Team:NUS Singapore/Attributions
Prof Ditlev Brodersen, Dr Ragnhild Skjerning and Dr Villu Kasari
For generously providing us with the RES-Xre parts, the HicA-HicB K/O strains, as well as invaluable advice on our project.
Prof Chris Barnes and Dr Alexander Fedorec
For generously providing us with their Txe-Axe, Hok-Sok and Microcin V constructs as well as advice on how to manipulate toxin-antitoxin systems.
Kristav Childress and NUS Enterprise
For spending his time with us and giving us feedback on our project, helping us refine our direction and providing us clarity on our mission and how we convey it.
Emily Hicks
For generously supporting us in our entrepreneurial endeavors and providing great feedback for our customer validation.
Prof Richard Kitney and Prof Paul Freemont
For providing us with comprehensive advice on the flow and conceptualization of the project.
Prof Poh Chueh Loo and NUS BioMakerSpace, Prof Matthew Chang and SynCTI
For generously providing us with lab space, necessary reagents and equipment, as well as fruitful discussions.
Members of Prof Poh Chueh Loo's Lab and Prof Matthew Chang's Lab
For entertaining our endless questions and being so patient with us - Thank you David Chee in particular for providing us with close guidance in the planning and executing our experiments!
People we have interacted with throughout the entire project
For all the time each and every one of you spent with us, helping shape the project in some way or form.
Sponsors
For making our project possible with their generous support inclusive of cash, products and services. THANK YOU to all our sponsors!
Wet Lab Team
The team was led by ChengKai Lim, and consisted of members Sheena Chan, Song Chunyang, Shino Suda, Joanne Lim and Zhao Hao. The Wet lab Team designed, constructed and characterized the HicA-HicB, RES-Xre, SgrS and Blue-light repressible system. They conducted experiments that constituted the core of our technology and it is their efforts which made the project possible.
Wiki Team
The team was led by Low Xi Zhi and Er Wen Xuan, and consisted of members Suhasini Iyer, ChengKai Lim, Sheena Chan and Zhao Hao. The Wiki Team built an attractive and comprehensive wiki page, to document all aspects of our project. They worked on the content, layout, graphic design and programming of the Wiki page. The efforts of the Wiki Team enabled clear communication of our project to the judges and the public.
Modelling Team
The team was led by Suhasini Iyer, and consisted of members Low Xi Zhi, Song Chunyang, ChengKai Lim and Zhao Hao. Under the close guidance of Russell Lim, the Modelling Team constructed kinetic models to simulate the various biological systems of our project. They came up with mathematical models, ran simulations as well as regression diagnostics for the models on MATLAB. The insights provided by the Modelling Team to the Wet lab Team helped drive the progress of our experiments.
Human Practices Team
The team was led by Joanne Lim, and consisted of members Sheena Chan, ChengKai Lim and Suhasini Iyer. Throughout the project, they contacted and sought advice from various people which proved to be useful insights for our project. They successfully reached out to experts in academia, industrial representatives and potential consumers whose valuable feedback helped shape our project.
Outreach Team
The team was led by Joanne Lim, and consisted of members Low Xi Zhi and Zhao Hao. The Outreach Team organised a large-scale educational event to educate the public about Synthetic Biology. They created publicity and educational materials and managed the logistics for the event. They worked closely together with the NTU iGEM 2019 team, to deliver an enriching experience for the public to learn about Synthetic Biology.
Marketing Team
The Marketing Team was led by Song Chunyang and consisted of members Sheena Chan and ChengKai Lim. They helped our project attain support from a total of 13 sponsors. They also actively updated our progress on social media to engage our followers.
Entrepreneurship Team
The team was led by ChengKai Lim, and consisted of member Suhasini Iyer. They conceptualized business frameworks for the project and sought advice from various entrepreneurial organizations such as NUS Enterprise and SG Innovate. The team carried out extensive market analysis and designed a comprehensive business model canvas for potential commercialisation in the future.
Prof Poh Chueh Loo and Prof Jimmy Chih-Hsien Peng
For being our greatest cheerleaders, and giving us endless guidance in discussions and logistics matters since the project's conception.
Team Members of NUS iGEM 2018 and 2017
For providing us with mentorship throughout our journey. In particular, thank you to Russell Ngo - for his close guidance to Modelling Team, Hao Yuan Yang - for his valuable insights in our scientific discussions, Beatrix Tung - for her advice in Hardware and her contribution in uploading our protocols, and Wilbert Tan - for his significant contributions to our E.co Grow software as well as advice on the overall project direction.
NUS and Synthetic Biology
NUS hosts 3 classes dealing with synthetic biology specifically. This includes 2 classes in the Life Sciences: LSM3246 Synthetic Biology and LSM3247 Practical Synthetic Biology, as well as BN4501 Engineering Biology in Biomedical Engineering. In addition, synthetic biology has a strong presence in NUS due to the presence of SynCTI, Singapore's hub for synthetic biology.
NUS iGEM
This year is the third year that team NUS_Singapore is participating in iGEM. We have participated in 2017 and 2018, and have attained a Gold Medal in the previous year. The iGEM team is open to all students, with members coming from different faculties such as Engineering, Science, Design and Architecture. This interdisciplinary makeup is crucial as we believe that synthetic biology requires diverse talents to enable success. This year, our team was assembled in February of 2019. We started our brainstorming then, which lasted until April. Roles and tasks were soon split, and the project officially commenced in May. Lab work also began at the same time.