COLLABORATIONS

HARDWARE

GSU

Lambert iGEM also collaborated with the iGEM team at Georgia State University (GSU) and Dr. Matthew Brewer, senior academic professor in biology, to discuss testing for LyphoX and to learn more about both of our iGEM projects. We sent GSU our frugal lyophilizer to validate the replicability and effectiveness of the standardized procedure in freeze-drying cell solution. Georgia State University’s team members visited our lab on October 15, 2021. After running two tests with LyphoX, they delivered promising results. Incubating the cell solutions after four days of storage at room temperature yielded successful growth on plates, validating that users outside of our lab are effectively able to replicate our standardized procedure (see Fig. 1). Additionally, GSU presented us with their iGEM project HNOSS: a biotechnology solution to the growing problem of hair loss. We also presented our iGEM project, Agrosense, to GSU’s team members. Through this collaboration, we were able to validate the effectiveness of LyphoX from a user outside of our lab and explore each other’s iGEM projects.

Figure 1. GSU’s rehydration results after delivering test results to Lambert on 10/15/2021 - both left out for four days at room temperature.

FSU, JHU, UPENN, MIT ALLIANCE

This year, Lambert iGEM entered an alliance with iGEM teams at Florida State University (FSU), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Over a period of three months, Lambert iGEM joined a series of virtual meetings to discuss medaling requirements and visualize project goals.

Each team presented their projects and helped brainstorm project ideas and updated their presentations after receiving feedback. In addition, the JHU team created a Minecraft server for the five teams to create visual representations of each project and to form more friendly, personal connections outside of the lab through collaborative entertainment (see Fig. 2). Through this collaboration, we were able to learn about a wide variety of other iGEM projects and, more importantly, establish a partnership specific to Johns Hopkins University and Florida State University in order to address gaps in each of our projects.

Figure 2. Picture of Lambert and Johns Hopkins’ Minecraft project build illustrating their iGEM projects.

Partnership

Through the previously mentioned alliance consisting of the 4 iGEM teams, Lambert iGEM was able to organize a partnership specifically with the teams at JHU and FSU to utilize LyphoX, greatly assisting the development of each team’s project goals. After having continuous zoom meetings and GroupMe communication from August 2021 onward, we realized that each team had its respective gaps in its projects. FSU wanted to apply their chitin-secreting cells to another project for validation, and JHU needed chitosan, an antifungal substance derived from chitin, in order to forward their iGEM project regarding coral reef preservation. LyphoX was proposed as a method of making effortless cell transport between JHU and FSU. Without lyophilization, FSU would have to transport an unstable and biohazardous material over a long distance to JHU, creating avoidable costs and time restrictions that impede JHU’s accessibility to an integral aspect of their project. Because of this, all three teams agreed to apply LyphoX to their projects.

FSU first sent their chitin-secreting cells to our lyophilizer committee, who inoculated them in Luria broth and used the frugal lyophilizer to freeze-dry the 0.2mL tube cell samples. After completing the test, our team shipped these samples to JHU; however, due to lab restrictions, JHU is currently unable to acquire petri plates to successfully grow lyophilized cells. Updates are expected before the Judging sessions.

Our partnership with JHU and FSU filled the gaps in each respective project, allowing everyone involved to forward their iGEM project goals. Finally, it was through this collaboration that we further validated our frugal lyophilizer was able to freeze-dry cells for transport across the country.

HUMAN PRACTICES

Restriction Cloning Webinar

Lambert iGEM hosted a collaboration to teach newly developed iGEM teams about the restriction enzyme cloning workflow. We had the opportunity to meet with 7 teams: RUM-UPRM, IISER Tirupati, IISER Berhampur, Istanbul_Tech, UESTC-China, and two unconstructed teams (see Fig. 3). This webinar introduced each step of the workflow and briefed participants on how to build an effective plasmid and insert. Due to the complexity of bacterial cloning, Lambert iGEM believed it would be beneficial for newer iGEM teams to grasp a theoretical understanding of the workflow before beginning their project.

Figure 3. A screenshot from our Restriction Enzyme Cloning Webinar.

After participants signed a waiver allowing use of data collection we held poll questions throughout the webinar and conducted a post-survey after the workshop. Using our poll questions asked every few minutes to identify if we needed to supplement our explanations. The post-survey at the end contained a series of comprehension questions regarding the overall workflow. With majority of the participants answering all of the questions correctly, indicating that they were comprehending and grasping the concepts taught (see Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Graphical representation of the answer choices from the poll questions

The post-survey results also revealed that most participants benefited from attending our workshop and all participants would recommend this webinar to new iGEM teams (see Fig. 5).

Figure 5. Graphical representation of the answer choices from the post-survey.

Here are comments from our participants:

The presentation was outstanding! Good job.
The presentation was great.
It was excellent overall, easy to follow and understand. Thank you for your effort!
Really great and informative session thank you for hosting.
Thank you for this webinar, it is very useful for me and my team :)
Overall, it was good, some more information could have been included.
Great webinar, though most things were known theoretically, I learned some details in the process.
Informative and direct to the point.

Overall, the success of the webinar can be seen in the data provided. We were able to successfully introduce knowledge about the cloning workflow, which is essential for many iGEM projects.

Canyon Crest Academy

Lambert iGEM met with Canyon Crest Academy’s (CCA) high school iGEM team from San Diego for the second year of collaboration. During our first meeting in late July, both teams presented their projects and discussed potential improvements to their Human Practices work. In our Human Practices work, we collaborated with our local library and local schools to present our storybook, Grow and Glow, so we suggested they pursue community outreach with their work in science communication. The CCA team suggested methods for publishing Grow and Glow, such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, a self-publishing platform. They also suggested we write for an older audience in the future to expand our audience’s age range who have synthetic biology education available to them at various stages of education. In this meeting, further discussions included how to manage a successful iGEM team, keep new team members motivated, and encourage interdisciplinary interactions across workstreams. In a subsequent meeting with the CCA team, we had discussions between our modeling committees and their wet lab committees. We diagnosed some issues with their mathematical modeling and trouble-shooted their wet-lab protocols and provided tips for common issues we faced working in a high school lab. In addition, we continued our discussion about team management, including some advice from our team advisor, Mrs. Standeven.