“The best learning is being able to explain complex things to everyone.”

In order for people from different backgrounds - whether they are elementary school students, classmates, uncles and aunts in the community, or netizens on the screen - to understand what we are doing, the team must deeply understand every detail of the project and use the simplest language to make analogies. This "translation" process actually makes us organize the research logic more smoothly, from knowing how to do it at the beginning to understanding why we are doing it. What's even more surprising is that these exchanges not only bring progress in expression, but also provide feedback on the warmth of life, prompting us to think about how technology can be safer, more practical, and more in line with everyone's needs.

In this practical activity, we walked into primary school libraries and communities with these thoughts, and also shared our findings online. Not only do we want more people to know what the future of synthetic biology and agriculture looks like, but we also want everyone to understand that science is never an isolated island in the laboratory. It should be related to everyone's life and deserves to be understood, participated in, and supervised by everyone.

Event Theme: "The Amazing Synthetic Biology" - From Cells to "Cell Factories"

Target Audience: Primary School Students

Activity Format: Interactive Science Lecture and Hands-on Experiment Experience

Core Objective: Using vivid and interesting metaphors to break down the cognitive barriers of synthetic biology and stimulate students' curiosity and exploratory desire for life sciences. Promote the concept of responsible innovation, explain the value of enhancing plant wax in our project, and through hands-on DIY practice, transform abstract concepts into concrete experiences, empowering the next generation of 'little scientists'.

Using carefully designed PowerPoint, compare complex cellular structures to "factories" and DNA to "magic instruction manuals". Through the "Find Differences" game, students were guided to actively discover the differences between animal and plant cells, laying the foundation for the understanding of "design" and "modification" in synthetic biology.

Using interesting examples such as "making apples sweeter" and "making bacteria glow", introduce gene editing techniques such as CRISPR and compare them to "gene scissors" and "gene glue". This storytelling approach allows elementary school students to easily understand the core workflow of synthetic biology, which is "design cut paste start".

The transition from nature to the threats faced by plants in nature and post harvest highlights the importance of the natural defense armor of "plant wax". This leads to the original intention of our project: to strengthen this "armor" using synthetic biology methods to reduce fruit and vegetable losses, reflecting our consideration of social needs and environmental sustainability.

The experimental section is the highlight of this educational activity. We encourage every student to：

Looking back on this activity, it was a "two-way rush" between us and lower grade students, not only because we shared knowledge of synthetic biology with 16 classmates, but also because we spent a journey full of surprises and discoveries together. For our team members, this is also a growth from "student" to "mentor", from learning knowledge to transmitting knowledge. Their boundless curiosity is our most precious harvest.

Activity Theme: Science Around Us - 'New Wisdom in Preserving Fruits and Vegetables'

Target Audience: Community Residents

Activity Format: Interactive Science Popularization Lecture

Core Goal: By closely integrating synthetic biology with topics of concern to community residents such as food safety, healthy living, and environmental conservation, we choose to start from the real problems faced by every household kitchen - "fruit rot, vegetable wilting". Through comparative observation and explanation, we guide everyone to understand the secrets of plant preservation step by step, and introduce our innovative solutions to solve this problem.

Our workshop has designed a gradual exploration journey:

Chapter 1: From Phenomena to Problems

We showcased fruits and vegetables purchased at the same time but in drastically different states of freshness, including wilted cucumbers vs. fresh cucumbers; rough-skinned apples vs. shiny apples, which sparked strong resonance and curiosity among participants. Question: "Why do some fruits and vegetables spoil after a few days while others can stay fresh? Aside from the refrigerator, do plants have their own preservation secrets?"

Chapter 2: Exploring the 'Plant Armor' - The Wonderful Function of Wax Explanation

We likened the waxy cuticle of plants to their innate 'smart preservation armor'. Through vivid metaphors and brochures, we illustrated how this 'armor' locks in moisture, resists bacteria and decay, and enhances waterproofing and shine.

Chapter 3: Solutions - The Power of Synthetic Biology

This chapter introduced our project, which employs synthetic biology methods to enhance the synthesis of plant wax through light regulation, and explained the project's immense potential in reducing post-harvest losses, helping farmers increase income, and conserving agricultural resources, allowing residents to see that a small scientific research effort is linked to global challenges concerning food safety and sustainable development.

From discovering problems (fruit and vegetable decay) ->analyzing problems (the role of the wax layer) ->solving problems (our synthetic biology approach), we aim to enable the public to naturally accept and support our research direction based on an understanding of scientific principles.

The event attracted 31 community residents of different age groups to participate, and the on-site interaction was active. We introduced everyone to professional concepts such as "skin wax" and "synthetic biology", and the knowledge transmission efficiency was high. An aunt gave feedback: "In the future, when buying vegetables and fruits, we will pay special attention to their wax!" Through conversations, we collected the first-hand needs and opinions of community residents on the preservation of agricultural products. These first-hand information provide important references for us to think about the application scenarios and public acceptance of technology.

In this event, we successfully transformed science and technology into a practical solution to solve the daily troubles of the public. We not only popularize knowledge, but also let community residents see that science and technology are close to life and benefit life. For our team members, engaging in sincere dialogue with the public has given us a deeper understanding of the social significance of our work.

In addition, we have collaborated with community supermarkets to place interesting signs designed by you in the fruit and vegetable area. Guess how powerful my built-in multifunctional 'fresh-keeping jacket' is? Scan the QR code and let the eWAX team tell you! ”QR code can be linked to your team's popular science official account article or video. Attract widespread participation from everyone.

In addition to offline activities, we fully utilize the power of digital media to plan and produce a series of online science popularization content, spreading synthetic biology knowledge centered on "plant wax" to a wider audience in a more efficient and creative way.

We have designed different content presentation methods based on the characteristics of different social media platforms. We have selected the following platforms for distribution:

Online content reading exceeds 20000+, far beyond the scope of offline activities. Through a series of content, we systematically and multi dimensionally explain the importance of plant wax and the value of our project, enabling online participants to establish awareness. All of our digital content is available for continuous dissemination and access, and its influence will persist for a long time after the competition ends.

Through online platforms, we present an iGEM team that is willing to share, daring to try, and sincere and open. And we have also honed our skills in creative expression, interdisciplinary integration, and design through our role as creators.

Communication and collaboration are effective ways to promote innovation and common progress. We actively seek interaction with the global iGEM community and held a communication meeting with the Papaya-Potion team from Shanghai Lingke. This cross team and cross project dialogue has provided us with valuable cross disciplinary perspectives.

Out of a strong interest in each other's projects and a shared desire to share iGEM preparation experience, our team and Papaya-Potion team jointly planned and held an exchange meeting. Our team captain attended the event on behalf of the team, and the team members were synchronized online. Through project presentations and free Q&A sessions, we had in-depth and candid communication.

Project peer review stimulates new ideas: We have provided a detailed introduction to the Papaya-Potion team on how the project enhances plant resistance and reduces post harvest losses by strengthening plant wax. They raised professional and insightful questions about the purity of wax extraction, biocompatibility, and potential allergenicity from the perspective of skincare products, prompting us to think more deeply about the downstream applications of the project from a productization perspective. We also carefully studied the research of Papaya-Potion team on the application of papain and its isoenzymes in the field of skincare. Their thinking on enzyme activity optimization, formulation safety, and market positioning provides us with valuable methodological references for pushing laboratory research into practical applications.

Experience sharing: We shared our challenges and experiences encountered in the wet lab, dry lab, human practices, and other aspects during the iGEM preparation process. This' comrade in arms' like experience exchange greatly broadens our preparation ideas and reduces the time for repeated exploration.

Although our projects focus on two completely different fields, agriculture and cosmetics, the core is to use synthetic biology tools to solve real-world problems, which has deeply impressed us with the intersectionality and infinite potential of synthetic biology. At the same time, through this exchange, we also gained external feedback, tested the logic of our own project, and gained motivation for continuous improvement. We look forward to meeting Papaya-Potion and other global teams at iGEM Grand Jamboree!