iGEM-IISER_ Bhopal
The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal hosted the All India iGEM Meetup to bring all the Indian teams together to have a brief discussion about the projects. Three members represented our team in the two-day meetup. The event was planned to reflect how the Giant Jamboree would play out. We had a presentation and a poster session during which we received valuable feedback about our project.
Day ONE
We had an ice breaker session, where we got to know other teams and their members. We were also addressed by Dr Bharath Prithviraj and the Director of IICE, Bhopal on entreprenuership and the oppurtunities available.
Day TWO
We had our poster and presentation session on day 2 and we received valuable feedback that would help us in our final presentation. We had the opportunity to interact with representatives from Promega and the Asian ambassador, Ms Nurul Isaati, with whom we had a brief session about our queries and the potential we have after iGEM. We had a wonderful time taking part in the All India Meetup.
iGEM-IISER-Pune-India
Team IISER Pune 2019 are working on developing an alternative tool for directed evolution so that it can be performed faster and more conveniently. The tool is a mutagenic plasmid that can attain tunability of mutation rates in E.coli using blue light as an external physical inducer. As a proof of principle, the team wanted to test its performance by evolving a heavy metal remediating gene to higher efficiency. They chose lead as studies showed that Lead pollution was highest in one of the local rivers of Pune. They decided that it was a good idea to analyse water samples taken from water bodies across the country to get an idea of the lead pollution across the country. They asked all Indian iGEM 2019 teams to bring water samples to the All India iGEM Meetup.
To know more about the event, click here.
Kalpakkkam lake water
Cloudy weather: 27 degree celsius
Organisms
- stars Crayfish
- stars Edible shrimp
- stars Sowbug
- stars Barnacle
Chembarambakkam lake
Area: Kanchipuram
Weather: 30 degree Celsius
Organisms
- stars Edible fish
- stars Zooplankton
- stars Benthos
iGEM IIT-Madras
For characterisation, our team was faced with an issue with transformed RFP colonies. We were in need of E.coli strains to carry our work forward. During this time, we were able to collaborate with IIT-Madras, who provided us with strains to sort out the issue we had. They helped us analyse distorted colony growth and suggested we carry our experiments with a different strain. With the strains (DH5-Alpha, TOP 10 and BL21) they provided, we were able to diversify the characterisation work.
iGEM-SASTRA-Thanjavur
Team SASTRA Thanjavur came up with a collaborative magazine called Primers, an online magazine targeted at explaining Synthetic Biology that is more easily accessible for everyone. We wanted to share our experience with iGEM and Synthetic Biology. We contributed an interview transcript for their magazine with one of the Primary Investigators from REC-CHENNAI team 2017.
iGEM-IISER_KOLKATA
This year team IISER Kolkata is working to fight against the deadly disease - Kala Azar or Leishmaniasis which comes under the category of Neglected tropical diseases and it is in fact neglected with respect to the awareness about the disease and the measurements taken to curb it. We participated in their awareness and information survey by filling up a google form to help them understand the extent of awareness about this disease around the world.
iGEM KCL_UK (KINGS COLLEGE LONDON)
Kings College London team had launched a survey to address bio-security protocols in labs globally. Their survey aimed to estimate its use in institutions labs to determine if location has an effect on the enforcement of biosecurity standards and how this can vary between institutions from the same country and different countries. The members of our team took part in this survey.
iGEM-Moscow
Team Moscow is working on a portable biosensor that can detect the presence of Borrelia spp., that cause Lyme disease in ticks. During their project, they were faced with lack of awareness of the tick-borne diseases among the public. As part of their research, they had launched the survey to know about attitude to this problem in our country. The members of our team were a part of this research.
iGEM-Virginia
As part of their collaborative effort, team Virginia had joined the Expanded Polystyrene Task Force under UVA Sustainability to address Styrofoam use in labs. Their survey was aimed to estimate its use in iGEM labs to determine its global distribution, size preference and disposal. They mentioned that this data will be used to weigh the accuracy of similar data collected at UVA and other local waste facilities to aid use-reduction efforts. Our team was a part of their effort to understand Styrofoam use.
iGEM-Copenhagen
Their team is striving to provide a better solution for women suffering from infertility issues for tracking their fertility. Their project is called ovulaid. To understand the stakeholders of their work better they came up with a survey where they needed women who would like to get pregnant someday to answer. This was essential for their work and the female members of our team were able to answer their questions.
