Wet Lab Educational Outreach Workshops
The CSW-UD iGEM 2025 team worked to teach freshmen students about synthetic biology through offering the experience to find sickle cells using Gel Electrophoresis. These students learned how to use a micropipette and practice micropipetting into the wells. They were given a brief yet engaging presentation about synthetic biology and how to do a Gel Electrophoresis lab to separate the given proteins by their size. We showed the freshmen a quick video on how to perform a gel electrophoresis lab and answered any questions they had afterwards. For most of these students, this was their first synthetic biology lab. They were also instructed to do both pre and post-tests to measure their growth and understanding of the topic through the lab. The pre-lab test asked questions about synthetic biology for the iGEM team to get an understanding of what the students already know. The post-test asked the students questions that were similar to ones from the pre-test, including questions like “if we were to perform this lab again, what could we do differently?” Asking these questions gave us a fresh perspective on what our workshop looked like and how we can make it better in the future. These tests also provided feedback and information on how much growth they achieved in understanding synthetic biology before and after the lab. The post-lab also showed students becoming more interested in pursuing synthetic biology.
Wet Lab Educational Outreach Images
Image of introduction to synthetic biology slides prior to gel electrophoresis lab
Image of students learning how to use a micropipette
Image of second group of students learning how to use a micropipette
Image of gel electrophoresis lab itself
Image comparing pre-gel electrophoresis lab and lecture test / survey results with students having undergone gel electrophoresis lab and lecture
Image consisting of lab reflections of students and students' advice for us to change our labs and lectures, which we incorporated in our second session of the lab
Image of second group of students learning how to use a micropipette
Image of gel electrophoresis lab itself
Image comparing pre-gel electrophoresis lab and lecture test / survey results with students having undergone gel electrophoresis lab and lecture
Image consisting of lab reflections of students and students' advice for us to change our labs and lectures, which we incorporated in our second session of the lab
Image comparing pre-gel electrophoresis lab and lecture test / survey results with students having undergone gel electrophoresis lab and lecture
Image consisting of lab reflections of students and students' advice for us to change our labs and lectures, which we incorporated in our second session of the lab
Dry Lab Educational Outreach Workshops
We hosted a protein structure & bioinformatics lecture workshop to freshmen at the Charter School of Wilmington during class instruction as a way to introduce bioinformatic tools early on towards high school students. In the lecture, we covered the basics of protein folding and protein structure, which are essentially concepts towards understanding the significance of recent advances in biological technology, such as protein language models and prediction models such as AlphaFold. Then, we covered the basics of computational biology, the reasons behind its recent rise in significance, and went into an interactive demo that involved dealing with the NCBI database, FASTA file formats, predicted protein structure models using AlphaFold, understanding the differences between crystal structures and predicted protein structures, and understanding the importance of protein structure to function. Through this process, we ensured to incorporate different learning strategies, such as hand-on interactive learning, visual learning (through Amoebas Sisters video), and oral learning (through lecture). Below are some images of the learning process that we utilized to help the students.
Picture of introductory slide in lecture
Picture of discussion regarding protein structure utilizing visuals
Picture of discussing AlphaFold and its functions along with the tool's inputs and outputs and use cases
Picture of 3D Crystal Structure Demo on NCBI slide in slide lecture deck
Picture of students hand-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
Second Picture of students hands-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
Picture of discussing AlphaFold and its functions along with the tool's inputs and outputs and use cases
Picture of 3D Crystal Structure Demo on NCBI slide in slide lecture deck
Picture of students hand-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
Second Picture of students hands-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
Picture of students hand-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
Second Picture of students hands-on-learning with experimenting with 3D Crystal Protein Structure
The improvement in the students’ accuracy when given a hand-crafted survey to test proficiency in protein-related topics, computational biology, and protein modeling can be seen through analyzing the following results.
An image containing statistics regarding percentage of correct answers for questions related to computational biology and protein structure, with pre-lecture being after students worked through a guided worksheet related to an Amoeba Sisters Protein Structure Video, but before the interactive lecture. The post-lecture being after the interactive lecture. The data trends display that the lecture improved the accuracy of the students' responses quite significantly.
Furthermore, we made sure to document feedback from the students to incorporate into our education outreach programs for the future in relation to our dry lab aspect of our project. Below are the results of students’ opinions on the lecture and how it could be improved.
An image of students' opinions and feedback on lecture. To the majority of the students, it appears that they learned quite a new amount of content, and there was a mixed sense of enjoyment for the lecture. Our lecture demonstrated educational outreach's capability to bringing in new, young scientists into biology as the form indicated quite an amount of people interested in research further on their own account.
Due to a constraint of time, the iGEM team was not able to host other bioinformatics lectures; however, the student feedback will be taken into account for future endeavors involving educating the community in regards to the dry lab.
iGEM Youth Environmental Summit
The CSW-UD iGEM student leaders and students created and presented a slideshow to the Youth Environmental Summit about our organization’s purpose, function, and objective. YES! is a Delaware based non-profit made up of youth from across the state based on environmental issues. Following their focus, we shared our own bioremediation project and worked to teach the students about leadership within our team. Through a brief presentation, we shared our insights on how we produced our project and how we all worked together to make it happen in different ways, such as delegation, human practices, and fundraising. Alongside that, we presented our principles, including the importance of teamwork and how we successfully apply it to our work environment. We curated and organized an activity for the students to practice the process of working together and learn from it. Allowing audience participation, we further emphasized this topic by giving YES! student leaders the opportunity to provide their own ideas on how our strengths could be adjusted to work for their team. By the end of our session with them, they had a clear understanding of the importance of collaboration within an organization in order to reach a common goal.
iGEM Youth Environmental Summit Images
Picture of iGEM team presenters at YES
