Team:Alabama/Collaborations
GemCKO could not have conducted any of the research this summer without the funding and support from Boston Scientific’s Cancer Solutions group. Their monetary donation was the sole funding that led Alabama iGEM to launch our inaugural team
To achieve in vitro gemcitabine results with bacteria as close to the microbial intratumoral environment as possible, we attempted to track down the E. coli strain Nissle 1917. This strain was cited in the source paper to be most similar to the strains of E. coli found in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Originally Alabama iGEM was trying to source and isolate the strain from the over-the-counter probiotic, Mutaflor. This plan was difficult since the FDA previously banned the sales of this probiotic in the United States due to fears about all strains of E. coli being available on the market. Alabama iGEM previously reached out to University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) iGEM to build a relationship with their team as we are both new iGEM teams and the only undergraduate teams in the state of Alabama. Through these continued conversations UAH iGEM was able to locate and acquire a plate of Nissle 1917 from their PI’s lab. Dr. Tanya Sysoeva who noted that the origin was a gift from Dr. Jerneja Ambrožič from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Dr Ambrožič purchased Mutaflor in a pharmacy in Austria and propagated the strain on LB plates. This gift from the UAH iGEM team was able to save us weeks of sourcing the Nissle 1917 strain and isolating on our own. The collaboration with University of Alabama Huntsville was pivotal and bonded our teams to have continued conversations through the summer to the point of these two small teams sharing a grouping of hotel rooms at the 2019 Giant Jamboree.
In addition to our collaboration with UAH, Alabama iGEM reached out to the 3rd new iGEM team in Alabama this year, Auburn_Alabama. Skyping with them multiple times through the season, we were able to talk and learn about research best practices and iGEM culture together.