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Title: BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit

Abstract

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

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [5];  [6];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5]; ORCiD logo [7];  [5];  [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [10];  [11] more »; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [13]; ORCiD logo [14]; ORCiD logo [15];  [16];  [17];  [18];  [8];  [8];  [19]; ORCiD logo [20];  [21];  [22];  [8]; ORCiD logo [8];  [8]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [23]; ORCiD logo [24]; ORCiD logo [25] « less
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States)
  3. Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (United States)
  5. Glenbard East High School, Lombard, IL (United States)
  6. Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Palos Hills, IL (United States)
  7. Grover Cleveland Elementary School, Chicago, IL (United States)
  8. Evanston Township High School, Evanston, IL (United States)
  9. Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, IL (United States)
  10. Jones College Prep High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
  11. Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Chicago, IL (United States)
  12. Delta High School, Muncie, IN (United States)
  13. ASPIRA Business and Finance High School, 2989 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL (United States)
  14. Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102, Buffalo Grove, IL (United States)
  15. Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School, IL (United States)
  16. Hoffman Estates High School, Hoffman Estates, IL (United States)
  17. Vernon Hills High School, Vernon Hills, IL (United States)
  18. Morgan Park High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
  19. Northside College Prep High School, Chicago, IL (United States)
  20. Aqsa School, Bridgeview, IL (United States)
  21. Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL (United States)
  22. Lyons Township High School, La Grange, IL (United States)
  23. Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada)
  24. 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)
  25. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1499914
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0018249
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

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., and Jewett, Michael C. BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat5107.
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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. BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat5107
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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., and Jewett, Michael C. Wed . "BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat5107. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1499914.
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@article{osti_1499914,
title = {BioBits™ Bright: A fluorescent synthetic biology education kit},
author = {Stark, Jessica C. and Huang, Ally and Nguyen, Peter Q. and Dubner, Rachel S. and Hsu, Karen J. and Ferrante, Thomas C. and Anderson, Mary and Kanapskyte, Ada and Mucha, Quinn and Packett, Jessica S. and Patel, Palak and Patel, Richa and Qaq, Deema and Zondor, Tyler and Burke, Julie and Martinez, Thomas and Miller-Berry, Ashlee and Puppala, Aparna and Reichert, Kara and Schmid, Miriam and Brand, Lance and Hill, Lander R. and Chellaswamy, Jemima F. and Faheem, Nuhie and Fetherling, Suzanne and Gong, Elissa and Gonzalzles, Eddie Marie and Granito, Teresa and Koritsaris, Jenna and Nguyen, Binh and Ottman, Sujud and Palffy, Christina and Patel, Angela and Skweres, Sheila and Slaton, Adriane and Woods, TaRhonda and Donghia, Nina and Pardee, Keith and Collins, James J. and Jewett, Michael C.},
abstractNote = {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},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aat5107},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 8,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {8}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat5107
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Cited by: 17 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: BioBits™ Bright: A portable, cell-free synthesized fluorescent protein library for teaching the central dogma of molecular biology and synthetic biology. (A) We describe here the development of an educational kit containing two laboratory modules using FD-CF reactions and a library of in vitro–synthesized fluorescent proteins. (B) In modulemore » I, students investigate how biological systems can be engineered by adding varying amounts of DNA template to FD-CF reactions. Titrating the amount of DNA template results in varying levels of fluorescent protein production, which are visible to the naked eye and under a blue or black light. (C) In module II, users design their own in vitro program using DNA encoding the fluorescent protein library and any of the DNA template concentrations investigated in module I. This module offers the opportunity to go through a user-directed design-build-test (DBT) cycle. All reagents used in these activities (freeze-dried reactions and plasmids) can be stored and transported without refrigeration, making them highly portable for use outside of the laboratory.« less
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