iGEM Bolivia: A scientific movement for access to bio-innovation

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iGEM Bolivia: Un movimiento científico para el acceso a la bioinnovación

If humanity reached global consensus and prioritized science as a tool for solving local and global problems, people would enter a more harmonious state of existence with planet earth. Unfortunately, many sovereign nations fail to allocate adequate funding towards scientific research and development. This is especially true in underdeveloped countries that often lack economic stability and downplay scientific development. The nation of Bolivia is exemplary here. Since its inception, Bolivia has been exporting raw materials for economic gain rather than focusing on the development of new technologies, which are especially lagging behind the rest of the world in the areas of medicine and biotechnology.

Birth of iGEM Bolivia

Bolivia’s need for scientific innovation inspired the formation of iGEM Bolivia, a student organization that seeks to create both a scientific community and a movement to advance bio-innovation in Bolivia. In 2019, Tania Pozzo introduced the iGEM Competition to young Bolivians who attended the 1st International Congress of Biotechnology in Bolivia. Students from four different regions of Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca) expressed interest and took the critical and important first step of finding and recruiting other students who were interested in learning the intricate details and methods of synthetic biology. Together they formed a team of more than 57 students who are eager to develop synthetic biology-based solutions in the near future that solve local challenges.

The second step was to find Bolivian scientists, living in Bolivia and other parts of the world, who could support the movement by being instructors in different areas of expertise such as biotechnology, robotics and graphic design, among others. Cecilia González was the first local scientist to join the movement and advised the team on topics such as scientific communication, scientific debate, defending the scientific perspective, and regulatory requirements that are necessary for advancing biotechnology research and development in Bolivia. Following her recruitment, the team grew to a size of 16 instructors of six expatriate and ten local Bolivian scientists.

Overcoming barriers to participation

After identifying the local limitations in Bolivia, the team devised a strategy to overcome these barriers and achieve the goal of participating in the iGEM 2021 competition. The strategic diagram can be seen in the figure below.

Figure made by Oskar Zeballos

We believe that this strategy is key to accelerating bio-innovation in Bolivia and other underdeveloped countries. For example, working protocols for synthetic biology must first be established in university laboratories in order to initiate forward progress and enable access for students. One of the team’s early achievements is having learned from the in silico design of biological circuits in order to design and construct a bacterium that acts as a highly sensitive arsenic biosensor. In future competitions the team will be able to transmit this knowledge to other students. However, in terms of laboratory work, iGEM Bolivia has recently encountered several impeding obstacles, with Bolivian customs being the most significant contributing factor towards delayed progress.

One of the strongest activities carried out during 2021 was scientific communication and the development of new skills by a large proportion of the iGEM Bolivia team. Many students learned that in their professional careers it will be important to explain their research in simple terms so that any given audience can understand the material. After receiving guidance on how to most effectively deploy social media as a tool to share information and grow social networks, the team built an impressive social media posting calendar featuring monthly topics of focus that allowed followers to learn about subjects that included biotechnology applications, what is synthetic biology, bioreactors, biosensors, COVID-19, vaccines, probiotics and many others.

Expanding access to bio-innovation

Bolivian iGEMers also collaborated to create short educational videos for biology classes targeting students in their final two years of high school. After having learned to write a script and present it simply in video format to a general audience, the team produced 40 episodes that are now freely distributed within a diverse collection of more than 500 videos covering a range of initiatives produced and maintained by the STEAM League on YouTube. 

Some members of iGEM Bolivia are native speakers of languages indigenous to Bolivia such as Aymara and Quechua. These individuals grew up in rural areas and were concerned that much of the scientific and technological information being communicated in Spanish would not reach their communities due to the language barrier. To address this challenge, these students decided to create a sub-team within the educational group of iGEM Bolivia focused on creating short videos that communicate the basics of biotechnology, synthetic biology, and explain what a biosensor is. An impressive feature of this group’s initiative is the fact that they forged an inclusive collaboration with communicators and language students while succeeding in seeking out volunteers capable of contributing to video editing. The result of this effort is a collection of 20 videos in Aymara and Quechua. Recently, the group also added 4 videos in Guaraní, which is a third native language also officially recognized in Bolivia. The ultimate goal of this effort is to build a bridge with people who are more comfortable with their mother tongue. This project was received with great pleasure by the broader Bolivian community, where the university video channel of La Paz presented some of these videos and a well-known youth program “Pica” invited iGEM Bolivia to promote their videos with a brief presentation.

Additionally, some iGEMers realized that they lacked an understanding of how to defend a scientific topic in a debate. Many people in Bolivia tend to believe whatever myth against science is circulating. These individuals frequently deny and repudiate transgenic plants, vaccines, or even believe that the COVID pandemic does not exist. For this reason, the iGEMers learned about how to participate in a formal debate. These students now excel in the zigzag format and were invited to participate in an event to be held in the UN format. Recognizing that regulatory policy is one of the key topics hindering forward progress in Bolivia, the iGEM Bolivia team researched how to address this issue via discussions, webinars with tutors, and has now identified critical areas that need to be resolved. While implementing changes to current regulations will be another great challenge to solve in the future, these students are aware that they must lobby to incite positive change and growth.

The future of iGEM Bolivia

The knowledge and skillsets streaming through iGEM Bolivia benefit multitudes, ranging from the students participating in the iGEM Competition to advisors to volunteers and ultimately the planet. Now that the level of social awareness has been raised and Bolivians realize that competing in an international competition is not impossible, the next challenge to overcome will be rising above obstacles and continuing to work together as a team to keep the mission alive. iGEM is a catalyst with the potential to promote the use of biotechnology and synthetic biology in countries like Bolivia, while also showing young people and others that it is possible to innovate in these areas. In 2021, iGEM Bolivia won the gold medal and two special awards thanks to all the efforts of iGEMers and iGEM instructors. We will continue to monitor the progress of this social experiment that is iGEM Bolivia and make every effort to generate upright and complete young scientists who are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to serve both their country and the world.

In loving memory of Jhoselin Mamani Borda, who was a key leader, Quechua video presenter and young scientist. Her hard work and dedication to iGEM Bolivia was undoubtedly instrumental in propelling the iGEM Bolivia team to the level of success perceived by the judges to be worthy of receiving the Inclusivity Award in 2021.

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This is a community guest blog post. The views expressed by the author are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the iGEM Foundation.