Education

Overview

In Kazakhstan, small businesses are thriving. While useful for the economy, it gives opportunity for counterfeit cosmetics to spread through marketplaces like Kaspi, where small businesses sell their products. Our projects aims to protect people from this danger through synthetic biology, but it is deeply misunderstood in Kazakhstan. Most people have never heard of that field or have misconceptions about it, scared of things like genetically modified products and IVF. We wanted to address this problem through educating people about synthetic biology and our project.

We believe education should be accessible to every age group and be inclusive.

Summer Camp

For our first educational initiative, our team organized an online two-week synthetic biology summer camp for high school students. Participants were mainly from Kazakhstan, with some from Russia and Uzbekistan. Our goal was to give students an introduction into the world of synthetic biology as well as its use in the cosmetics industry.

The camp curriculum covered:

• Introduction to synthetic biology and genetic engineering
• Applications of synthetic biology in the cosmetics industry
• Lab techniques and safety protocols
• Team project development and presentation skills

As a tangible outcome, participants joined forces in small teams to create educational comics that communicate synthetic biology concepts to their peers in a creative and accessible format.

Impact

The end-of-camp survey showed that participants' interest in synthetic biology grew from an average of 3.3 to 4.67/5.0, and knowledge increased from an average of 2.63 to 4.60/5.0.

Children's Book

Another initiative of ours was focused on developing an educational children’s book that teaches skin health, self-care, and safe use of cosmetics through storytelling. The goal of this project was to make science and health education accessible and engaging for children aged 6–11.

The book presents scientific facts in the form of short, magical stories that inspire healthy daily habits, explain how to care for one’s skin, and raise awareness about safety in using cosmetic and hygiene products.

The idea started with our team’s desire to connect biology and education in a way that helps children learn how everyday habits affect their health. Each chapter combines scientific accuracy with creative storytelling, showing that beauty is not about appearance but about knowledge, care, and self-love.

International Collaboration

To make the project global, we invited iGEM teams from different countries to contribute chapters reflecting their own perspectives on skin health and science. Each story features a local child character and a unique educational message:

• NIS Kazakhstan — wrote about Mia, a curious Kazakh girl guided by her Magic Mirror. The stories teach about skincare routines, safe product use, and emotional well-being through topics like gentle cleansing, SPF protection, avoiding cosmetic sharing, lip care, and acne prevention.
• KCIS Xiugang Taipei (Taiwan) — introduced Ava and her "Cyanobuddy", connecting air pollution and CO₂ emissions to skin irritation. Their story teaches how climate and pollution affect the skin, encouraging children to use sunscreen, gentle cleansers, and moisturizers.
• Saint-Joseph iGEM (Turkey) — focused on allergic reactions and ingredient safety. Their chapter teaches children to read product labels carefully and understand how certain ingredients may cause allergies.
• Del Norte iGEM (USA) — highlighted hygiene and healthy habits, showing how clean hands, good sleep, and nutrition help prevent acne and promote skin health.
• WIST iGEM (Taiwan) — created Rice Guard, a friendly rice character who explains how nutrition supports skin health, teaching children that foods like fish, carrots, and fruits make skin strong and bright.
• HK-HCY-PCMS (Hong Kong) — focused on the importance of medical guidance and critical thinking when it comes to health. Their chapter teaches children not to trust everything they read online about illnesses or symptoms, and instead to consult real doctors when they feel unwell. Through Mia and Jacky’s story, young readers learn that professional advice is always more reliable than internet searches.

Book Versions

Our book has been translated into multiple languages to reach a wider audience:

Our International Collaborations

Our first collaboration started on August 6th. It was with the wonderful and very creative guys from the Taiwanese team KCIS Xiugang Taipei. We co-authored a children’s book for ages 6–11 all about cosmetics, skin care, and healthy habits. We wrote about Mia, a smart and curious Kazakh girl who teaches young readers how to take care of their skin and choose safe, science-based cosmetics. KCIS Xiugang Taipei created their own chapter about Ava, an 11-year-old girl from Taiwan who meets a friendly cyanobacterium called Cyanobuddy. Their story connects air pollution and CO₂ emissions with skin irritation, teaching children how pollution affects their skin and why sunscreen, gentle cleansers, and moisturizers are important for daily protection. This project mixes biology, health education, and storytelling, making science fun, and empowering for kids around the world. Also we conducted a meeting via google meet to plan our work. We held a Google Meet on August 21st to discuss the book’s structure and timeline, and our SMM team created joint posts and Instagram stories to announce the collaboration. The KCIS Xiugang Taipei team also translated the book into Mandarin, making it accessible to children across Taiwan.

Our next collaboration was with iGEM team Saint-Joseph(Turkey). We began our work on August 22nd. After our meeting to coordinate topics, the Turkish team quickly developed a full chapter about allergic reactions and ingredient safety. Their story teaches children to read product labels carefully and understand how certain ingredients, like wheat or nuts, can cause allergies. They also designed 3 creative illustrations for their story and later translated the book into Turkish, helping to spread the message of safe skincare to local communities. We created a joint two-page Instagram post summarizing our goals and outcomes.

We also teamed up with the WIST iGEM team from Taiwan, from the Food & Nutrition village. We contacted them on August 26 and they quickly jumped in. Their story features the Rice Guard, a magical rice character who teaches Mia that healthy eating habits keep the skin glowing and strong. Together with carrots, fish, and fruits, Rice Guard shows how foods rich in vitamins and nutrients support healthy skin. This chapter beautifully connects nutrition, biology, and self-care, making science both engaging and practical for children. They sent their draft on September 5, and we finalized the edits and layout together on September 10th.

We also partnered with Del Norte-SD (USA), a Therapeutics Village team. We reached out on August 26, while they confirmed on September 14. The chapter was ready on September 21. Their story, "Hands and Healthy Skin", features Lila, a sporty 10-year-old girl who learns from her Fairy Godmother about the importance of hand hygiene and healthy routines for preventing acne and keeping skin clean. Through a playful yet informative story, children learn that habits like washing hands, avoiding touching the face, and getting enough sleep help protect their skin. This collaboration connected health education and therapeutics in a way that feels simple and relatable for young readers.

Finally, we collaborated with HK-HCY-PCMS (Hong Kong). Their chapter focuses on medical literacy and critical thinking, showing why children shouldn’t blindly trust everything they read online about illnesses or skin problems. Through the story of Mia and her friend Jacky, readers learn that while online information can be confusing or exaggerated, real doctors provide trustworthy guidance. The Hong Kong team joined our international Google Meet on September 2nd, where they shared their own educational initiatives, and we exchanged insights about our projects, including our Braille version of the book for visually impaired children. On September 30 we received their work.

We conducted more than 30 meetings with other teams to write our book. In Kazakhstan, there are a lot of people who may not speak Kazakh. With this initiative, we wanted to make our book accessible to people with different linguistic backgrounds, shift the language barrier and be able to spread our work also outside of our country. Together, these stories form a multicultural collection combining biology, dermatology, and sustainability, adapted for children in different countries and translated into several languages.

Impact

This book not only educates but also empowers children to:

• Develop safe and healthy self-care habits early.
• Understand how science connects to daily life.
• Build awareness of cosmetic safety and environmental responsibility.

By uniting teams from multiple countries, this project demonstrates how synthetic biology and education can inspire positive social change, starting with the youngest generation.

Educational Game

Main Purpose

We wanted to create a game where players could learn more about cosmetics, analyzers, and get to work as scientists. Our game teaches the consequences of incorrectly selecting and using uncertified cosmetics. Through simple algorithms, we guide a person to read instructions and make a decision properly. It can be viewed here: Cosmetic Inspection on itch.io.

History

This idea came to us on June 4th. Our main purpose was to teach gamers to identify hazardous components in cosmetics and apply this knowledge in life. We wanted to code something special that people will play for fun. After identifying in which style the game will be, we learnt to code with Unity and managed to finish our project thanks to teamwork.

Chronology

• June 4th – forming an idea
• July 13th – changing the description of the game and adding some mechanics
• July 29th – adding designers and painters. Started to draw characters and other game elements
• September 15th – adding coders
• October 2nd – finishing the code
• October 7th – uploading it to itch.io

Impact

The gameplay forces the player to immerse himself in the world of science and ethics. The game makes you wonder if the price can really compensate for the health of people who used non-certified cosmetics. By applying critical thinking and product analysis, a person can further apply practical knowledge in real life. This may affect the informed choice of cosmetics in the future and the mandatory familiarization of the composition of cosmetic products.

The plot

The game consists of 7 levels (days) in which the player - in the role of a chemist working for the state - must adjust to new conditions - the addition of new analyzers, their own cosmetics analysis and the lack of product certification - and approve or reject the import of cosmetics to the market. Starting from the first day, the game will guide and give instructions - through assistant Anna - on how to correctly complete tasks and analyze. Next, on days 6 and 7, the player must summarize all the skills and apply the accumulated knowledge w ithout Anna's help. This is done in order to consolidate the material and freedom during the passage of the game.

The main goal of the player is to correctly decide whether to allow cosmetics or not. In case of a wrong decision, the game will not end and the player will have to change the decision.

Mechanics

We used the usual WASD mechanics to move around the map. When approaching the analyzers and pressing the E key, the player can use the devices and equipment, and pressing the B key, the person takes out a book in which dangerous components inside cosmetics are indicated. Also, for instruction, we added Anna, who guides the player and tells them how to interact with the game. In order to proceed with Anna's next messages, a person must click on the button located on the right-bottom of the display panel.

Workshop

iGEM team was co-organizer of AHRC 2025, and in the period from 17-19 September 2025 conducted a serie of 3-day seminar co-organised with Academic Hub. The main aim of meeting was giving recommendations to future STEM students about planning and organizing of their projects in SB field.

Together they established resource for studying and mentoring, which gives youth an opportunity to get to know real iGem participants, who have same perspectives on education.

The workshop focused on the following objectives: 1. To introduce the concept of competition and give overview on iGem. 2. Provide practical principles, which could be used in SB project. 3. Highlight importance of international studies. 4. Inspire students to a career growth in STEM, talking about a real experience of scientific researches. 5. Instil the spirit of command work, and develop critical thinking.

Day 1

At the first day a mechanism for developing research experience was created and implemented. Begimova Ayaulym started the meeting from the speech about what the iGem project is and why our team wants to join this reputable competition. After that,students learnt about the creation of right research question and how to host the appropriate experiments in research.

Day 2

Was a presentation of real life based on study which was conducted and still containing. Roman Ligay told about his own experience in USA as a main explorer and programmist in his project he was honest about the difficulties of his work: How to make big teams co-operate with each other and how to stay together under pressure.

Day 3

The last day was a day of work. Participate used all of the knowledge that, were given to them in a period of two previous days. Our team divided all the people into two groups depending on their learning interests: group of practical research which was leaded by Ligay Roman, and group of theotetical part of work which was leaded by Nurlytang Meirash, Ayaulym Begimova. The practical research group was focused on the experimental projection which was useable in SB, while theoretical group focused on literature, data analysis, structure of research. Two groups worked together with the help of iGem team leaders who gave feedback and made short-term perspective at the end of workshop groups were given a chance to demonstrate new research ideas.

Conclusion

Zhansaya Amangeldi was a judge in the final selection of projects and co-finder of main prizes for winners: Certificates of participation and achievement for all participants Cash prizes - 50,000 KZT in total One-month free IELTS course from AClass for 1st place Internship opportunities for winners Exclusive merchandise from the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence At the end of 3 day long seminar students got instruments ,motivation and perspectives for their own researches in the sphere of SB, experience of co-working and leading in international academic sphere.

YouTube

The channel “IGEM NIS-KAZAKHSTAN” was created on July 19, 2025. The main goal of the channel is to bring science to life in a simple and engaging way. Additionally, we aimed to make science available for everyone, and share insights about synthetic biology in terms of the IGEM competition. Overall, 9 videos which cover various topics related to biology were uploaded. The videos were in three languages, with English subtitles to give people from all over the world the opportunity to watch our video lessons. In addition to the biology videos, we also filmed special video lectures on AP Biology.

“IGEM NIS-KAZAKHSTAN” channel’s videolist:

1. Channel Trailer

On August 3, 2025 our first video where we introduce the aim of our Youtube channel and our team was uploaded. We filmed this video in 3 different languages (Kazakh, Russian, and English) to make it more understandable and accessible for international audience.

2. What is iGEM?

On August 6, 2025 our next video where we introduced to our audience the international competition IGEM was published. The aim of this video is to demonstrate the background story and the goal of this competition. The video was filmed in Kazakh with English subtitles. We explained the importance of IGEM and the reason why youth from all over the world take part in it.

3. AP Biology Courses: Introduction

This video was uploaded on August 28, 2025. The aim of this video lecture was to define the concept of AP Biology and give understanding about the significance of this course. In particular video Ayaulym Begimova was the speaker. It was published in English. We explained that anyone can learn AP Biology just by watching our video.

4. Synthetic Biology: The Science of The Future

The video was released on August 28,2025. The main goal of this video was to define the term “Synthetic Biology” and explain why humanity need it. We explained the importance of the particular field and gave enormous knowledge on how does it work in today’s world. The video was filmed in Russian language with English subtitles.

5. Skin Microbiome: Under What Conditions Can It Be Damaged?

This following video was also published on August 28, 2025. The primary aim was to give deep insights about skin microbiome and several reasons why should people protect it. After watching this video people may learn some of the ways of protecting their skin microbiome from various harmful conditions. This video was also filmed in Russian language with English subtitles.

6. What Is A Biosensor?

On August 30, 2025 the next video was posted in English. The key goal was to explain the term of biosensor and its usage nowadays. The audience can get a strong understanding of biosensors and their advantages via watching this video.

7. How Perfumery Works

This video was uploaded on August 30, 2025. We wanted to explain the background of perfumery: when it was first created, why people needed it, and so on. Additionally, the viewers could develop their knowledge about the structure of scents and how sensitive parts of our body read aroma.

8. Science In Cosmetics: What Is Your Cream Made of?

The eighth video lesson was released on August 30, 2025. Our speaker Ayaulym Begimmova explained the functions and structure of creams, helped to define the differences between natural and synthetic creams. We filmed this video depending on our main focus: cosmetics. Made sure that our audience was able to read composition of creams correctly. The video was conducted in Russian language with English subtitles.

9. AP Biology: Statistics in AP Biology

Our final video lecture was posted on September 8, 2025. In this section, we talked about why statistics matter in Biology, what kind of terms students should know, and how to solve calculation-based questions in AP Biology. We explained of some essential concepts like Standard Deviation and Chi Square Test with an example.

Impact

Through YouTube, we were able to promote not only our project, but science as a whole. Viewers expanded their knowledge about AP biology courses and gained insights on cosmetics and biology in general. Additionally, since the channel was broadcast in three languages with mandatory English subtitles, global access was ensured.

Instagram

To promote and shed light on our initiatives, we actively worked on our Instagram page. Through regular posts, stories, and interactive content, we shared our project journey, scientific concepts, and educational materials with a global audience.

Our Instagram strategy included:

• Educational posts explaining synthetic biology and cosmetic safety
• Behind-the-scenes content from our lab work and team activities
• Collaboration announcements with other iGEM teams
• Guest speaker interviews and expert consultations
• Interactive Q&A sessions and polls to engage our followers

Impact

Through Instagram, our team built awareness about cosmetic safety and the global problem of counterfeit products. In addition, collaborations, guest speakers, and educational content not only provided information about the biosensor but also shared advice, personal experiences, and interactive content. As a result, our account achieved significant growth and strengthened the visibility of our project.