choose which they wanted to include. For example, we explained DNA as a string of instructions that the cell reads to know how to survive– with ribosomes acting as the "glasses" the cell needs to use to read the DNA. After explaining the parts of the cell, each kid picked a special function their cell would exhibit after transformation of their plasmid. Basketball seemed to be the favored skill by far, but watch out for the new gymnast E. coli strand coming to labs near you!

Through our stations, we found that complex topics within synthetic biology can be made approachable with simple and fun analogies. This was a tactic we deployed through the season to better explain our project. At the end of the day, we engaged approximately 70 children and their families. The children walked away understanding that microbes can be engineered to solve real planetary problems.

Sciencenter Session Two

July 20th, 2025

We led an additional session at the Sciencenter where we focused on space education. We hosted three different stations with the hopes of talking to families about our goal to create farmable soil on Mars. Our first station, “Martian Beans”, was a kidney bean growing station. We soaked beans in both fresh water and salt water. The salt water represented the unfarmable Martian soil with an excess of harmful compounds within it. Each participant got to wrap a freshwater and salt water bean in damp paper towels to watch how their growth differed. The beans we brought were presprouted and it was easy to see that the freshwater bean sprouts were healthier. This allowed us to explain why the soil on Mars needed remediation for bountiful crops to grow.

The second station, “Terriform It!”, allowed participants to build a planet with clay and different materials. While they created their celestial body, we asked them different questions like: What would the weather be like on your planet? Are there any plants or vegetation on your planet? We used these questions as a starting point to explain the important difference between the terrain on Mars and Earth and how we can address these issues to farm on Mars. These questions also prompted children to ask us questions. Many of them asked about our plans to protect crops from the Mars climate and terrain.

Our last station, “Pack Light, Fly Far!”, featured a rocket ship launching activity. We created rocket launchers with straws and paper that the kids could fly by blowing air through the straw. We then attached coins to the rocket to act as weights and show that when a ship is heavier it takes more energy to launch it. This helped us explain why taking food on space missionsis not a viable option for astronauts since the spaceship must be as light as possible!

By having a space focus on our second trip to the Sciencenter we hoped to better explain why our project provides innovative solutions to space farming. Although our focus on this trip was explaining PRoSPER to children, we found that parents were also fascinated by our project. Many of them were interested in the more technical aspects like which genes we would insert in order to reduce perchlorates. This curiosity allowed us to explain our plans for PRoSPER with adults as well and hear their opinions.

Children

Children’s Book

Another education initiative we focused on was the second edition of our children’s book, featuring Chloe the E. coli, to engage children in the basics of synthetic biology and environmental remediation. Through our characters, Chloe the E. coli, Sailor Synechococcus, and Mira the Mars Rover, perchlorate and chloride contamination were introduced in a friendly way. The story utilized metaphors, like a spaceship car wash and garden soil, to simplify the idea of bioremediation. This approach encouraged children to view microbes as helpful tools rather than harmful germs, which we learned was often the connotation this age group had around bacteria from our work at the Sciencenter.

Storytelling is a cornerstone of the human experience and a powerful tool for communicating complex concepts to young audiences. To make this learning opportunity inclusive, we translated the book into multiple languages—including Spanish, Mandarin, German, Hindi, Russian, French, and Korean. We also created a storytelling video in both English and American Sign Language (ASL), which we shared on our YouTube channel.

Children

YouTube Videos

Our Policy and Practices subteam believed that utilizing YouTube, one of the biggest social media platforms, as a medium for education would help us reach a wider audience. Additionally, posting on YouTube is a continuing initiative of Cornell iGEM, so our team was eager to put together a set of videos for PRoSPER this year. The videos we uploaded focused on various topics ranging from general biology to more specific topics relevant to PRoSPER like bioremediation, filtration, and interplanetary exploration.

The first set of videos aimed at educating specific age groups and were named “Three Levels of PRoSPER". The first video of the series featured a simplified version of our project modeled after our “Mission: Clean Mars” station from the Sciencenter. The demonstration allowed us to explain the logic behind our co-culture clearly to a young audience. The next video was tailored to teens who may already have a grasp of basic science knowledge. We went into more detail to explain the properties of martian soil and how we are going to implement a bioreactor system to clean the soil. Lastly, we published a video for adults interested in the more technical aspects of PRoSPER, like gene insertions. We wanted to educate the public on the potential for space exploration and the power of genetic engineering while ensuring any person at any level could understand the core of PRoSPER.

PnP also created other videos including a molecular biology crash course explaining wet lab and an in-depth review of PRoSPER from the point of view of three subteams: Wet Lab, Product Development, and Policy and Practices. Overall, our aim was to inspire an audience of learners who otherwise may not have access to in-person science resources. Most of our videos featured an introduction to a principal scientific idea, and some followed by a hands-on demonstration or science activities viewers could try on their own. We included the automatic caption-on function to ensure accessibility for people of all backgrounds. We hope that these videos serve as an engaging way to encourage science in our young audience!

Interacting with children helped us learn how to explain our project in more accessible terms and communicate our ideas more clearly. Their natural curiosity influenced the direction of our work, encouraging us to think more critically about our choices and to justify them more thoroughly. For instance, we were prompted to consider why we selected certain organisms and how our design would interact with the Martian environment. This led to extensive research which we implemented through our human practices and entrepreneurship work.

Teenagers

Introduction

The next age group we focused on was teenagers. This is a formative time when many begin to explore their identities, interests, and potential career paths. It’s especially important at this stage for young people to see themselves represented in science and to understand that there is space for them in the field. By engaging with people closer to their age, we aimed to present synthetic biology in a way that highlighted its creative potential while minimizing complex scientific jargon.

Teenagers

Science Olympiad Tabling

February 7th, 2025

At the beginning of the season, we spoke to middle schoolers participating in the Science Olympiad competition at Cornell. At this event, we wanted to get a better sense of how much high school students understand about synthetic biology to cater to them in future events. These students were a great demographic since they already demonstrated an interest in science, though they were not necessarily familiar with synthetic biology.

During the event, our members answered questions on a wide variety of topics ranging from our past projects to cell structures. Since it was at the beginning of our season, we explained our thought process behind PRoSPER and the different avenues we were thinking of exploring with the project. We were surprised by the amount of knowledge some students had regarding synthetic biology, as they brought up terms such as CRISPR or gene editing. This helped us better understand their baseline knowledge and guided how we tailored our educational efforts to inspire future generations of scientists.

Teenagers

Harvard OpenBio Symposium

April 12th, 2025

We participated in the High School OpenBio Conference hosted online by Harvard University. During the conference we hosted a workshop where we introduced iGEM and synthetic biology to participants. We incorporated an interactive activity for each attendee to individually brainstorm their own iGEM project. We walked through the key elements of an iGEM project including genetic engineering, integrated human practices, and entrepreneurship. Our presentation introduced various wet lab techniques to explain how their projects would come to life. This explanation provided a foundational understanding of how bacteria is used in labs and what experimental tools are commonly used to turn project concepts into real-world solutions. We also dove into the ethical implications of each project, and helped students identify different stakeholders their project could benefit from. Together we also analyzed the business plans and markets their projects could fit into.

Throughout the presentation, we paused to facilitate open discussions amongst the group. Some students were specifically interested in designing something with therapeutic capabilities targeting health issues that their family members were affected by like diabetes. Others chose to investigate the role of synthetic biology in making more environmentally conscious textiles. The range of ideas highlighted how synthetic biology can be applied to a variety of interdisciplinary fields based on one’s academic interests. Students also asked us questions about how our team troubleshoots errors and ways they can become more involved in synthetic biology. This event not only educated future scientists but also allowed us to reflect on the versatility of synthetic biology and its role within PRoSPER.

Teenagers

Splash at Cornell

April 19th, 2025

We also participated in Cornell’s Splash program by hosting a synthetic biology class targeting high school students. Our goal wasn’t to overwhelm students with technical jargon, but to provide them with a fun and palatable introduction to the concepts behind PRoSPER.

We began by explaining our project and a basic introduction to synthetic biology. During the rest of the session, we held four interactive stations. Our first station, “Genetic Circuits”, allowed students to construct their own plasmids with pipe cleaners, each color representing different genetic components. From our science olympiad event, we learned that students were unfamiliar with plasmids. By exploring the world of DNA, we provided a tactile diagram that students could use to conceptually understand plasmids.

The “Strawberry DNA Extraction” station enabled students to isolate DNA– showing that DNA exists in all living things. It was also an exciting way for students to interact with the material hands-on rather than just watching a video or doing a reading. Many students were surprised by how easily DNA could be extracted from something in our day-to-day life.

Our “Mars Escape Station” walked students through a scenario that involved a series of space survival challenges with some synthetic biology-related solutions. This station introduced the space component of our project while also providing a fun yet educational break!

Lastly, we had a “Decoding the Science: A Case Study” station paired with a Kahoot to discuss synthetic biology concepts through a more technical lens. This station focused on explaining specific vocabulary common to synthetic biology, like amplification, inhibition, and quorum sensing. While some of the other stations were more informal, this activity let students have a more didactic introduction into the world of synthetic biology.

We had about 25 students in the class and learned that many of them were unfamiliar with synthetic biology, proving the importance of early exposure to these concepts. Ultimately, we found that the students were not only excited about these activities but learned a lot about synthetic biology and planetary remediation.

Teenagers

Instagram Efforts

Our Instagram played a key role in our education plans, as we hoped to target mostly high school and college students who are active on social media. By using a mix of informal language, interactive stories, and creative visuals– we made synthetic biology more accessible while generating interest from students who might not otherwise explore the field. We shared engaging posts about our work and behind-the-scenes moments to generate awareness about our current work, including explanations of techniques like Gibson Assembly and PCR. We added fun stories and weekly informative posts with a twist of humor! Ultimately, we learned that social media is a powerful tool for science communication, as our followers responded positively by leaving optimistic comments that encouraged our team to work harder on PRoSPER.

Teenagers

McGill Collaboration

This season we also collaborated with McGill to create a handbook that explained our star proteins created by the protein reductase gene island. These proteins help in reducing the perchlorates of martian soil and we compared them to stars on a popular reality TV show Love Island. By making this comparison we hoped to engage teenagers who were interested in the TV show. We hope to continue foraging relationships with many iGEM teams and strengthening our relationship with McGill in the future!

Being a scientist is sometimes associated with negative stereotypes. Many teenagers may feel that the field is too exclusive or overly serious, making it hard to envision themselves as part of it. We aimed to break down those barriers and show that science is for everyone. With a bit of creativity and a lot of passion, anyone can be a scientist!

Adults

Introduction

Our education initiatives also included conversations with adults from a wide range of backgrounds. We organized various activities to engage with a diverse audience and gain insight into different perspectives. Synthetic biology can sometimes arouse mistrust, like with long time controversies surrounding GMOs– which have sparked debate since their inception. Through these events, we aimed to address common misconceptions, listen to people's concerns, and explain complex concepts succinctly. Ultimately, we hoped to empower participants with a stronger understanding of the science behind the field.

Adults

Maker Faire

May 3rd, 2025

We traveled to the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York to attend their annual Maker Faire— a celebration of invention, creativity, curiosity, and hands-on learning. Engaging with people from different backgrounds gave us insight into the general public perception of synthetic biology.

At our booth, we had two activities: Jeopardy and bracelet-making, each representing different components of our project. Jeopardy reinforced concepts about basic biology and space, while the bracelet-making explained plasmid design in a more digestible format. We chatted with multiple people about their experience with science and opinions on the manipulation of organisms through plasmids. Many people expressed concerns but as we explained the idea of plasmids more thoroughly they became more understanding of the process. We spoke to biology researchers, consultants who worked for firms handling scientific companies, and people not connected to science at all. To better interact and engage with the adults, we referred to various infographics and project explanation pages we created. Overall, this event was extremely informative, showing us that the general public was interested in our project and its mission.

Adults

BME Conference

April 23rd, 2025

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BME Conference
Adults

Podcast

To increase our media presence, we decided to start a podcast due to their growing popularity and easily accessible format, allowing us to reach larger audiences. Unlike YouTube videos, we felt that podcasts reach a more mature listeners who may have an interest in scientific innovation and synthetic biology. We also hoped that this could make science education more inclusive, especially for those who do not have time to watch a full form video or read a website. Additionally, this experience could be more accessible to vision-impaired individuals who are not able to navigate a website or visual learning tools easily.

Consequently, this allowed us to delve into greater detail regarding topics central to the PRoSPER project, such as space exploration and bioremediation. We invited many members and alumni onto the show to speak about their experience with PRoSPER and iGEM. We even invited other iGEM teams, like the University of Michigan + University of Maryland teams, onto the podcast to speak about specific challenges and successes they have faced this season. We hoped our podcast could be used by future iGEM teams as advice for troubleshooting and starting a team.

Adults

North American Jamboree

Cornell iGEM co-hosted the North American iGEM Jamboree, in which we allowed fellow undergraduate iGEM teams across North America to compete against each other. Our group was inspired by past mini jamboree initiatives in other continents and wanted to provide North American teams with a similar opportunity. We focused on contacting fellow North American teams to participate, looking for ventures to fund the prizes, and finding judges for the event. This smaller mini jamboree allowed teams to showcase their work, receive feedback, and gain competition experience in a low-stakes environment. This experience not only helped us refine our own project, but also exposed us to a variety of different projects that gave us inspiration for places for improvement. This collaborative experience with iGEM HQ, University of Boston, University of Ottawa, and University of Calgary opens the door for future collaborations and mini Jamborees in the future. We hope this becomes a tradition where we can come together with our fellow iGEM teams to create a space of collaboration and community. The jamboree served as a critical opportunity for early feedback, collaborative learning, and engagement within the iGEM community.

Adults

LinkedIn

We also focused on expanding our presence on LinkedIn. Beyond posting project updates and spreading the word about our children's book and podcast, we also used it as a way to promote educational material. We posted infographics about synthetic biology and space to the platform to engage our audience in scientific thinking surrounding Mars soil remediation. We spoke about our co-culture, the ethical implication of our work, and different space policies. This account allowed us to reach an older and more professional audience in comparison to our Instagram

Engaging with adults was always a rewarding experience, as they were often genuinely interested in our work with PRoSPER. It was exciting to answer their questions about the more technical aspects of our project and to share the reasoning behind our decisions. Walking through our process from start to finish not only helped us clarify our own thinking but also improved the quality of our educational programming for future events. We were able to build on past experiences and refine our explanations based on the valuable feedback we received.

Seniors

Introduction

One age group that is sometimes forgotten is seniors. Many seniors have relevant life experiences that they can share with us. This insight helped us shape the ethical implications of our project to help us mitigate possible harm PRoSPER could impose on Mars.

Seniors (65+)

Longview Senior Center

July 16th, 2025

At Longview, we introduced the challenges of Martian agriculture, including perchlorate toxicity and high soil salinity, and completed two interactive case studies on space colonization ethics and big pharma. Residents actively participated, raising questions about the absence of decomposer microbes on Mars, the risk of contaminating cleaned soil, and whether corporations or governments could be trusted to manage space resources fairly.These conversations explored universal governance policies, sustainable farming methods like raised beds, and whether humanity should pursue space settlement at all. Due to this, we were inspired to create a policy handbook to explore how we could ensure an ethical and balanced system of power in space.

Specifically, many seniors expressed their sadness for the way the human race has interacted with Earth, depleting her of her resources and forever damaging the natural terrain. They all shared a similar sentiment: that future planetary colonization should learn from these mistakes and preserve the natural beauty of the planet. These conversations led us to write to our elected officials with requests that they vote in favor of bills taking a stand to protect our environment.

The insights from these conversations directly informed the way we framed ethics within PRoSPER. Concerns on space resources and questions of responsibility were integrated into our broader ethical analysis. These discussions helped shape the guiding questions of the analysis, ensuring that it reflected not only academic literature but also the lived perspectives of diverse community members. By grounding our ethical inquiry in public dialogue, we created resources that were both inclusive and responsive to real-world concerns.

To ensure accessibility, we used large-print slides, high-contrast visuals, and a microphone so all people could participate. Feedback from participants prompted us to research environmental governance, Martian soil composition, and the societal implications of space agriculture—strengthening our ability to defend PRoSPER’s role in future extraterrestrial communities while underscoring the value of public engagement.

Seniors (65+)

Letters to Representatives

Inspired by our conversations at the senior center, we worked together as a team to create letters to send to elected officials urging them to vote in favor of various bills that support the environmentand encourage strict space policies. We urged members of our communities to sign these letter templates and mail them to their elected officials to show their support.

We talked to seniors at many of our other events as well, including Maker Faire and the Biomedical Engineering Symposium. We also reached them through some of our other media initiatives including our podcast and YouTube channel.

Inclusivity

Inclusivity

PRoSPER was developed with inclusivity at its core. We wanted to focus on reaching out to a large demographic, from children to seniors, to increase awareness of synthetic biology across different backgrounds. Our discussion with Dr. Bruce Lewenstein, an expert in science communication, shaped how we approached our education initiative. His emphasis on tailoring scientific messages to different audiences encouraged us to create materials that were accessible across age groups, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds, reinforcing inclusivity as a central goal of PRoSPER’s outreach.

One of our major focuses was early science education, with outreach activities designed for children ages 3–12 through partnerships with the Ithaca Sciencenter and our children's book initiative. Activities such as leading the “Mission: Clean Mars” soil station introduced complex ideas like microbial soil remediation in an engaging format. Materials were intentionally visual, language-inclusive, and age-appropriate to remove barriers for non-readers, neurodiverse learners, and non-native English speakers. The children’s book was translated into multiple languages to reach children from multilingual households.

PRoSPER also reached teenagers through events like Harvard’s OpenBio Conference, where attendees were introduced to the structure of iGEM and invited to brainstorm project ideas using real-world scientific tools. Our YouTube videos and podcast episodes have been captioned in order for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to engage with our content, while the podcast format itself provided an auditory alternative for blind and visually impaired learners.

Most importantly, care was taken to modify educational and project content based on audience feedback across all initiatives. For example, our conversations with the elderly at Longview allowed us to think more deeply about ways to include ethics in our project. The questions they asked also helped us see gaps in our project, which we addressed by literature reviews and interviews.

Not everyone will have the opportunity to go to Mars; however, PRoSPER was intentionally designed with Earth-based inclusivity in mind. In the educational context, this meant framing Martian soil remediation not as a distant, abstract experience, but as a way to spark conversations about present Earth-based issues such as toxic soil cleanup, environmental justice, and sustainable agriculture. Engineered microbial systems have the potential to remediate contaminated soils, a challenge that disproportionately affects marginalized communities worldwide.

Dr. Elizabeth Pearce’s insights on the harmful effects of perchlorates, particularly their disruption of thyroid function and risks to fetal development, reinforced the human health dimension of our project. By highlighting these impacts, PRoSPER not only broadened discussions of planetary science but also connected them to urgent public health and environmental concerns on Earth. This also inspired us to take action here on Earth and promote the remediation of soil and the environment on our beloved planet. Further, the co-culture system we designed for Marian soils demonstrates how synthetic biology can be leveraged to create low-resource, community-centered solutions for degraded farmland and contaminated environments. In this way, PRoSPER created space for diverse communities allowing everyone to see themselves reflected in both the challenges and possibilities of future science– linking planetary exploration to equity-driven innovation.

Conclusion

At its core, education gives our project the potential to transform from a lab proof of concept to a technology that has a tangible impact. Although the immediate goal of PRoSPER is to remediate Martian soil, it means more than just that. Our goal is to invite people to imagine and shape the future alongside us, and empower them to envision what comes next.

As we learned from Dr. Bruce Lewenstein, science communication is and always will be one of the most vital parts of the field. What does our research mean if we cannot explain it to the public? As a team, we wanted a strong emphasis on outreach and educational activities this year, not only to inform the public but also to build our community up to better understand emerging fields.

Beyond this, our big goal is to make strides in creating true long-lasting change in our community. When our wiki is frozen and the brainstorming for next year's project begins, we hope that those who interact with us and PRoSPER leave feeling a positive impact. We plan to expand our outreach through collaborations with local schools and accessible media like short films and podcast episodes.

Our efforts this season were close to our hearts as we involved ourselves deeper into the community that we cherish and call home. Our aim is to create a lasting impact beyond our project. We want to raise a community that has faith in the potential of synthetic biology, thinks beyond current technologies, and looks forward to new possibilitiesin the realms of both genetic engineering and space. We hope to have bridged this gap—even an inch—by bringing education to the community we so dearly love and helping all minds PRoSPER!

Mission to Mars...