1. Name of Organization
Just One Giant Lab (JOGL) - SynBio 101
2. Email Address
subramaniansakti@gmail.com and chris@jogl.io
3. About the Organization and Team
Just One Giant Lab (JOGL) is an NGO and collection of DIY scientists from around the world. During the COVID pandemic, our community has been efficiently enabled to create open source devices, such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) tests, new open source reagent tools, and hardware. Last year, we used 5,000 Euros from the Microbiology Society to fund teams on education on antimicrobial resistance. This year, we are supporting a new initiative - SynBio 101.
SynBio 101 seeks to elevate communities to advance synthetic biology as a mechanism for sustainable development. Globally, primary to post-secondary institutions do not have an open science education that prioritizes synthetic biology. SynBio 101 aims to increase global interest in synthetic biology by providing the scientists of tomorrow with equal access to frugal DIY kits, instructional modules, and workshops. Our goal is to make synthetic biology easily accessible to everyone, for every region and for every age.
The organizers, Sakti Subramanian, Richard Jiang, and Roudlotul Jannah are Project Heads at iGEM Community. The three heads have previous experience in open science hardware and education, by serving as directors at iGEM Friendzymes, iGEM Lambert, and iGEM Stockholm, respectively. With SynBio 101, they will be mentored by JOGL, who have a long history of leading similar community initiatives.
4. Does your event team have representation of a marginalized demographic due to factors such as, but not limited to, race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?
JOGL has several partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, and the United States that have already expressed interest in the initiative. With an existing community, JOGL will establish a network for SynBio 101 through these partnerships. In JOGL’s previous initiatives, 42% of project owners were female, with leaders from an unprecedented number of nationalities across all five regions of the world.
The primary motivation behind SynBio 101 is to increase the accessibility of synthetic biology to communities that have been historically marginalized in the field. As a result, it is imperative that our team adequately represents the demographics that our project serves. The team members are recruited from all five regions; North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Europe with different backgrounds - nationalities, ethnicities, races, genders, and ages - in order to increase our diversity and outreach.
5. What scientific discipline is your event related to?
Science and Technology Studies, Synthetic Biology, and Science Accessibility
6. Describe your event. Include the aims and outcomes, who will be invited and how, how the event will be advertised. Summarize the event timeline, agenda and facilitation plan.
The team at SynBio 101 will develop modules, workshops, kits, and microfunding opportunities over the course of the project. As further detailed in Questions 7 and 8, the modules will contain several workshops that are made possible through the development of the kits. As of February 2023, there are twenty two modules currently being developed, which will be released to the broader community in March and April 2023. Throughout the year, more modules with workshops and kits will be periodically released.
The instructional modules include:
- Introduction to Synthetic Biology
- Introduction to Plasmids and Circuits
- Introduction to Viruses and Phages
- Concerns about Biotechnology
- Biosecurity and Biosafety
- Types of Biosensors
- Types of DNA Assembly
- CRISPR-Dx Theory
- Isothermal Amplification
- Automation in Biology
- Experimental Design
- Regulatory Protocols
- Publication Protocols
The modules with software (S) or hardware (H) workshops include:
- Designing a Biosensor (S)
- Designing PCR Primers (S)
- Designing LAMP Primers (S)
- Gel Electrophoresis (H)
- Cell and Plasmid Preparation (H)
- Transformation Protocols (H)
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (H)
- Identifying Nucleic Acids (H)
- Expressing Enzymes (H)
Implementation
A curriculum will be created by the organizers and immediately invited network, and taught over the course of Month 1. Then, students and organizations will be highly encouraged to participate in micro-funding opportunities, leveraging the skills they acquired in the curriculum to develop a synthetic biology solution to a global problem relevant to healthcare, diagnostics, environment, or accessibility in Month 2. Students can choose to attend supplemental science communication workshops while funding decisions are made in Month 3. Finally, four organizations will be awarded microgrants of $250 USD in Month 4 that can be used to purchase hardware, reagents, or other unavailable materials required for molecular research in their area.
Outreach
The event will be advertised on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Additionally, the event will be advertised through both iGEM Community and JOGL Community communications. Because the organizers are from a wide range of regions, and have multiple connections in the community, SynBio 101 will further be advertised through iGEM Ambassadors, Lectures Without Borders, Global Community Bio Summit, and others. SynBio 101 will also collaborate with New England BioLabs, Friendzymes, Open Philanthropy, USAID, US Department of Education, and regional synthetic biology associations like SynBio Brazil and SynBio Indonesia.
7. What type of outputs will result from the event (e.g. reports, documentation, media) and how will you share them?
SynBio 101 will develop educational modules for the two tracks; secondary students and elementary students.The content included in the free and openly accessible modules will be delivered through lecture-based videos, presentations, speeches, and readings. Partnering organizations will receive digital copies of the modules for implementation into their regional curriculums. As those same modules will also be available on SynBio 101’s iGEM Community and JOGL Community websites, non-partnering organizations will still be able to provide their own input. In addition, the modules will be advertised through iGEM, JOGL, GOSH, and regional synthetic biology associations.
SynBio 101 will develop a lab curriculum that includes several workshops related to the modules. For efficient implementation, we will document these workshops in the form of an educator’s guide that will contain the protocols, materials, procedures, anticipated results, and discussion questions for all laboratory experiences provided to the students. Following implementation, a white paper on the efficacy of the workshops in developing communities will be published to a peer-reviewed journal and presented at global conferences.
SynBio 101 will develop synthetic biology kits that will be used in the workshops. The first 30 trial kits, secured by the grant, will be shared directly to verified schools, community labs, university labs, regional synthetic biology organizations, and NGOs. The designs for the following kits will be shared to our international partners after the completion of the trial round. Our partners can then efficiently produce and distribute these kits in their respective regions without having to incur significant costs such as shipping and taxes. These designs will be documented through the form of a patent.
In addition, SynBio 101 will provide for microgrants in order to fund innovators around the world who will be inspired to start their own synthetic biology hardware journey, with the materials to let them do so. JOGL has experience in this funding dispersal.
8. How will your event promote or advance open science hardware within the specified scientific discipline?
As a multidisciplinary field, synthetic biology has been challenging to disseminate to a public audience. While some parts of the community support synthetic biology as a solution to global problems, other parts of the community are less informed and interested in the field. As a result, many individuals fall prey to misinformation and unreasonable bias about synthetic biology. This is highlighted through negative public perceptions on nuclear, stem cell, and GMO technology, with 1 in 3 people having an unfavorable opinion on synthetic biology.
However, recent community initiatives such as Friendzymes and OpenCOVID19 have proven that these attitudes can be overcome through proper education on hardware and how it leads to real innovation in saving lives. With SynBio 101, we would like to lead the movement to bring open science education to new regions, specifically using hardware in the form of kits that reinforce the instruction we provide in modules.
These kits each serve a specific purpose: to introduce students to fundamental synthetic biology lab protocols and procedures, including, but not limited to, polymerase chain reaction, enzyme expression, gel electrophoresis, and genetic engineering. By exposing students to these basics through hands-on hardware experiments, students will develop enthusiasm in synthetic biology and a long term interest in molecular research.
Additionally, through microfunding, selected organizations, who will have their hardware costs covered, will be empowered to do their own research. As a result, synthetic biology and open science will decentralize from the West, expanding to a global audience from all corners of the world. This will promote many developments socially, politically, economically, and educationally; kick-starting stronger open science hardware communities.
9. How will your event and its outputs have an impact on the broader open science hardware community?
As an accessibility initiative, our project will bring open science hardware to communities that currently have limited access to synthetic biology and biotechnology. Firstly, through the microfunding endeavor, we will ensure that four organizations in developing regions with limited resources can purchase the hardware required for molecular research. Secondly, through the kit endeavor, we will ensure that students in schools that lack a comprehensive synthetic biology curriculum can learn the major concepts and protocols of the field through our kit hardware.
In such, the collaborative learning environment that we are fostering will loop more of these underrepresented communities into the broader open science hardware community. Open Hardware Africa is a perfect example of an existing open science hardware initiative project that we will build on. SynBio 101 will integrate open science hardware with synthetic biology and bring it to the other communities throughout Africa, Latin America, and Asia and Oceania.
10. What is the funding for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.
| CATEGORY | FUNDING | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Event Management | Covered | Local, hybrid, and virtual meetings in all 5 regions, including venue, food and beverages, and relevant programming expenses. |
| Microfunding | $1000 | Microgrants of $250 USD to 4 organizations that cannot normally afford to be part of the OSH community. Microgrants will be awarded to these 4 selectees for the purchase of lab hardware beyond the scope of the kits produced for teams. |
| Trial Kit Production | $1200 | 30 trial kits will be produced, with each kit costing approximately $40 USD to manufacture the kit. One kit will roughly serve one organization or institution. Because materials will be bought in mass quantities, prices may be reduced, which increases the number of kits produced in the allocated $1200. The trial kits will be manufactured in Chicago, US and Indonesia, and then shipped/distributed in this manner; 5 for US, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Ghana, and Uganda each. |
| Trial Kit Distribution | $2000 | There will be funding allocated to the distribution of the Synthetic biology kits, so organizations around the world who are verified may acquire a synthetic biology kit for their institution. For the trial 30 kits, we estimate a max of $2000 USD for shipping. |
| Kit Production | $1200 | There will be funding allocated to the production of more kits. With the remaining GOSH grant, $1200 USD will be allocated to purchase equipment that local communities will need to manufacture the kits in their own regions. |
| TOTAL | $5400 |
11. How would your event address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
SynBio 101 will address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion by focusing on reaching regions of the world that have less access to synthetic biology. Our organizers, core team, and partners represent many of these regions, with several individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Indo-Pacific, and Indian subcontinent, regions that have historically been neglected in such community calls to action considering the costs of synthetic biology. This unjust and unfair cost for inclusion in “open science” is what makes SynBio 101 crucial to the world at this moment, by truly reaching that inclusion through the materials and support we provide in our project.
12. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
There are no personal or financial conflicts of interest.