Timeline
The United States of America has a vaccine problem. Over 30% of children, 24 months or younger do not receive the recommended 7 vaccinations for children in that age range [1]. Research suggests one of the leading factors in parental decisions to not vaccinate their children is due to distrust [2]. Distrust of the scientific community, distrust of the government, even distrust of their child’s pediatrician and care team. Unfortunately, due to the United States history, this rightful distrust persists, in large part due to a lack of outreach and relationship building between scientists/clinicians and communities who have been harmed and underrepresented by them. Another, perhaps more prevalent factor is the prevalence of misinformation that circulates, especially on social media, in online spaces [2].
This year, Washington iGEM’s education team was passionate about combating the spread of misinformation and helping repair the relationship between scientists and communities who have, historically, been so hurt by them. We wanted to hold a number of events within the wider Seattle community to help bridge the gap. We held events at libraries, street fairs and at the University of Washington, each with specific goals and audiences in mind.
On May 17th and 18th, 2025, Washington iGEM tabled at the University District Street Fair as a club vendor. This event had an attendance of 10,000 and was aimed at connecting small businesses and the University with the wider Seattle community. Our goal in attending this large event was to introduce more Seattleites to different types of research and the possibilities within the realm of synthetic biology.
For the fair, The University of Washington (UW) Bioengineering department lent our team electrical devices used in their bioengineering laboratory curriculum. Since this lab was a favorite with many students, easy to demonstrate, and hands on, the team thought they would be helpful in demonstrating the principles behind neural signaling. Developed by Backyard Brains, these devices: called Human-Human-Interface devices, offer a unique way to explore neuroscience through hands-on experimentation[3, 4]. This, in turn, allows both participants and bystanders to observe how neural signals from one person's brain to their muscles (called motor signals) can be sent to another person's muscles in real-time.The device is connected to two participant’s forearms and hands. When Participant 1 moves their wrist, they send motor signals from their brain to their wrist, directing it to move. This device interprets the motor signals from Participant 1’s forearm, processes these signals, and then redirects them to Participant 2’s forearm, causing it to jerk [5]. Our team ran this experiment with many willing volunteers and even with multiple team members for curious kids, parents, and many teenagers. In addition to this experiment, we also focused through the ideation and data collection of phases when interacting with the participants and bystanders.
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We recognize that trust in science begins with an appreciation for the ways in which science can help us to understand the world around us. This naturally requires frequent, positive interactions with both the scientific process and members of the scientific community. To encourage early scientific involvement, we hosted free science-based summer programming for school-aged children out of the Seattle Public Libraries.
In our program, we led students through a polymerization experiment using alginate biopolymers to create a gooey worm toy. We chose this experiment as we wanted to have a lesson that was accessible for many age groups, while still being fun and relevant to synthetic biology. We aimed to show children what polymers are, and why they are important in both daily life and cutting-edge bioengineering.
We started our lesson by having the students build lego figures. Besides being a creative and playful introduction, this activity provided a hands-on representation of how a polymer could be built: each individual monomer is like one lego block, and we can connect multiple blocks to make useful structures. We then identified examples of polymers found in our daily life, such as keratin, collagen, or cellulose. We also highlighted the problems with synthetic polymers and pollution, and illuminated the many biodegradable polymer alternatives that existed.
As the children conducted the experiment, we encouraged them to think like scientists. To facilitate this, we asked leading questions such as “What do you think causes the polymer to stick together?” or “What else do you think we could make from this type of polymer?”. Many children elected to conduct personal experiments such as “How does time in solution affect firmness of the worm?” or “Can this reaction fix a broken worm?”. Each question became a separate experiment, complete with hypotheses, controls, trials, and full conclusions.
This event not only allowed us to introduce synthetic biology topics to younger ages, but also encouraged the curiosity, flexibility, and collaboration that are so central to the scientific process.
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We created SYNBIO 101: Conversations in SynBio with the intent of showing just how vast and meaningful the world of synthetic biology can be. To those outside of this particular scientific community, since this field is not very widespread, it can seem intimidating due to its occasionally technical jargon . With this in mind, we designed a speaker event to showcase diverse groups of voices within the synthetic biology community to highlight why the field is essential, along with the different ways students can get involved. We gathered professors, PhD students, and undergraduates to share their journeys and perspectives.
SYNBIO 101: Conversations in SynBio was hosted during Dawg Daze, the official welcome week for incoming UW students before the start of classes. Because we anticipated that a large portion of our audience would be incoming students looking to get started in the field, we needed to ensure that the event was accessible and engaging for students with no prior experience in synthetic biology. Rather than focusing on the technical aspects of synthetic biology, we centered the talks around opportunities provided by the field for students at all stages, as well as its broader impact; from medicine to the environment and beyond. By inviting speakers at various stages in their academic careers, we wanted to show students the many possible paths into synthetic biology and inspire them to think about how they can contribute to the field themselves.
We sent out a post-event survey to gauge feedback for this event. SYNBIO 101: Conversations in SynBio drew a majority of freshmen (83%) from a wide array of majors, many of whom had little to no familiarity with synthetic biology before our event. Additionally, students rated their prior knowledge of synthetic biology before the event on a scale of 1 to 5 at an average of 2.5/5. When asked about whether or not they could see themselves participating in the synthetic biology community after the event, attendees reported an average of 4.4/5. Attendees also rated the event as highly accessible (4.8/5) and relatable (4/5); this affirmed our goal of ensuring that this event remained accessible and engaging, even for people who are not familiar with synthetic biology. We also achieved our goal of showcasing the many different paths offered by synthetic biology, along with how attendees could get involved.
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In addition to the other events, our team hosted two informational sessions, also during DawgDaze, where the wider University of Washington community could come and talk with our members about this year’s project and iGEM more broadly. As members of an R1 University (meaning a university that spends at least 50 million USD per year on research), we feel it’s deeply important to develop students’ interest with research. We tabled at multiple events focused towards engineering students, and while engaging with the engineering community we were able to share about our own experiences in research. We tabled at UW’s Engineering admitted students day, and engineering launch events. It was important to us to emphasize the importance of every stage of the research project. Although we found success at these events, our engagement with the UW community did not stop with engineering students. We held several information sessions about iGEM and undergraduate research as a whole. Despite the focus of iGEM being synthetic biology, we talked to students from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. The research process requires people in management, finance, outreach, and many more, and we tried to reflect that when talking to students. STEM requires engagement with the community, and we were able to connect with other undergraduates who were interested in research. We shared our own stories with research and connected with many members of the UW community who had a wide range of research interests.
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Our goals this year were to utilize social media platforms to connect with students across our community and promote both our project and synthetic biology. We utilized Instagram to reach out to college and high school students, connecting with our community to raise awareness of synthetic biology. To this end, we held and advertised iGEM events to increase local participation and engagement in synthetic biology. Additionally, we brought attention to iGEM and our project by uploading a series of informational posts.
To promote our club, we created a series of posts called “Intro to iGEM.” This short series achieves our goal of informing incoming college students and potential future iGEM members on what the Washington iGEM team does.
The first post in the sequence, “What is iGEM?”, explains the purpose of iGEM, along with a brief history overview. Moreover, it includes various details about the iGEM competition itself, such as the introduction of the jamboree and a basic timeline of the entire competition.
Our “iGEM Key Terms” post defines common terms used in iGEM’s projects regarding infection methods and antibiotics. This post aims to give viewers a better understanding of what our iGEM project is, what it’s trying to accomplish in the real world, and how we’re making it happen. With these terms, our project has become more accessible to the general population, allowing them to comprehend it and raising awareness about current healthcare issues.
To give our audience an idea of what an iGEM project looks like, we created a “What does an iGEM project look like?” post. Within it, we cover what is needed to create a team, select iGEM villages, and gather results for the competition.
The final post in the series was our “2024 iGEM Project Recap” post about our previous project, Mighty Moieties. We explained the problem we aimed to address: the long half-lives of antibiotics requiring multiple daily doses, and the albumin-binding protein we developed to prevent the removal of antibiotics from the bloodstream.
An educational post that centers around what antibiotic resistance is, how it occurs, and ways the general public can do their part in fighting it. The aim of this post is to raise awareness about this growing problem and offer strategies to prevent its escalation. Additionally, this post helped create a more comprehensive backdrop for our project by informing the general public of one of the reasons why our project is essential.
An educational post that centers around what antibiotic resistance is, how it occurs, and ways the general public can do their part in fighting it. The aim of this post is to raise awareness about this growing problem and offer strategies to prevent its escalation. Additionally, this post helped create a more comprehensive backdrop for our project by informing the general public of one of the reasons why our project is essential.
An educational post that gives the general public more background information about our project. Our project focuses on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and reducing its virulence. Exotoxin A is a biotoxin that contributes to the virulence of PA. ExoA prevents host cells from making necessary proteins and then causes the cells to undergo apoptosis. Learning about the mechanism of Exotoxin A and how it relates to antibiotic resistance enables the public to understand how our project aims to reduce overall antibiotic resistance.
An educational post that details standard lab procedures used in our 2025 iGEM project, which are broadly applicable to many synthetic biology labs. With this information, our followers will have a better understanding of synthetic biology assays and how they work in practice.
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Trend Tables Health, United States, 2020–2021,” 2020. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2020-2021/VaxCh.pdf
[2] A. Kaushik, J. Fomicheva, N. Boonstra, E. Faber, S. Gupta, and H. Kest, “Pediatric vaccine hesitancy in the United States—The growing problem and strategies for management including motivational interviewing,” Vaccines, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 115, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.3390/vaccines13020115. Available: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11860934/
[3] “Backyard brains,” Backyard Brains. Available: https://backyardbrains.com/
[4] “Human-Human Interface,” Backyard Brains. Available: https://backyardbrains.com/products/human-human-interface
[5] TED, “How to control someone else’s arm with your brain | Greg Gage,” YouTube. Apr. 28, 2015. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQNi5sAwuc