Developing tools for education in biobanking: the "SCIence outreach: The example of BIObanks in Europe" ERASMUS+ project

Developing tools for education in biobanking: the “SCIence outreach: The example of BIObanks in Europe” ERASMUS+ project SCIBIOEU Consortium, Vasileios L. Zogopoulos1 and Olga Tzortzatou-Nanopoulou1,* 1 Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, 11527, Greece ∗Correspondence to: [email protected] Public involvement is essential in research biobanking. Biobanks heavily depend on public trust and citizens participation. However, limited awareness, due to poor scientific communication, highlights the need to invest in engagement programs among the biobanking key actors: the researchers at all leves. The “SCIence outreach: The example of BIObanks in Europe” (SCIBIOEU) project, brings together seven partners in five European BBMRIERIC node countries (Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy), and aims to deliver useful tools to increase the biobanking awareness within the scientific community. 2) INTRODUCTION SCIBIOEU is an ERASMUS+ KA2 Project aiming to bridge the communicative divide between scientists and the public about biobanking. It equips scientists with effective strategies for scientific outreach and boosts public knowledge of biobanking, through an online course and a serious game, respectively. 1) ABSTRACT 1. Different needs for the different target groups 2. The course focus group highlighted the need to have a strong foundation on biobanking before proceeding to outreach 3. Feedback on the Serious Game through testing and the focus groups showed a need for a simple and intuitive game design 4. Concern of the general public for: •Clearing scientific misconceptions •Focus on ethical and data protection issues 5) CONCLUSIONS A course consisting of 7 lessons and an evaluation module, and a 3-D serious game consisting of 4 main stages and an evaluation stage, are in development. 4) RESULTS 3) METHODS Biobanking courses & adaptation of existing Medical University of Graz courses Participants: •Biobank professionals •BSc/MSc/PhD Students •Early Career Scientists Evaluation & Measuring of Satisfaction Course Format Game Design Game Script Open-Access literature on Biobanking A) Desk Research & Focus Group Sessions C) Feedback, Revision and Final Implementation B) Platform & Content Development Existing Serious Games on Biobanking Participants: •Biobank professionals •Game Developers •General Public •University Students •Early Career Scientists Feedback & Evaluation Virtual AI Biobanking Assistant Demonstration of the contents of a lesson on the online platform Preview of a lesson’s selfevaluation quiz 1st scene of the Serious Game - Entering a hospitalbased biobank Work-In-Progress – Showcasing freezers in a sample storage room Visit