Attributions

Our team has had a year full of adventures! On this page, you will find who were those wonderful people responsible for our project and team success. We have accomplished a lot and we are eager to share it with you!

What has our team accomplished?

The iGEM UPRM team shared Synthetic Biology with different segments of the Puerto Rican community via a variety of participative and informative activities. The creation of the team facilitated the introduction of the first undergraduate and graduate Synthetic Biology course and laboratory, opening the space and opportunities for university students to learn about this emerging field. With a series of workshops, we gave high school students the opportunity to create and design original prototypes and to learn about advanced laboratory techniques used in Synthetic Biology. We also provided tools and knowledge for school teachers so they can take Synthetic Biology activities to their classrooms. Our laboratory efforts consisted of has redesigned bacteria to respond to red light allowing a standard vector to express a standard genetic construct cloned in a variable region.

General Support

We couldn’t have completed our project without the counseling, guidance, and encouragement received from our mentors, Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez and Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez, and also from our graduate student advisor, Alejandro Mercado Capote through every step.

Institutional Support

Our institutional advisor Patrica Torres Aquino and the personnel from the Cultural and Social Activities Office help us to properly process institutional guidelines for obtaining access to materials and founding. Also, Carmen P. Pares and Lic. Maria L. Gaud were instrumental collaborators for expediting institutional processes. Credit to our former UPRM Interim Chancellor, Prof. Wilma L. Santiago Gabrielini, and current UPRM Chancellor. Dr. Agustin Rullan Toro, for granting us a meeting to explain our project and for their institutional support. As well we give credit to UPRM Interim Dean of Students Dr. Jonathan Muniz and Interim Dean of the Arts and Sciences Faculty, Dr. Fernando Gilbes, for helping us with every request and granting us time for multiple meetings. Our team cherishes the collaboration relationship developed with UPRM Biology Department Director, Prof. Ana Velez Diaz and all the wonderful staff. Credit to Dr. Juan Martinez Cruzado and Dr. Luis Rios Hernadez, for letting our team use part of his laboratory equipment and for giving us project design feedback respectively. Credit to Biology Department Research technician Barbara Sanchez Santos for providing us with equipment time and resources to complete our laboratory efforts. Last but not least to Mr. Carlos Acosta Rivera for helping us to raise up the team meetings morale and keeping a notion of the time!

Human Practices Support

“Ciencias para La Vía” (Sciences for La Vía, Aguadilla): Team members Luis Montalvo González, Nicole Zaragoza Rodríguez, Adriana Rosado Vega, Gabriela Otero Andino, Esteban Bermúdez Berríos, and Nathan González Cordero visited the community and organized workshops and activities. Dr. Luisa R. Seijo Maldonado, director of the Institute of Development of Communities, Luis Antonio “Tony”, community leader, provided the space for the workshops. Crest Program collaborated in the workshops. The team is eternally grateful for all the people involved in the betterment of our communities in the Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades (University Institute of Community Development) and for giving us the opportunity to reach these communities with them.

SynBio 101: Summer Camp: Claudia Mañán Mejías, our co-captain, organized and was in charge of all logistics for the SynBIo 101 Summer Camp, along with camp coordinator Nilsa París. Our professors and advisors, Brenda Cabrera and Carmen Patricia Parés offered conferences and workshops. Team members Lucía Colón, Alondra de Jesús Martinez, Elba González González, and Nathan González Cordero presented different topics of synthetic biology, along with our advisor Dr. Carlos Ríos Velazquez and Dra. Patricia Ortiz Bermudez. Graduate student Luis Morales Vale and our advisors Angel Rubio Marrero and Alejandro Mercado Capote gave lab workshops. Camp volunteers Elmer Ortiz, Patricia Colóm, Omar Martínez, Leandra Ramos, Karen Andújar helped made the camp possible with their hard work and effort. Professional Association PRABIA provided workshops and tours for the camp participants. We thank everyone for pioneering this amazing project.

Workshops 456: Our Social Impact team lead and organized the activities, along with the Biology team and team members Natalia Ortiz, Lucía Colón Ramos, Elmer Ortiz, Patricia Colóm, Nathan González Cordero and Claudia Mañan Mejías, who gave the workshops and instructed the participants in the lab. Social Impact team leader, Luis Montalvo González, coordinated the event. Our advisors Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez helped introduce and present the information provided. Bárbara Sánchez Santos provided us with laboratory materials needed for the workshops. Microbial Biotechnology and Bioprospecting Laboratory graduate fellows Victor Lopez Ramirez, Angelica González Martinez, and Flavio Rodriguez Polanco talked to the students about their projects and their research experiences. and The organization CoHemis helped with the logistics of the activity. We thank them for trusting and helping us with all the activities given in our SynBio week.

Synthetic Biology Caribbean Talk: Social Impact team organized the event and the rest of the team for help in logistics. Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez, Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez, and Víctor López Velázquez presented conferences on Synthetic Biology and Genetic Constructs. Graduate student advisor, Alejandro Mercado Capote presented his synthetic biology-related prototype. Team member Lucía Colón Ramos gave a brief presentation on what is iGEM and our team to the students in the public. The organization CoHemis also helped in the logistics of this activity.

PROBETA Town Hall: Co-captain Nathan González Cordero and Social Impact team leader Luis Montalvo González coordinated the event. Social Impact team organized the event, advisor Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez gave a conference and team members Adriana Rosado Vega, Lucía Colón Ramos Luis Montalvo González, and Nathan González Cordero provided conferences. Natalia Ortiz Rivera helped with the logistical part of the event. The organization CoHemis and the student association AECIPO helped with the logistics of the activity.

Professional Improvement: Synthetic Biology for Educators: The Social Impact team organized the event and member Gabriela Otero Andino coordinated the event and helped it get vetted by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez, Gabriela Otero Andino, Nathan González Cordero, and Elba González González gave presentations and workshops on Synthetic Biology. The organization CoHemis helped with logistics.

Project support

Lab support: Members of the Biology team Alondra de Jesús Martínez, Paula M. Mañán Mejías, Nicole Zaragoza Rodríguez, Adriana Rosado Vega, and Elba González González, and team members Lucía Colón Ramos, Claudia Mañán Mejías, Natalia Ortiz Rivera, Luis Montalvo González, and Andrea Guilloty Rodríguez helped in the laboratory and gave their ultimate effort to make everything possible. Alejandro Mercado Capote, Angel Rubio Marrero, and Víctor López Velázquez guided and instructed us in the laboratory. Special thanks to the Microbial Biotechnology and Bioprospecting Laboratory and its students for providing us with space and materials needed to accomplish our project goals.

Wiki support: Our programming team, Esteban Bermudez Berríos, Eryka Ríos Feliciano, Kevin Ruiz Marquez, and Nathan González Cordero coordinated the work efforts and all members of the team helped it put together, including our graduate advisor Alejandro Mercado Capote. Christian Rosado Feliciano and Edwin Ortiz Rodríguez helped us with the graphics and the design of our wiki page.

The First Synthetic Biology Course and Laboratory in Puerto Rico

The team’s PI advisors Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez and Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez had the initiative of introducing the first Synthetic Biology course and laboratory to our campus. The course Principles of Synthetic Biology was offered from January 2019 to May 2019 as a special topic. The course was submitted to the Department Curriculum committee in December 2019. In August 2019, Principles of Synthetic Biology Laboratory has been offered as a special topic, which will be submitted. The iGEM UPRM team started brainstorming in August 2018 and started laboratory training in May 2019. The project officially started in August 2019.

Principles and Applications of Synthetic Biology Syllabus

Principles and Applications of Synthetic Biology Laboratory Syllabus

Awknoledgements

Team UPRM would like to thank all those people who were involved in our activities and formed a part of this very special project. Thanks to Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez and Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez for always saying yes to our initiatives and ideas and helping us to make them happen. We are forever in debt with our graduate student advisor, Alejandro Mercado Capote, for teaching us and helping us with our project. We also appreciate all the contributions made by our university, particularly our Biology Department and its personnel for providing us the space to meet and work. In addition, we greatly appreciate all the work done by Patricia Torres and the team of the Department of Social Activities with managing our institutional account and helping us with administrative labor. We thank the Chancellor's Office of our university and special assistants Carmen Patricia Parés and María Gaud for their vote of confidence in our work and helping us establish our team. Special thanks to Gadiel de Jesús Martinez for helping us with the videography of our wiki. Our everlasting gratitude to Edwin Ortiz Rodríguez, a dear colleague for the team and first CMO (Chief Marketing Officer), for all the work done with the Social Impact team, the promotions of our team events, and most of our graphic designs (and exclusive UPRM banners, shirts and hoodie). May the future hold pleasant surprises for you!

Team:UPRM/Attributions