Education
Overview
In Kazakhstan, small businesses are thriving. While useful for the economy, it gives opportunity for counterfeit cosmetics to spread through marketplaces like Kaspi, where small businesses sell their products. Our projects aims to protect people from this danger through synthetic biology, but it is deeply misunderstood in Kazakhstan. Most people have never heard of that field or have misconceptions about it, scared of things like genetically modified products and IVF. We wanted to address this problem through educating people about synthetic biology and our project.
We believe education should be accessible to every age group and be inclusive.
Summer Camp
For our first educational initiative, our team organized an online two-week synthetic biology summer camp for high school students. Participants were mainly from Kazakhstan, with some from Russia and Uzbekistan. Our goal was to give students an introduction into the world of synthetic biology as well as its use in the cosmetics industry. Below is the full overview of our camp:
As we have noted, a tangible product for which the participants of our camp joined forces in small teams was the comic that you can view here:
Impact
The end-of-camp survey showed that participants' interest in synthetic biology grew from an average of 3.3/5.0 to 4.67/5.0, and their knowledge of synthetic biology increased from an average of 2.63/5.0 to 4.60/5.0.
Children's Book
We strongly believe education starts in childhood. Naturally, Aanother initiative of ours was focused on children. We wanted to connect biology and education in a way that helps children learn how everyday habits affect their health. This is how we came up with the idea of developing a children’s book that teaches skin health, self-care, and safe use of cosmetics through storytelling. The goal of this project was to make science and health education accessible and engaging for children aged 6–11.
The book presents scientific facts in the form of short, magical stories that inspire healthy daily habits, explain how to care for one’s skin, and raise awareness about safety in using cosmetic and hygiene products. Each chapter combines scientific accuracy with creative storytelling, showing that beauty is not about appearance but about knowledge, care, and self-love.
International Collaboration
Another value of our team is diversity of thought. Coming from a country with 135+ different nationalities, we wanted to include different cultures' perspectives in our work.
To make the project global, we invited iGEM teams from different countries and different iGEM villages to contribute chapters reflecting their own views on children's education, skin health and science. Each story features a local child character and a unique message:
- NIS-Kazakhstan wrote about Mia, a curious Kazakh girl guided by her Magic Mirror. The stories teach about skincare routines, safe product use, and emotional well-being through topics like gentle cleansing, SPF protection, avoiding cosmetic sharing, lip care, and acne prevention.
- KCIS Xiugang Taipei from Taiwan introduced Ava and her "Cyanobuddy", connecting air pollution and CO₂ emissions to skin irritation. Their story teaches how climate and pollution affect the skin, encouraging children to use sunscreen, gentle cleansers, and moisturizers.
- Saint-Joseph from Turkey focused on allergic reactions and ingredient safety. Their chapter teaches children to read product labels carefully and understand how certain ingredients may cause allergies.
- Del Norte from the USA highlighted hygiene and healthy habits, showing how clean hands, good sleep, and nutrition help prevent acne and promote skin health.
- WIST from Taiwan created Rice Guard, a friendly rice character who explains how nutrition supports skin health, teaching children that foods like fish, carrots, and fruits make skin strong and bright.
- HK-HCY-PCMS from Hong Kong focused on the importance of medical guidance and critical thinking when it comes to health. Their chapter teaches children not to trust everything they read online about illnesses or symptoms, and instead to consult real doctors when they feel unwell. Through Mia and Jacky’s story, young readers learn that professional advice is more reliable than ambiguous internet searches.
With the help of these teams from all over the world, we were able to translate the book into 5 lagnuages:
English
Kazakh
Russian
Mandarin
Turkish
Additionally, we translated our book into Braille as well - more on that in Inclusivity
Collaboration Journey
Our first collaboration started on August 6th. It was with the most wonderful and creative guys from the Taiwanese team KCIS Xiugang Taipei. We held a Google Meet on August 21st to discuss the book’s structure and timeline, and our SMM team created joint posts and Instagram stories to announce the collaboration. The KCIS Xiugang Taipei team were the ones who translated the book into Mandarin, making it accessible to children across Taiwan.
Our next collaboration was with Saint-Joseph. We began our work on August 22nd. After meeting to coordinate topics, the Turkish team quickly developed a full chapter about allergic reactions and ingredient safety. They also designed 3 creative illustrations for their story and later translated the book into Turkish, helping to spread the message of safe skincare to local communities. We created a joint two-page Instagram post summarizing our goals and outcomes.
The WIST team participate in the Food & Nutrition village. We contacted them on August 26 and they quickly jumped in. Thanks to their specialization, their chapter beautifully connects nutrition, biology, and self-care, making science both engaging and practical for children. They sent their draft on September 5, and we finalized the edits and layout together on September 10th.
On August 26, we reached out to Del Norte, a Therapeutics Village team. The chapter was ready on September 21. This collaboration connected health education and therapeutics in a way that feels simple and relatable for young readers.
Last but not least, we collaborated with HK-HCY-PCMS. The Hong Kong team joined our international Google Meet on September 2nd, where they shared their own educational initiatives, and we exchanged insights about our projects, including our Braille version of the book for visually impaired children. On September 30, we received their work.
We conducted more than 30 meetings with other teams to write our book. Together, these stories form a multicultural mosaic combining biology, dermatology, and sustainability, adapted for children in different countries and translated into several languages.
Impact
This book not only educates but also empowers children to:
- Develop safe and healthy self-care habits early.
- Understand how science connects to daily life.
- Build awareness of cosmetic safety and environmental responsibility.
We hoped to demonstrate how applying scientific knowledge in real life can inspire positive social change, starting with the youngest generation.
Educational Game
Main Purpose
On June 4th, we conceived of a game where players could learn more about cosmetics, analyzers, and get to work as scientists. In Kazakhstan, this is especially relevant, since most schools are not equipped properly and the vast majority of students have never had lab experience. We believe creating such opportunities, even virtually, will contribute to sparking interest towards science in students.
Regarding how the game relates to our project, it teaches the consequences of incorrectly selecting and using uncertified cosmetics. Our main purpose was to teach gamers to identify hazardous components in cosmetics and apply this knowledge in life. This may affect the informed choice of cosmetics in the future and the mandatory familiarization of the composition of cosmetic products. Through simple algorithms, we guide the player to read instructions and make a decision properly. Our game can be played here: Cosmetic Inspection on itch.io.
Chronology
This idea came to us on June 4th. We wanted to code something special that people would play for fun. After identifying the style of our game, we learnt to code with Unity and managed to finish our project thanks to teamwork.
- June 4th – forming an idea
- July 13th – changing the description of the game and adding some mechanics
- July 29th – adding designers and painters. Started to draw characters and other game elements
- September 15th – adding coders
- October 2nd – finishing the code
- October 7th – uploading it to itch.io
It was a long and fruitful journey during which we not only learnt to coordinate work, but also considered the perspectives of different stakeholders. In this case, it was people who may not have had prior exposure to the world of chemistry and biology. We plan to promote our game on our social media platforms to implement user feedback and further improve the game.
Gameplay
The game consists of 7 levels (days) in which the player in the role of a chemist working for the state must adjust to new conditions - the addition of new analyzers, their own cosmetics analysis and the lack of product certification. To increase the stakes, the player has to approve or reject the import of cosmetics to the market. The main goal of the player is to correctly decide whether to allow cosmetics or not. However, in case of a wrong decision, the game does not end - the player simply has to change the decision.
Starting from the first day, the in-game assistant Anna guides and gives instructions on how to correctly complete tasks and analyze the material. On days 6 and 7, the player must summarize all the skills and apply the accumulated knowledge w ithout Anna's help. This is done in order to consolidate the material and freedom during the passage of the game. That way, we invite the player to train their brain and actually retain information with no pressure.
We used the usual WASD mechanics to move around the map. When approaching the analyzers and pressing the E key, the player can use the devices and equipment, and pressing the B key, the person takes out a book in which dangerous components inside cosmetics are indicated. Also, for instruction, we added Anna, who guides the player and tells them how to interact with the game. In order to proceed with Anna's next messages, a person must click on the button located on the right-bottom of the display panel.
Workshop
We noticed that many students do not understand the purpose of our work both as an iGEM team and as scientists. Discussing the issue, we decided to resolve this by organizing an event in which students would learn about iGEM and the importance of hands-on projects. This is how our team became a co-organizer of Academicx Hub Research Competition-2025. On 17-19th September 2025, we conducted a 3-day series of seminars with Academix Hub - a non-profit promoting science research among high-schoolers. The main aim of meeting was giving recommendations to future STEM students about planning and organizing of their projects in synthetic biology.
Day 1
On the first day, a mechanism for developing research experience was created and implemented. Begimova Ayaulym started the meeting from the speech about what the iGEM competition is and why our team participates. Of course, we talked about our HEK293T cell-based biosensor and why we think it's important. After that, students learnt how to choose their own research question and how to think of productive experiments in research.
Day 2
On the next day, Roman Ligay told about his own experience in the USA as a main researcher and programmer in his project and how he applied that to iGEM. We wanted to show that in a truly diverse team of scientists, all skills are valuable, and it is not necessary to be a biologist to participate in iGEM. On top of that, Roman talked about his challenges in the USA and how they helped him handle the iGEM project back at home.
Day 3
The last day was practice-focused: participate used all of the knowledge that they acquired over the last two days. We divided all the participants in two, depending on their preferences: a group of practical research led by Roman, and a group of theorists led by Nurlytang and Ayaulym. The practical research group was focused on the experimental projection which was useable in SB, while theoretical group focused on literature, data analysis, structure of research. Two groups worked together with the help of iGem team leaders who gave feedback and made short-term perspective at the end of workshop groups were given a chance to demonstrate new research ideas.
Conclusion
Zhansaya Amangeldi was a judge in the final selection of projects and helped make the following prizes possible:
- Certificates of participation and achievement for all participants
- Cash prizes - 50,000 KZT in total
- One-month free IELTS course from AClass for 1st place
- Internship opportunities for winners
- Exclusive merchandise from the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence
We gave students from differing backgrounds the opportunity to try research and learn more about project work. On top of that, we were able to promote our own project and increase the participants' interest in chemistry of cosmetics. Thanks to actively interacting with our participants, we realized that our team needed to promote not only knowledge and educational resources such as books, but also host practice-oriented events. Thus came the idea of a Business Day.
Business Day
We will host the Business Day at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Karatau, Shymkent on October 13, 2025.
The purpose of the event is to encourage entrepreneurial thinking among STEM students by making them apply business and financial literacy skills in real-life settings. We want to educate students on how biology and business interacts, considering that fields like synthetic biology are actively developing and many biotech start-ups are already changing the world.
"Business Day" emphasizes the significance of social entrepreneurship and giving back to the community, as all money collected from the event will be donated to people from disadvantaged groups who suffered from using low-quality cosmetics. Thus, this event will raise awareness of the dangers caused by unverified or counterfeit cosmetics and highlight the importance of social responsibility.
"Business Day" will enable students to enhance their creativity, management, and marketing skills. What is more, this event will allow students to boost their confidence and overcome the fear of presenting their products in front of the public - skills that are essential in adult life. Additionally, the event will develop students' ability to earn money by applying their knowledge. The collaboration between students will contribute to fostering a positive environment, as they collectively engage in the process of designing, producing and promoting their own products. Furthermore, since the money earned by all participants will be used for charity, not only people from our school but also people in need will benefit from the event. Consequently, the benefits of "Business day" are expected to extend beyond the school, fostering students' sense of belonging and ensuring the inclusive impact. It will strengthen connections between our team and the broader community.
YouTube
The channel “IGEM NIS-KAZAKHSTAN” was created on July 19, 2025. The main goal of the channel is to bring science to life in a simple and engaging way by sharing insights about synthetic biology in terms of the IGEM competition. We came up with vide ideas based on what we learnt about people's knowledge and needs during all of our events. Overall, 9 videos which cover various topics related to biology were uploaded. The videos were in three languages with mandatory English subtitles to broaden our audience.
“IGEM NIS-KAZAKHSTAN” channel’s videolist:
- Channel Trailer
- What is iGEM?
- AP Biology Courses: Introduction
- Synthetic Biology: The Science of The Future
- Skin Microbiome: Under What Conditions Can It Be Damaged?
- What Is A Biosensor?
- How Perfumery Works
- Science In Cosmetics: What Is Your Cream Made of?
- AP Biology: Statistics in AP Biology
On August 3, 2025 our first video where we introduce the aim of our Youtube channel and our team was uploaded. We filmed this video in 3 different languages (Kazakh, Russian, and English) to make it more understandable and accessible for an international audience.
On August 6, 2025 our next video where we introduced our audience to iGEM was published. The aim of this video is to demonstrate the background story and the goal of this competition. The video was filmed in Kazakh with English subtitles. We explained the importance of IGEM and the reason why youth from all over the world take part in it.
This video was uploaded on August 28, 2025. The aim of this video lecture was to define the concept of AP Biology and emphasize the significance of this course. In our country, AP and other high-level classes available only at prestigious schools. We wanted anyone to be able to learn AP Biology just by watching our videos.
The video was released on August 28, 2025. Since synthetic biology is a lesser-known field of study in our country and globally, the main goal of this video was to define the term “Synthetic Biology” and explain why humanity needs it. The video was filmed in Russian with English subtitles.
This video was also published on August 28, 2025. With the goal of educating viewers on safe skincare in mind, we talked about the skin microbiome and reasons for protecting it. After watching this video, people may learn some of the ways of protecting their skin microbiome from various harmful conditions. This video was also filmed in Russian with English subtitles.
On August 30, 2025 the next video was posted in English. The key goal was to explain the concept of a biosensor and its usage nowadays. The audience can get a strong understanding of biosensors and their advantages via watching this video, bringing us one step closer to the long-term goal of creating a widespread product.
This video was uploaded on August 30, 2025. We wanted to explain the background of perfumery: when it was first created, why people needed it, and so on. Additionally, the viewers could develop their knowledge about the structure of scents and how sensitive parts of our body read aroma.
The eighth video lesson was released on August 30, 2025. We explained the functions and structure of creams, helped to define the differences between natural and synthetic creams. Our survey showed that many people struggle with analyzing cosmetic ingredients, so we made sure that our audience can read the composition of creams correctly.
Our final video lecture was posted on September 8, 2025. In this section, we talked about why statistics matters in Biology, what kind of terms students should know, and how to solve calculation-based questions in AP Biology. We explained essential concepts like Standard Deviation and Chi Square Test with an example.
Impact
Through YouTube, we were able to promote not only our project, but science as a whole. Viewers expanded their knowledge about AP biology courses and gained insights on cosmetics and biology in general. Additionally, since the channel was broadcast in three languages with mandatory English subtitles, global access was ensured.
To promote and shed light on our initiatives and get real-time feebdack, we actively worked on our Instagram page. Through regular posts, stories, and interactive content, we shared our project journey, scientific concepts, and educational materials with a global audience.
Our Instagram strategy included:
- Educational posts explaining synthetic biology and cosmetic safety
- Behind-the-scenes content from our lab work and team activities
- Collaboration announcements with other iGEM teams
- Guest speaker interviews and expert consultations
- Interactive Q&A sessions and polls to engage our followers
The full report on our Instagram activity can be viewed below:
Impact
Through Instagram, our team built awareness about cosmetic safety and the global problem of counterfeit products. In addition, collaborations, guest speakers, and educational content not only provided information about the biosensor but also shared advice, personal experiences, and interactive content. As a result, our account achieved significant growth and strengthened the visibility of our project.