Team:Edinburgh/Attributions

The SuperGrinder




Attributions

Introduction to team organisation

iGEM is offered at the University of Edinburgh as an option for an MSc dissertation project, with a team of nine Masters students across different programmes working on the team project and writing individual dissertations on their parts. Some team members continued to work on the most promising parts over the summer to complete the iGEM project, joined by additional undergraduate team members who helped with the remaining parts of the project.

We started brainstorming ideas once the team had been allocated in February 2021, and after many long and hard discussions by video conferencing we agreed on a project, planned initial experiments and started in the lab in May 2021. Our first task was to order laboratory resources for our experiments and complete the GM risk assessment for approval.

Team attributions

*indicates team leaders

Team member Roles Other information
Baifern Wongthanaroj Wet lab*, video, design, modelling, wiki, iDEC Glutathione production with ATP regeneration
Charles Wackwitz Wet lab, iDEC*, fundraising Cellulose degradation
Chenghang Dong Dry lab Modelling thermal stability of cellulases
Davide Annese Wet lab, iDEC, promo video director Keratinase directed evolution
Emily Oliver Dry lab Structural modelling, proof-of-concept work
Finn Slattery Wet lab, Design and Publicity*, iDEC Chitin conversion (demineralisation and deproteination)
Fiona Bunn Team management*, Wet lab, Wiki, Safety Immobilisation using silica tags, keratinase characterisation
Marina Pilukova Human Practises
Muhammad Arman Wet lab, Safety Chitin deacetylation
Na Dong Wet lab Cellulose degradation
Ritupreet Kaur Wet lab, fundraising* PET degradation
Lin Jing Zheng (SenSen) Lin Quan Human Practises
Tijs Van Kampen Human Practises
Xinyue Chen Human Practises*
Zachary Bloxham Dry lab Structural modelling, proof-of-concept work

Additional thanks (Advisors and instructors)

We are especially grateful to all those who contributed their expertise and advice to helping us with our project this year, especially with the additional difficulties around COVID-19, which meant that we had not received any teaching in the lab prior to starting the project. As a result, the first few weeks were a steep learning experience. We were very lucky to have the support listed below:

Prof. Chris French (Project supervisor and advisor)
Dr. Heather Barker (Lab support)
Dr. Joanna Sadler (Support directed evolution - iDEC project, and PETase project)
Dr. Nadanai Laohakunakorn (Support directed evolution - iDEC project and Glutathione production project)

 

Additional thanks go to:

  • Dr Marcos Valenzuela-Ortega (JUMP assembly advise and provision of plasmids)
  • Dr David Radford and Ben Astles (Advice for working with Bacillus subtilis)
  • Alejandra Schiavon Osorio (facilitating access to and use of the plate reader)
  • Katie Phillips from Pasture Poultry for provision of feathers as as source of waste keratin and stakerholder engagement
  • Dr Robert Smith (Human Practices Advice)
  • Previous iGEM participants who advised our team in the early stages (Matteo Cese, Elle Bethune)
  • The University of Edinburgh
  • The iGEM Impact grant
  • The team at iGEM for general support and resource provision