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Don't Make A Biotech Lab. This Lab on A Bus Can Visit You.

A Biotech mobile lab on a bus is set to present the key solution to the city's educational gap by sharing knowledge and impact among schools.

Does your school have a Biotech lab? These days, especially since COVID-19, more and more students dream to become biology scientists or biotech engineers. Educators do want to support such needs and dream to have a fancy wet lab with tools powered by latest technologies. But… realistically, we know it’s not that easy. They are EXPENSIVE.

Having a wet lab is something way more challenging than having a computer lab. We need to take many factors into consideration, such as safety, space, expensive and sensitive equipment, and experts that need to supervise the lab the whole time. And, after all, biology is not like math or English, so the Return on Investment may not be as high as students won’t be taking such curriculum every day.

Today, I’m writing about a very special type of lab: a Biotech Lab on a Bus 🚌. It took me two hours just to get there, and I spent another 1.5 hours interviewing, which was VERY FUN! So, I hope you enjoy it (even more this time!).

Introduction

Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

In Hong Kong, there is a very famous Taoist temple named Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, which opened in 1921. Sik Sik Yuen is a non-profit religious charity organization, and they are also a strong advocate of innovative education.

Ho Yu College and Primary School, Tung Chung

Establishing Ho Yu College and Primary School in 2004, Sik Sik Yuen saw a strong vision in promoting the biotech education in the entire Hong Kong. In 2009, The Sik Sik Yuen Biotechnology Mobile Laboratory (BML) Program was launched with the vision to have an entire biotech lab on a single bus and make the biotech education widely accessible!

Since then, the Mobile Lab (or Bus) has served 100+ schools and 60,000+ students with highly innovative curriculum and educational materials in biotech.

Meet Dr. Tanya Chu 👩🏻‍🏫

With Dr. Tanya Chu

Tanya is Curriculum Development Officer at the Mobile Lab program. She has a strong background in Biochemistry and obtained PhD in CUHK in Medical Science. She has contributed to the field of research in clinical trials for 20 years. Seeing the vision in education, she joined the program 4 years ago and has utilized her expertise in nurturing the future talents.

The team also includes a Program Assistant and a Driver that make this program possible.

With Dr. Tanya Chu

We met through a networking event (we played some card games together), and I LOVE her passion here! She is a very self-motivated visionary and a true advocate in the experiential learning and broadly sharing knowledge.

A Biotech Lab at Ho Yu College and Primary School

A Biotech Lab at Ho Yu College and Primary School

First, the school has a lab full of interesting equipment and programs, and their attention to details is on another level.

The team keeps emphasizing the importance of experiential learning. That is, “it is very important for students to FEEL biological factors with five senses.” Most of the things related to biology normally cannot be seen or touched, which may drop the motivation of students just getting started. To make it happen, Tanya and her team have put immense efforts.

DNA Kit designed by the Mobile Lab team

To the point, they designed and manufactured their own DNA kits! This is one of the most impressive stories I’ve heard from educators. Tanya mentioned that the existing DNA kits were not good enough, so they contacted a toy factory and manufactured an effective kit that can help them visualize the DNA structure.

You see? Passionate teachers can take many steps further and come up with the best possible way to educate students 😎

A Biotech Lab That Moves.

Biotech Mobile Lab

Now, to the highlight, the Biotech Mobile Lab is a fully functioning biotech lab that can be temporarily established on your campus, where it’s claimed to be the ONLY ONE in Asia. Imagine your campus has a biotech program with an affordable cost! You seriously don’t need tens of millions of dollars.

Inside the Biotech Mobile Lab

The learning experience in the Mobile Lab is carefully curated to accommodate up to 30 - 32 students, while making sure each student gets equally good education in the compact, crowded bus.

Sony Camera inside the Mobile Lab

The lab is equipped with a ultra quality camera from Sony which can easily capture my fingerprints on a table a meter away! (By the way, this is a technology from 15 years ago.) In addition to the main display in front, it has 8 TVs on the sides and a speaker system.

The air conditioning and the humidity control were also done continuously making the lab environment appropriate and consistent. Their attention to details in the learning experience was surely amazing!

The BIOTECH Car Plate of the Mobile Lab

Their Mobile Lab is cool and very cool. Even their car plate is “BIOTECH,” which they bid for. Swag? Flex? You name it.

Technology Makes Equipment Smaller

A set of equipment once sized 10 - 20 times bigger.

Tanya has emphasized the importance of technological advancement and its role in making the biotech education more accessible. As a lot of you may know, biotech lab equipment is highly sensitive, expensive, and big, which is not suitable for education.

However, thanks to technology, now we see equipment getting smaller and smaller, where some tools are literally a palm size, allowing educators like her to teach biotech more professionally and affordably.

Making Biotech Education Fun and Tangible

Colored Bacteria for Drawing

What if I tell you that you can draw with bacteria? Well, it’s possible! Primary school students of the program used bioengineering to color bacteria and used it to make drawings!

This was way beyond my imagination. By learning the concept of Recombinant DNA Technology, they have turned their knowledge into a fun, tangible artistic activity!

Honestly, this is a perfect example of STEAM. Many overuse the term STEAM, while neglecting the Art element. Here, Tanya made the education highly experiential, visualizing what cannot be normally seen.

Student Artworks with Bacteria

Student Artworks with Bacteria

The activity led the student group join and win the Agar Art Contest (Hong Kong region) 2024.

Programs by the Mobile Lab

The Mobile Lab provides lots of innovative programs and keeps improving them. Currently, there are 5 main pillars:

  • DNA and Genetics (Molecular Biology)

  • Biochemistry

  • Microbiology Exploration

  • Forensic Sciences

  • Science @ Your School

They aim to also add the DNA sequencing program soon. For more program details, their website should help: https://mobilelab.hoyu.edu.hk/

Their programs can be provided for 1 day - 5 days, and they are very transparent, where you can even check their pricing on their website!

I want to invite them to my school! How can I contact them?

Please refer to their website linked below, where the registration is quite straightforward. They already have some confirmed programs even in April 2025, so be hurry before others take time slots!

Of course, I’m also here to help. You can let me know at any time. I will connect you with Tanya.

Future Plans

Dr. Tanya Chu in the Mobile Lab

Tanya will keep adding more programs and improving the Mobile Lab with new tools. The team is expanding its reach to the broader region, including the mainland China. Recently, several school leaders in Shenzhen came to her lab to get inspired.

They also run educational programs to the public/individuals every year regularly, including their Summer programs.

In case you are available on November 9th, 2024 and in Hong Kong, you can try catching her at The ISF Academy by registering for Microbiology for Schools Symposium by The American Society for Microbiology, where she will speak about her programs and insights in making the biotech education more accessible.

Making a biotech lab is expensive, but that’s not the only way to give your students quality biotech education. Consider inviting a lab and experts! The truly passionate educators will work with you to meet your needs and inspire your students.

I hope this post gave you an insight on how passionate educators in different countries are changing their education. If you liked this post, subscribe to get weekly insights for educators on global innovation in education.

See you in the next one 👋,

Christopher Lee (Let’s connect on LinkedIn!)

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