Team:Sheffield/Collaborations
Collaborations
Greece iGEM Meetup
In July, Dimitrios Michailidis (our supervisor) participated at the Greece iGEM meetup, where he was part of a panel of speakers along with Thea Chrysostomou (After iGEM). They talked about their iGEM experiences, the competition, iGEM projects, and there was also a Q&A session. The teams then asked many questions at Dimitrios to capitalise on his many years of iGEM experience, including advice about the competition, medals criteria and their own projects. The meet up hosted 3 teams: Athens, Thessaloniki and Thessaly.
UK iGEM Meetup
In July we were invited to attend the UK iGEM meetup organized by the Newcastle iGEM team. Almost the whole team attended this event which spanned over two days. The first day included an ice-breaker event and the first round of project presentations, while the second day involved a second round of project presentations, a poster session, presentation awards, networking activities, and a series of lectures in the Designer Biology Symposium.
This was a great opportunity for our team to interact with other iGEM teams in the UK and establish new collaborations. We also had a chance to receive feedback on our device from senior researchers, and hardware companies such as BMG Labtech that attended the Designer Biology Symposium.
UCL iGEM Emerald Challenge
We took part in the Little Leaf (The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework), a three steps collaborative programme:
First step: Sustainability now
This step consisted of completing the Emerald Challenge. 9 tasks have been completed to raise awareness about sustainability in the lab and we shared pictures of these on social media platforms (Instagram).
This step consisted of completing the Emerald Challenge. 9 tasks have been completed to raise awareness about sustainability in the lab and we shared pictures of these on social media platforms (Instagram).
Second step: Future Sustainability: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
The team completed a leftover materials handover sheet specifying which materials can still be used, when they have been opened, their expiration date and the location in the University. This will be very useful for next year’s team and it will help in minimising waste material at the end of the project.
The team completed a leftover materials handover sheet specifying which materials can still be used, when they have been opened, their expiration date and the location in the University. This will be very useful for next year’s team and it will help in minimising waste material at the end of the project.
Third step: Record the failures!
Experiments can go wrong and it is important to record them. This will help to avoid wasting time and materials. During our project, we initially planned to apply shaking of the plate but this did not work properly. So instead, we designed a plate holder that firmly carries the 96/48 well plate.
Experiments can go wrong and it is important to record them. This will help to avoid wasting time and materials. During our project, we initially planned to apply shaking of the plate but this did not work properly. So instead, we designed a plate holder that firmly carries the 96/48 well plate.
iGEM Nottingham
Nottingham iGEM team contacted us to ask us advice on the hardware side of their project. We had a call via Skype during which Samuel, our engineer expert in the design of our model, suggested to use Fusion 360 instead of Auto-CAD for the design of the casing. Furthermore, we sent specific website links and Youtube videos that would be helpful for the team to learn how to use Fusion 360 Software. We also advised the engineer from the Nottingham team regarding which stepper motor to use (NEMA17) and its size, so it could fit into their casing and also be supported by a power supply.
iGEM Thessaly
#1
Dimitrios Michailidis, our supervisor, advised iGEM Thessaly on matters of project design and human practices. He later on provided feedback on the wiki format of human practices.
Dimitrios Michailidis, our supervisor, advised iGEM Thessaly on matters of project design and human practices. He later on provided feedback on the wiki format of human practices.
#2
Kassandra, our wiki developer, helped Eleftheria, iGEM Thessaly’s wiki developer, to resolve a few issues that Eleftheria was facing with their wiki.
Kassandra, our wiki developer, helped Eleftheria, iGEM Thessaly’s wiki developer, to resolve a few issues that Eleftheria was facing with their wiki.
iGEM Manchester
Manchester iGEM team worked on creating an alternative to common hair dyes which contain potential pollutants and carcinogens; they genetically engineered bacteria so that they could adhere to hair and secrete dyes. The team sent us samples that could have been analysed with our device, but time constraints did not enable us to do it.
Surveys
Along our project and other collaborations, we helped other iGEM teams by filling out surveys that they created to accomplish their goals.
We helped:
- iGEM Copenhagen with their questionnaire regarding the potential and acceptance of Ovulaid, a hormone-based ovulation test in the form of chewing gum.
- King’s College iGEM team with their survey regarding bio-security protocols in the laboratory.
- iGEM Strasbourg 2019 survey regarding the incidence of allergies in different countries as they aim to create a test that allows the detection of food allergens.
- UC Davis iGEM 2019 survey regarding the reasons why mammalian cell lines are used by less than 5% of the iGEM teams.