Report for Hands-on workshop: Synthetic Biology application on plastic waste degradation
We had our collaborative event on 3-5 May 2023 in Sumbawa Techno Park and Brang Biji River in Sumbawa.
Kit preparation
There were 3 kits developed for this event: microplastic kit, DNA isolation kit, and electrophoresis kit. These kits were prepared and packed in Sumbawa University of Technology.
Day 1 - Plastics and its problem
There were talks given by the lecturers of the Faculty of Life Science of Technology, Sumbawa University of Technology. The first talk was the introduction of plastic in general and how it could bring problems to the environment. The second talk was explaining more about microplastic and some strategies that can be used in tackling the problems.
Day 2 - River clean up and microplastic observation
Students were divided into groups and together went to the Brang Biji River. The microplastic kits were distributed to the students before the observation. The samples of river water were taken using a DIY plankton net and divided into cups for the groups to be observed. The kit has foldscopes that were used by the students to observe the microplastic in the water sample followed with river cleanup. They took some pictures of their observations that are furtherly used as a reference for making posters. The second day was wrapped up with students making posters for the next day’s presentation.
Day 3 - Synthetic biology and its application on plastic waste management
The students presented their posters and what they can learn from the second day activities. There was an introductory lecture about synthetic biology in general that is followed with another lecture about its application on plastic degradation. There was also an explanation about some techniques that are common in synthetic biology research such as DNA isolation and gel electrophoresis that they could learn later after the break. Each group of the students got two kits for the hands-on workshop. Started with gel electrophoresis, they assembled the battery and the gel apparatus and loaded the food colouring as samples. While waiting for the running, they started the DNA isolation from banana and dragon fruit.
