BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit

Stark, Jessica C.; Huang, Ally; Nguyen, Peter Q.; Dubner, Rachel S.; Hsu, Karen J.; Ferrante, Thomas C.; Anderson, Mary; Kanapskyte, Ada; Mucha, Quinn; Packett, Jessica S.; Patel, Palak; Patel, Richa; Qaq, Deema; Zondor, Tyler; Burke, Julie; Martinez, Thomas; Miller-Berry, Ashlee; Puppala, Aparna; Reichert, Kara; Schmid, Miriam; Brand, Lance; Hill, Lander R.; Chellaswamy, Jemima F.; Faheem, Nuhie; Fetherling, Suzanne; Gong, Elissa; Gonzalzles, Eddie Marie; Granito, Teresa; Koritsaris, Jenna; Nguyen, Binh; Ottman, Sujud; Palffy, Christina; Patel, Angela; Skweres, Sheila; Slaton, Adriane; Woods, TaRhonda; Donghia, Nina; Pardee, Keith; Collins, James J.; Jewett, Michael C.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat5107

BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat5107· OSTI ID:1499914

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; Hsu, Karen J. ^[5]; Ferrante, Thomas C. ^[5]; Anderson, Mary ^[6]; ^[7]; Mucha, Quinn ^[6]; Packett, Jessica S. ^[7]; Patel, Palak ^[6]; Patel, Richa ^[6]; Qaq, Deema ^[6]; Zondor, Tyler ^[6]; ^[8]; Martinez, Thomas ^[6]; Miller-Berry, Ashlee ^[9]; Puppala, Aparna ^[10]; ^[11]; Schmid, Miriam ^[12] more »

Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); OSTI
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States)
Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States)
Glenbard East High School, Lombard, IL (United States)
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Palos Hills, IL (United States)
Grover Cleveland Elementary School, Chicago, IL (United States)
Evanston Township High School, Evanston, IL (United States)
Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, IL (United States)
Jones College Prep High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Chicago, IL (United States)
Delta High School, Muncie, IN (United States)
ASPIRA Business and Finance High School, 2989 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL (United States)
Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102, Buffalo Grove, IL (United States)
Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School, IL (United States)
Hoffman Estates High School, Hoffman Estates, IL (United States)
Vernon Hills High School, Vernon Hills, IL (United States)
Morgan Park High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
Northside College Prep High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
Aqsa School, Bridgeview, IL (United States)
Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL (United States)
Lyons Township High School, La Grange, IL (United States)
Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States); Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States); Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (United States)
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States)

Synthetic biology offers opportunities for experiential educational activities at the intersection of the life sciences, engineering, and design. However, implementation of hands-on biology activities in classrooms is challenging because of the need for specialized equipment and expertise to grow living cells. We present BioBits™ Bright, a shelf-stable, just-add-water synthetic biology education kit with easy visual outputs enabled by expression of fluorescent proteins in freeze-dried, cell-free reactions. We introduce activities and supporting curricula for teaching the central dogma, tunable protein expression, and design-build-test cycles and report data generated by K-12 teachers and students. We also develop inexpensive incubators and imagers, resulting in a comprehensive kit costing

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018249

OSTI ID:: 1499914

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 4; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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