The Building with Biology kit is designed to help museum and scientist partners engage public audiences in conversations and hands-on activities about the field of synthetic biology and the ways this emerging technology is interconnected with society.
Kit contents list...
Staff training materials for Nano & Society workshop. The workshop focused on preparing museum educators to engage the public in conversations about the relationship between nanotechnology and society. Workshop participants learned new hands-on activities, full-length programs, and ideas for facilitating...
As gene editing techniques become more refined, the possibility of editing the human genome is moving from science fiction to reality. In this forum, participants have a chance to discuss the future of human genome editing and important concerns for...
To help support Summer 2016 Building with Biology event host sites, the project provided professional development opportunities for host site staff, volunteers, and scientists. Online workshops provided an overview on public forums, the contents in the Building with Biology physical kit...
New tools—like "CRISPR"—are making it possible to edit DNA with great precision. Soon, we will be able to accurately alter targeted sections of the genome of other animals and plants, as well as our own DNA. But should we? In...
Welcome to the Building with Biology project! The evaluation letter contained here explains both the required and optional reporting of your Building with Biology event, and includes links to further online resources and contact information for any questions you might...
These materials will help prepare you, your staff, and your event volunteers for a successful and engaging Building with Biology event. Included are the event orientation presentation (with notes) and the tips for conversations reference sheet.
This page contains all the logos and specifications for making your own Building with Biology event and marketing materials. Each logo comes in jpg, png, and AI file formats.
Here is a selection of NISE Net Building with Biology press photos! Please use these images for marketing Building with Biology events, and in creating other related materials. These photos are free for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0...
These files contain digital copies of a wide variety of promotional materials for your Building with Biology event. They include multiple formats of ready-to-print and customizable ads, posters, and banners. Collections of sample press photos and Building with Biology logos...
This is a collection of colorful, printable reference sheets on the basics of synthetic biology and related fields of study. Using illustrations and simple language, the sheets describe the essentials of genes and DNA, traditional agricultural breeding, genetic engineering, and...
These stickers can be used at your Building with Biology event to help visitors identify scientist volunteers. Each sticker says "I'm a scientist," and invites visitors to ask the wearer how they are building with biology. (Spanish versions also available.)
These "passports" can be used at your Building with Biology event to help visitors keep track of everything they've done there—they can collect stamps to mark when they've talked to a scientist, asked a question about synthetic biology, shared an...
This is a detailed guide for planning and promoting your Building with Biology event. The guide covers each step of preparing for your event, recruiting and training volunteers and scientist partners, facilitating conversations during the event, and evaluating the event...
This is a set of printable materials for your Building with Biology events. These materials invite visitors to imagine all the ways that new technologies and techniques of synthetic biology could affect their lives, now and in the future. Visitors...
These colorful, printable posters introduce visitors to the principles of synthetic biology. One shows synthetic biologists at work, and the other features the student teams at the 2014 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) synthetic biology competition.
This is a Building with Biology forum in which participants have a chance to learn about a synthetic biology topic and then engage in a guided conversation and make a plan of action. In this case, the participants are both...
In this Building with Biology activity, visitors explore the potential for engineered viruses to deliver beneficial, targeted genetic information to sites throughout the body, and discuss their hopes and concerns regarding this technology. Visitors create a model of the technology...
In this Building with Biology activity, visitors consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of various areas of synthetic biology research, before investing in them with "tech tokens." Then, visitors assume the role of a different character, and consider how that...
This is a hands-on Building with Biology activity. Visitors learn about the ways synthetic biologists can solve problems through creativity and the engineering process. Visitors are first challenged to design a superhero (by attaching cut-out features to a paper template...
This is a hands-on activity in which visitors learn about the fundamental component of biology and synthetic engineering: DNA. In the activity, visitors will extract visible DNA from wheat germ, and create necklaces to display their own sample of wheat...
This is a hands-on activity for Building with Biology, in which visitors explore the engineering aspect of synthetic biology by solving challenges through building a model cell with standardized genetic parts. Many genetic components can be used as part of...
"Bio Bistro" is a card-based personal choice activity, in which visitors decide what current and future synthetic biology-based food products they would, would not, or might eat. They share their opinions on why they made each choice, and discuss what...
This 7-minute video was developed as part of the Building with Biology project and is designed to help create conversations in museums among scientists and public audiences about the emerging field of synthetic biology and its societal implications.
This film asks scientists from Harvard, Princeton and Duke University to imagine the future of science and technology and the scientific enterprise as a whole. We wanted to know where they thought the world was headed. Not in three, or...