Attributions

Our attributions page is where we want to say a huge thank you to all the people who have been involved with our research project this summer, no matter how big or small. Without the support, guidance and advice given to us by every group of people listed on this page, we wouldn't have been able to achieve our project as you see it today!

Team

Although we all had an active role in all areas, providing ideas and attending meetings, we would especially like to highlight the areas of our project that we most contributed to:

Jonathan Bailey has played an instrumental role in the engineering of our filter. Using mathematical modelling he has optimised the physical design to improve the effectiveness of the enzyme. He is always there to help out and is never afraid to dive into unfamiliar tasks such as working in the biology labs or programming the microcontrollers.

From the very start of the project, Jessica Billington has brought her enthusiasm and leadership abilities to the lab. Not only has she had to learn and replicate complex experimental protocols, she has also taught and guided the rest of the team in the lab, many of whom were beginners. She has also contributed to the iconography of the wiki with just as much enthusiasm; her experience with Illustrator has been an asset to the design process.

Dragos Dumitrescu was at the forefront of the idea making and has been leading the biology throughout the whole of iGEM. He has overcome many challenges that the biology faced; never giving up. Without Dragos we could not have got to where we are now and we are all so grateful for his continuous hard work and determination, as a very valued team member.

We are very grateful to have Jonathan Elliott on our team as he is always thinking of others and is willing to help out wherever he can. Our team’s communication and organisation wouldn't have been the same without him. He has been instrumental to the design and development of our filter, consistently collaborating with the engineering department staff and academics as well as running numerous experimental tests to produce the most effective filter design possible.

Adriano Matousek has given invaluable contributions to all software elements of the project, from development of the wiki and teaching the rest of the team the basics we would need, to working on the Arduino coding (and even developing an app to interface with the filter!) He has also assisted with the Wet Lab and data analysis, mainly during the Part characterisation testing for our Bronze award.

Chloe Matthews has been key to the development of the modelling of the hydrocyclone, along with the design of our wiki. Without her contribution, our filter design may not have progressed further than this initial concept. She has a high adaptability and willingness to contribute where needed, which has led her to being involved in both the wet and dry labs, and also entrepreneurship.

John Murphy has been a valuable member of this year’s iGEM team, using his previous entrepreneurship skills to push forward the business model and to help develop our market analysis. As well as this, he has developed the electronics behind the enzyme delivery system. John has taken an active role in talking to stakeholders and helped us to secure our washing machine from Miele.

Lydia Pike has played a crucial role as part of the Petexe iGEM team. She has shown a meticulous and dedicated work ethic towards human practices, thinking outside of the box and approaching the topic in innovative and creative ways. She has also been a key team player in the Wet Lab, and in coding and writing the wiki. Furthermore, she presented at the iGEM UK meetup, making key connections with other teams in order to secure iGEM collaborations.

Rachael Quintin-Baxendale’s enthusiasm was apparent from the get-go; her ambition regarding our project was one of the most important factors in taking our work to serious industrial collaborators. By setting her sights on contacting international companies and higher ups in the government, she took our human practices to another level and when many would have contented themselves with only reaching out to smaller more local contacts she was willing to push forwards, improving our project as well as going a small way towards pushing governmental changes regarding the misuse of plastic. Rachael’s drive pushed us into entrepreneurship as we set our sights on how to take our work to the next level. She created a business plan, estimated our finances and pushed forwards with meetings in order to fully understand put us into the best position to succeed.

Ceilidh Welsh has been an extremely proactive and involved member of the team. Besides her invaluable work in modelling she has been extensively involved in the lab work, both in the biology lab and the engineering fluids lab, always helping when needed. She's also been involved in the human practices side of the project, being in contact with some of the stakeholders and participating in the meetings we had with them. Her flexibility, adaptability and positive attitude have proved to be valuable skills for the team and for the project as a whole.

Supervisors

Our project could not have happened without our supervisors' constant support! Thank you for helping us reach our project goals, you consistent help in and out of the laboratory, and your overall enthusiasm and encouragement.

Professor John Love has been an ever-enthusiastic member of the team, never putting a limit on what he believes we can achieve. He is always on hand to encourage us and give us suggestions on how to improve (although we may ignore some of them!) John has constantly encouraged us to be ambitious and push the boundaries of the project, introducing us to people who can also help us do so. His unwavering belief in us has pushed us to have high expectations of ourselves and to work hard to achieve them.

Dr Paul James has been a constant source of guidance and support, especially in the biology laboratory, where he has been heavily involved with provided ideas and advice on how to achieve the most with the limited time we had. Paul was always willing to have regular meetings with us in which we could take the time to discuss our ideas and receive feedback.

Dr Chloe Singleton’s commitment to the team and to the project has been second to none. She is always willing and enthusiastic to give advice, support and guidance regarding every part of the iGEM experience. She has been a first point of contact for many of us; both encouraging us to be ambitious and reigning us in when needed. She has gone above and beyond in her role as a supervisor: she has also played a huge pastoral role, helping us in other areas of our academic and personal careers and making sure we all feel comfortable coming to her for anything not iGEM related.

Dr Mark Hewlett’s breadth of experience has proved valuable for the team, always up for teaching us anything from coding and modelling to biology. Throughout the project he has given us valuable feedback and ideas on how we might improve in all areas. He has spent so much time proofreading our wiki and helping us in the laboratory, giving us feedback and ideas and facilitating discussion.

Academic Support

We would like to say a thank you to all of the academics who have shown an enthusiastic interest in our project and offered to help us along the way, meeting us to discuss and develop our ideas. The time you have invested into meeting with us has allowed our project to have a detailed scientific grounding, developed from many different academic specialities.

Dr Sarah Hartley, for her constant support and guidance regarding the human practices aspect of our project. She has sacrificed her time to meet with our group on several occasions and has proof-read some of our Human Practices reports. She has given us a great insight into the application and importance of responsible science and innovation within synthetic biology and a greater appreciation for it's importance in today's society.
Professor Nicholas Harmer, for his invaluable advice when deciding between using rational design and ancestral reconstruction and for his helpful insight into the latter method. Not only did he guide us on how to choose the best ancestors but he also helped us during the process of ancestral reconstruction.
Dr Ceri Lewis, for meeting with us and giving us more of an insight into the affects of microplastic pollution on marine life which we were previously unaware of! She gave us an insight into the broader implications of our project and how to approach educational outreach.
Professor Tamara Galloway OBE , for giving us advice on our project's goal and the impacts of microplastic pollution.
Dr Paul Boisseaux, for providing us with microplastic PET samples that we could use for imaging and crystallinity measurements which helped us when analysing the fibres and the activity of the enzymes.
Professor Gavin Tabor, who advised us on computational fluid dynamic modelling and directed us to Dave Pritchard for advice on physical modelling.
Professor Oana Ghita and Dr Yat-Tarng Shyng, with whom we discussed material analysis techniques.
Dr Hong Chang, who assisted us in performing SEM analysis of samples and sacrificed her time to give us access to and assisted us with laboratory .

Technical Support

We would like to thank the people who offered us technical support, especially in the laboratories, throughout our project. Without your help with the equipment, our lab experience would have been very different! We really appreciate you sacrificing your time to support us.

Dr Ann Power, for helping us set up and run ImageStream analysis.
Dr Debbie Salmon, for sharing her HPLC expertise with us and helping us to set up a method that works with our samples.
Dan Barber and Federico Brunello, for helping us find our way around the Microbiology Suite and helping us think through our protocols.
Roger Perrett, Julian Yates and Siobhan Kelley, Set up the washing machine and experimental equipment in the fluids laboratory. Advised on and supervised the safe performance of our testing with the washing machine in the Fluids Laboratory.
David Pritchard, maintained regular assistance regarding the design and optimisation of the physical filter system from the start of our project.
Mitesh Chodvadiya, who designed the original open source Flutter UI template.
Russell Edge and Jordanna Broom, who assisted us in setting up and troubleshooting our 3D printing for prototyping, kindly allowing us to make use of the FAB Lab facilities.

Entrepreneurial Support

We would like to thank the people who offered us entrepreneurial support, helping us to understand the process we would need to undergo to form a startup company. We really appreciate you giving your time and expertise to support us.

Dr Robert Lee, for advising us on our business plan and helping us consider the kinds of things we needed to think about before applying for patents.
Dr Victoria Hammond, for advising us with regards to the process of obtaining Intellectual Property.
Jim Williams, who went through our entire startup process with us, advising where we could possibly look into getting IP.
Emily Davies, who helped us plan our business model canvas.

Stakeholders

We would like to thank our stakeholders who have been in conversation with us throughout the project to advise us on the wider implications of our research and where it could develop in the future. They have provided us with a lot of information regarding the current view on microplastics within industry.

Miele
The Microfiber Consortium
Mit Media Lab
Xeros Technology Group
IUNC
Stella McCartney
Ralph Lauren
The University of Plymouth

Sponsors and Supporters

Lastly, we would like to thank our sponsors and supporters for their generous support of our project:

Miele, for gifting us a washing machine at the beginning of our research so that we could test our filter design and capture microfibres. Also for sending us equipment used within their own households appliances and for constant feedback and support throughout our design process.
Snapgene, for giving us free access to their software.
Xeros Technology Group, for lending us a prototype of their microplastic capturing filter, XFiltra™, to use and test with, and for their support and feedback.
Emma Chinnery, for designing our logo which we have used on our wiki, social media and our stash.
Google Cloud, Firebase, for providing us with credit to utilise their services.
Integrated DNA Technologies and Twist Bioscience, for providing us with DNA free of charge to carry out our experiments.
The Microfibre Consortium, for supporting our project by visiting our research labs, bringing our ideas forward at TMC meetings and providing us with advice and connections to expand our idea further.
BBSRC/EPSRC/Wellcome Trust, for providing us with the money to undertake this project!.

Team:Exeter/Attributions