Team:TUDelft/Collaborations
Sharing and collaborating are one of the core values of iGEM. Throughout our journey, we enjoyed many collaborations that allowed us to connect with teams all over the world. Through these collaborations we found out that iGEM is much more than just lab work, it also allows you to be part of an engaging community. Scroll down to see how we collaborated!
TU Delft iGEM 2019 had a very fun time collaborating with Marburg, US AFRL CarollHS, UC Davis, Dusseldorf and many more!
Marburg
This year we are developing a platform that allows you to express parts across organisms in a controllable manner. Since iGEM Marburg is expanding the Marburg collection of parts, we found overlap as we are both standardizing parts. We got excited and shared our knowledge via skype!
We brainstormed with Marburg using skype. They told us about how they could only use one origin of replication in their Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973. This made us think of the phi29 system and its origins of replication. We motivated the Marburg team to make use of our origin of replication, in turn we got inspired to include Modular Cloning (MoClo) in our toolkit. Fortunately for us, they organized a Webinar where they explained the mechanisms of MoClo and how to incorporate it in your project. Different Golden Gate Protocols were provided during this webinar. Using these protocols we participated in the Golden Gate Interlab Study to determine which protocol supplies the best experimental results. From this we have determined what worked best for us, to find what we have used, click here.
This collaboration went even further. Marburg is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) for their Opentrons OT-2 robot which can pick E. coli colonies of an LB agar plate. However, just like any other AI you need a lot of data to properly train it. We, of course, took interest, as we are one of the lucky teams to win an Opentrons OT-2 robot this year. We took photographs of E. coli plates and marked the colonies in an online program. This data was used by Marburg to train their AI. From all the teams that send in the data, we were ranked third in sending the most data (and we got an award for it!), allowing Marburg to more accurately train their robot!
Click here to see Marburg's page.
UC Davis
This year we are one of the lucky teams who won the Opentrons OT-2 robot by participating in the Opentrons Challenge. To see how accurate the robot is compared to manual pipetting, we participated in a collaboration organized by iGEM UC Davis. For this collaboration we made four serial dilutions with fluorescein, both with the OT-2 robot and manually. The accuracy of these dilutions was established by measuring fluorescence in a plate reader. Besides fluorescein we also made four serial dilutions using silica beads. By measuring the absorbance we were able to analyze these results. We repeated these experiments three times. Click here for the protocol.
The results from this collaboration indicate that the robot is more accurate in diluting the fluorescein but less accurate in diluting the silica beads than manual pipetting. We believe that this is due to the speed of the OT-2: it took twice as long to complete OT-2 runs as it did to complete a manual trial. This would lead to the microspheres settling as the OT-2 went through their runs.
Besides determining the accuracy of the Opentrons OT-2 robot, this collaboration allowed us to facilitate communication between iGEM teams who possess the robot. A slack channel was set up so that protocols can be shared and issues about the robot can be troubleshooted.
Click here to see UC Davis' page.
US AFRL CarrollHS
iGEM US AFRL Carroll HS created a wiki guide for future iGEM teams. This guide consists of general information; tutorials; and tips and tricks. We contributed to this guide by sharing our experience about starting your own design by removing the MediaWiki from your wiki.
Click here to see US AFRL CarrollHS page.
iGEM Duesseldorf
iGEM Düsseldorf organized a so called Postcard Collaboration. Here iGEM teams from all over the world can show their creativity by designing their own postcards, combined with a nice message. We participated in this collaboration, together with 53 other iGEM teams, and designed our postcard titled #iGEMlife. It is inspired by components of our iGEM journey.
Click here to see Düsseldorf's page.
iGEM Sustainable Development Goals Challenge
This year, iGEM Tuebingen, TAS Taipei and Costa Rica organized the iGEM Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Challenge. The aim of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to improve the world’s current situation by promoting prosperity, equality, peace, and care for the environment. When we were nominated on Instagram to mention the sustainable goals for our project we were happy to participate! Click here to see our post!
Social Media Hub
This year, iGEM Virginia is created a Social Media Hub where as many teams as possible have filled in their social media account details. We were happy to fill in this form which will simplify contact between different iGEM teams now and in the future.
Click here to see Virginia's page.
iGEM Spring fest
From the 3rd to the 5th of May we went to the iGEM Spring Festival in Bonn. This festival-styled iGEM conference was organized by the iGEM Bonn. During this weekend we attended many interesting presentations and workshops. Apart from this we went sightseeing in the beautiful city of Bonn and ended the weekend with the Rhein in Flammen festival. We had a great time at the conference and are glad that we could meet many other enthusiastic iGEM teams with whom we could potentially collaborate.
The Hague Meetup
On the 13th and 14th of June we attended the European Meetup at Onze Ambasade in The Hague, organized by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Rathenau Institute. During this meetup we attended many interesting presentations, such as 'How to succeed in the iGEM competition' and 'How to implement safety into the design of our project'. The presentations were followed by different interactive workshops. Some of us had to execute the whole iGEM competition in 48 minutes, others had to evaluate if our project meets the values of different stakeholders. Furthermore, this meetup provided us with a good opportunity to network with other iGEM teams and professionals.
European Meet Up
In July our team went to Paris for the iGEM European Meetup InParis organized by Pasteur Paris, Ionis Paris, GO Paris Saclay and Evry Paris Saclay During this meetup we presented our project, and received some very useful feedback. We discussed our platform further with other iGEM teams and played some games. During this weekend we met a lot of other teams and experienced the iGEM spirit. We even won an award for best presentation. All in all it was a very successful meetup! Click here for a blog post about this event.
Dutch Meet Up
On the 16th and 17th of August, iGEM teams from The Netherlands met at Leiden during the Dutch Meetup, organized by Leiden and Groningen. Over the weekend we shared our experiences and challenges with other teams while at the same time enjoying a nice bbq. The highlights of the weekend were the presentations by all the iGEM teams present. These presentations were followed by engaging discussions about the projects. It was an extremely collaborative environment in which teams provided constructive feedback and helped troubleshooting each others design. We also presented our project here, and received some handy feedback for the safety of our design. The weekend came to an end with a fun expedition around the city of Leiden.
BeNeLux Meetup
On October 25th, after the wiki freeze, iGEM TU Eindhoven has organized a Mini Jamboree. Here we are able to practice presenting our project one final time before we head of to Boston. A panel of judges gave us their feedback so that we will be able to integrate these comments in our presentation.