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Principal Investigator: SAAD BHAMLA
Organization: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Fiscal Year: 2022
Award: $270,000
Funding agency: National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Project Summary/Abstract
Given modern history’s advancements in molecular biology, from the exponential decrease in the
costs of genome sequencing, nucleotide synthesis, and genome editing (CRISPR), synthetic
biology is poised to be the next major revolution in technological advancements. The White House
has recognized this trend in its 2019 Bioeconomy Summit, emphasizing the need for developing
a robust bioeconomy and training the next generation workforce to carry it forward. However,
research and education in synthetic biology has remained predominant in well-funded graduate
research institutes with easy access to commercial equipment and training. Those in high schools
and undergraduate pathways have not seen the same accessibility despite them being the prime
target for advancement into research careers and extensive research indicates the value in
diversification of the workforce. A key bottleneck for enabling hands-on training in synthetic
biology is lack of affordable hardware, especially in budget-conscious high school laboratories.
Recent initiatives in frugal science have attempted to address some of these bottlenecks with
notable frugal inventions including the 20-cent paper centrifuge, 23-cent electroporator, and 1-
dollar microscope, to name a few. The proposed work will develop a Frugal Science Academy, a
first-of-its-kind, to i) train underrepresented groups (URM) in K-12 STEM to conduct their own
research in synthetic/molecular biology by developing their own frugal tools and gain research
experiences often exclusive to well-equipped universities, and ii) to develop professional
development courses and bootcamps to train rural Georgia high-school teachers with frugal
hardware to conduct their own molecular biology experiments and introduce synthetic biology
components to their existing curricula.
Overall, the success of the Frugal Science Academy will help introduce younger innovators and
inventors to the rapidly expanding field of synthetic biology, empower them to conduct their own
biomedical research and biological research by breaking down cost barriers using frugal
equipment, and collaborate with teachers to begin a new widespread initiative of synthetic biology
curricula in high school classrooms.
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