Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
ACS Synth Biol. 2023 Oct 20;12(10):2909-2921. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00223. Epub 2023 Sep 12.
As the field of synthetic biology expands, the need to grow and train science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) practitioners is essential. However, the lack of access to hands-on demonstrations has led to inequalities of opportunity and practice. In addition, there is a gap in providing content that enables students to make their own bioengineered systems. To address these challenges, we develop four shelf-stable cell-free biosensing educational modules that work by simply adding water and DNA to freeze-dried crude extracts of non-pathogenic . We introduce activities and supporting curricula to teach the structure and function of the operon, dose-responsive behavior, considerations for biosensor outputs, and a "build-your-own" activity for monitoring environmental contaminants in water. We piloted these modules with K-12 teachers and 130 high-school students in their classrooms─and at home─without professional laboratory equipment. This work promises to catalyze access to interactive synthetic biology education opportunities.
随着合成生物学领域的不断发展，培养和培训科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）从业者变得至关重要。然而，缺乏实践演示机会导致了机会和实践的不平等。此外，在提供使学生能够构建自己的生物工程系统的内容方面也存在差距。为了解决这些挑战，我们开发了四个稳定储存的无细胞生物传感教育模块，只需将水和 DNA 添加到冻干的非致病性的粗提物中即可工作。我们引入了各种活动和配套课程，以教授操纵子的结构和功能、剂量响应行为、生物传感器输出的注意事项，以及用于监测水中环境污染物的“自行构建”活动。我们在没有专业实验室设备的情况下，在 K-12 教师和 130 名高中生的课堂内外试用了这些模块。这项工作有望促进互动式合成生物学教育机会的普及。
