In science, collaboration is key. Helping each other to further our knowledge of reality so we can fly to new heights of the likes no person has seen before. In iGEM, this is no different. We have helped other teams in their projects, and they have helped us back in an effort to better the world. Something every team is striving for. Here is the teams we have helped:
Resources Exchange (iGEM TEC CEM)
The iGEM TEC CEM team asked for our help in their project as we are also working with microplastics. They needed us to analyse bottled water samples in various conditions, following a laboratory protocol, to determine if they contain microplastics and if they did, how many. They also helped us contact a professor in environmental engineering that shone a light on some questions regarding wastewater treatment that our team had. These answers helped us improve our implementation ideas.
Podcast (iGEM NAWI Graz)
The IGEM team NAWI Graz organized a podcast where they invited different IGEM teams to talk about their projects and the problems those teams were trying to overcome. We were one of the teams invited, it was a great opportunity to talk about what we were aiming to achieve and also to spread awareness and to teach some quick tips on what can be done to mitigate the growth of the microplastic pandemic.
LATAM Meetup (iGEM TEC CEM)
The iGEM TEC CEM team organized the LATAM MeetUp where various teams were invited to present their projects as a way to practice for their final presentation in the Giant Jamboree. A few professors were invited to serve as judges and to give feedback so the teams can improve their presentations. We thought this could be a great opportunity for us to improve our presentation and to get to know other teams’ projects. The event allowed us to know where we could improve and how we could improve it.
Document Translation (iGEM Bielefeld CeBiTec)
The iGEM team from Bielefeld CeBiTec was working on a mini-podcast where they answered questions collected from children like “What is DNA?”. They were collecting those answers and asking for translations in different languages. We thought this initiative to be quite interesting as it helped children understand better the world around them and what synthetic biology was all about. Since we are the only Portuguese team competing, we helped their team by translating their answers to European Portuguese so they could reach a wider audience.
Bacterial Strains (iGEM Uppsala)
Team iGEM Uppsala sent us 4 cryovials with E.coli DH5α cells containing the integration plasmids pBS1C and pBS2E. These were essential to our strategy, as they are necessary for gene integration in Bacillus subtilis, our chassis of choice. Additionally, they have also helped us find some Swedish speakers for our conference, and we retributed the favor by contacting Portuguese speakers for their webinar.
