Synthetic biology for all – BMC spreading knowledge through collaboration
From left Kianue Fazlai; NTI teacher Pernilla Berglund; Sahar Siddiqui; and NTI upper secondary school principal Anna Wiklund. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
Some young people lean over a lab bench at the Biomedical Centre to study plates sporting colourful bacterial cultures. In their white coats, they could be taken for university students. But they are in fact upper secondary school pupils starting the autumn semester with a lab exercise at BMC.
Agar plates with colonies of E. coli bacteria expressing colored proteins from corals. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
“This is super cool,” says Kianue Fazlai, 18 years old and a third-year pupil at Procivitas upper secondary school.
Standing next to him is Pernilla Berglund, a teacher from NTI upper secondary school, and wondering if anyone can identify the protein that the bacteria has produced. This is the fourth year she has collaborated with Uppsala University’s Margareta Krabbe in her upper secondary school course in biotechnology.
“We attend workshops and lectures in synthetic biology at BMC. But what the pupils have wanted more than anything is to be able to do labs in molecular biology,” says Pernilla Berglund.
19-year-old Sahar Siddiqui from year 2 of the NTI upper secondary school’s science programme rotates the dish with the blue-coloured proteins, originally isolated from corals.
“I love biology, especially learning about bacteria, cells and DNA. I like practical work and I’m hoping to become a doctor in the future.”
Anthony Forster, Professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
Spreading research to schools and the general public is the aim
Over three days, BMC is visited by pupils from years 2 and 3 at NTI and Procivitas upper secondary schools which are both located in Uppsala’s suburb of Polacksbacken. This arrangement was set up by the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and the Biology Education Centre. Anthony Forster is a professor of molecular biology at BMC, and for many years has been involved in spreading research to schools and the general public.
“We wanted to encourage more potential students to get curious about our study programmes in biotechnology and synthetic biology and potentially inspire some of those young people to choose a career in this field. Or at the very least to understand it and spread that knowledge within the community at large.”
Before the summer, Anthony Forster received a Vinnova grant of SEK 300,000 for the Uppsala SynBio Hub project. Among other things, he is going to be helping NTI initiate Sweden’s first upper secondary school team for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. He also plans to help the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences start their first iGEM team. It’s the leading international competition in synthetic biology and Uppsala University has participated every year since 2009, explains Margareta Krabbe, senior lecturer in microbiology and the course coordinator for iGEM.
“Upper secondary school pupils are getting the opportunity to meet Uppsala University’s iGEM team, which will compete in Paris in October. Hopefully some of these pupils will go home thinking that the competition sounds exciting and want to be part of it themselves,” she says.
Carrying a plasmid encoding a fluorescing protein, these E. coli bacteria fluoresce when exposed to blue light. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
The project grant will also go to acquiring more advanced equipment, some of which will be available for purchase by upper secondary schools, according to Anthony Forster.
“This could include thermocycling machines for DNA amplification using PCR technology, for example for diagnostics that can look for infectious agents in sample material. Other machines are too expensive for schools to purchase, such as those that freeze down to minus 80 degrees Celsius or big centrifuges, but with those we can instead let the pupils come here and use them.”
Citizen science collaboration
Today’s presenters also include Biohackeri, an Uppsala-based non-profit association that aims to make biology more accessible to the public. They hope to do this through workshops, citizen science experiments and big programming events, known as hackathons.
“We want to reach people involved in the maker movement, biotechnology and synthetic biology,” said Ismail Elouafiq, chair of the association. “Biohacking is about merging biology with technology, and it can be as simple as tracking blood sugar or caffeine levels in the body in simple experiments on oneself.”
From left: Ismail Elouafiq, Biohackeri; Pernilla Berglund; Anthony Forster; Sam Flores, senior lecturer SLU; Margareta Krabbe, UU. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
Ismail Elouafiq got in touch with Anthony Forster after a spontaneous visit to BMC, and now the two of them are planning more activities together.
But Professor Forster also makes time to get involved with other age groups.
“In September I’m teaching a course I have been running for a few years now, Frontiers in Life Science, which is a pioneer course in the University’s lifelong learning initiative,” he says. “Retired people who have taken this course have said that although they knew about the biological revolution, they now wanted to know more. Being able to take them to the next level is very rewarding.”
Anneli Björkman