Team:Tec-Chihuahua/Collaborations
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Overview
One of the many great benefits of iGEM is that it gives you the opportunity to be connected with teams from all over the world. This is a priceless experience of companionship and genuine support. An opportunity like this allows iGEMers to connect, whether to simply get to know each other and share opinions, or to contribute new ideas and even suggestions towards each team’s projects and even to detect areas of opportunity and help others get better results. Starting our project we saw this as one of the biggest opportunities iGEM offers us. It was a truly changing experience to connect and work with teams all over the world. Supporting other teams and for them to show so much support to us truly puts things into perspective. We tried to be just as helpful to other teams and provide them with valuable advice, work and feedback, just as they did for us.
TecMonterrey_GDL
Since the beginning, communication with TecMonterrey_GDL was fundamental. Our first collaboration was born when Joel Hernandez, our advisor, met Cristina Figueroa, one of their advisors, at Harvard Medical School while they were both research trainees. By this time TecMontrrey_GDL started having some problems with the design and logic of their constructs, so we saw this as a great opportunity to help them. Basically, the problem showed up when they could not build their BioBrick because there were missing base pairs.
For the construct pOmpr-TRZ 1-iLOV [BBa_K3149001], we found out that their oligos were missing base pairs before the suffix and after the prefix, affecting the correct function of the restriction enzymes during ligation. Also, we suggested the addition of a green reporter that could be useful for further analysis data. Moreover, with the help of both teams, we designed primers to add them to the prefix and suffix, thus amplifying the genes and allowing correct digestion and ligation.
In addition, we talked about the importance of producing (TRZ1) for their hypothesis and characterization. That is where Joel and Cristina figured out a way of modulating the synthesis of TRZ1 and incorporated an arabinose-inducible pBAD strong promoter for the construct pBAD-TRZ1 [BBa_K3149000]. At a given level of arabinose input, BBa_K206000 will provide a higher level of PoPS output than its family members, allowing analog device responses.
Thanks to the support between our teams, TecMonterrey_GDL finally achieved the construction of their BioBricks.
Our team kept in touch with the TecMonterrey_GDL team throughout the project, which helped so we could both share laboratory advances.
In order to correctly standardize the experiments we both had set up for our projects, first of all, we sent TecMonterrey_GDL a summary with specific information about the protocols we had already mastered. This summary was of great use to them because we had managed in setting up an SDS-PAGE. Having this protocol standardized was very important for them because it is a basic protocol in research to corroborate the characterization of a BioBrick and having it standardized implied not spending time on standardizing inductions and gel concentrations, which saves a lot of time.
First, they searched for the necessary reagents to replicate the protocols. When TecMonterrey_GDL realized they didn’t have what it takes to set up a standard such as us, we gave ourselves the task of sharing them IPTG Invitrogen (Isopropyl β-D-thiogalactopyranoside) and Bisacrylamide, and not only our reagents but also our chassis of E. coli BL21 (DE3) without transformation and our transformed E. coli BL21 (DE3) chassis with the BioBrick [BBa_K2959010] for the expression of Arabidopsis thaliana Profilin 1, in this way it was possible to achieve the protocol and that it served them as a control.
With our mentorship, they were able to do a successful total protein extraction, as well as running the polyacrylamide gel without any troubleshooting. On the other hand, they were not able to induce correctly the BioBrick sent by their collaborator. Nevertheless, they were able to discuss the results and confident that the protocol can be easily adapted in their further experiments and BioBricks.
BUAP Mexico
This year team BUAP Mexico is working on the production of bioplastic from CO₂ that is found in the marine environment. In order to help them achieve their goals, we cooperated in the development of their documentary for the area of Human Practices.
In September we had the pleasure to collaborate with team BUAP México in two different activities: their documentary and the development of our Education Manual. We had a video meeting with team BUAP on September 5th to discuss each other's projects and advances, and when we finished, both teams really liked the activities that were being developed in the area of Human Practices and that is why we decided to collaborate.
Our team helped to collect information for team BUAP documentary about the problems and difficulties that women in science have to deal with. We interviewed different female scientists and obtained information about why they got interested in science, which have been the most significant moments in their professional lives, which were the limitations they lived as women in science, what solution they would propose to end these problems, what factors in their opinion contribute to inequality in the field, and finally a message they would like to spread to little girls that want to be future scientists.
We really enjoyed working on this activity because we noticed that both teams share the same goals, and by collaborating we can achieve a greater impact.
Simultaneously, while we were creating our Education Manual and were implementing all the education levels that we engaged, we realized that something was missing, one important level that is Kindergarten. Around the same time, we had established contact with team BUAP and figured out that they were planning on visiting children from Kindergarten. We got in contact with them again and invited them to collaborate in the development of our manual.
They provided us information about the plan they had for their activity, like how they adapted the information to make it understandable for children. They also included information on how they choose the school, how they got access to it, what activities they implemented, and how many children and teachers they were planning to work with. An important fact we asked them and that was very valuable for our Manual was what iGEM values they promoted and how they were planning to apply them during the activity. As a conclusion, they contributed with advice they wanted to share with other iGEM teams on what is the best way to approach children from Kindergarten.
UANL &
Tec-Monterrey
This edition, UANL team is focused on implementing Bacterial Microcompartments (BMC) to E. coli in order to get nanoreactors for industrial biotransformation of phenolic compounds. Team Tec-Mty is working in the development of a biosensor for new possible antibiotics to treat cystic fibrosis, as well as the creation of a mucolytic based on neuraminidase to reduce the viscosity of mucines.
We know communication is an essential and indispensable skill when working as a team. It is only through this way that goals can be achieved in the best way possible. We are certain that this is something that all the people who have participated in iGEM have reinforced during this arduous, intense and wonderful journey.
In order to continue promoting communication and building further relationships, on August 31st, the LATAM Meet-up was held, where iGEM teams Tec-Mty, UANL, ITESO, and Tec-Chihuahua participated. For this event, two of our team members flew to Monterrey, where the Meet-up was held, in order to fulfill the team’s duties as organizer and to present our project to the attendees. During the event each team shared their project presentations and posters, where feedback was received from the members of the different teams, as well as the veteran iGEM judge, Dr. Heber Torres.
At the end of the day, the connections we made with the other teams were incredible. It was such a
valuable experience for everyone involved. Ideas were discussed, support was offered as future
collaborations, and numerous contacts were obtained. Overall, the event was a remarkable source of
support in the development of each team’s projects. It is worth mentioning it also went further, as it
should be with any event of this kind, individual growth and support was present in the form of
connections and experiences.
To plan and organize such an event was an effort that took over two months, and required the involvement of several team members from all the organizing teams. However, by living the experience and its posteriors benefits, we know it was all worth it. We also believe that these types of events help foster collaborations between teams, in addition to empathy and teamwork. As a future consideration the team had while planning this event, a guide for organizing meetups would be incredibly useful for the following teams.
UCL
This year, UCL team is working in an alternative treatment for cancer by fusing HER2 targeting peptides to encapsulins’ surface in order to create a double selection target drug delivery vehicle.
The first of September we reached out to Team UCL from London and scheduled a video call. We saw it as a great opportunity to connect with students overseas and get a better idea of how students in other parts of the world were developing their projects. We discussed our respective projects, what we were hoping to achieve, and our plans for the future in different areas. They were particularly interested in our Wiki, and were very kind to congratulate us for it. Their team was solely composed of biological-wise students, and none of them had any background in coding or web design. This was a major concern for them, so they were looking for help in that area.
The video call turned out to be quite useful for them when they mentioned they were having trouble with their
Wiki. Their main issue was that they didn’t know how to start working on their
Wiki, and after all, it is a very daunting responsibility. During the call, our Wiki Team, made up of Computer
Science majors that have had a class on web development, gave them a crash course on how to get
started. We discussed methods like paper prototyping wherein you sketch out every page of your website before
committing to code. They had also seen a looping video on our homepage and wanted to do something similar.
Our Wiki Team taught them how to do that, and gave them a small lesson on HTML tags and the DOM tree. We also helped them with ideas on how to begin their public engagement, like how to get involved with people and truly make an impact.