Team:RDFZ-CHINA/Collaborations
Ibowu
Ibowu team held a meetup on 4/16/2021 and invited us to join in. During the meetup, our team shared several ideas about this year's project, from lactose intolerance to degrading cellulose . We shared each project by PowerPoint and discussed related problems and possible solutions to each project. After our presentation, the professor suggested that we need to do more market research and investigate whether the question already had a better solution and whether bringing in synthetic biology is necessary. The professor's suggestions inspired us and accurately found weaknesses in our project. Therefore, our team spent one week investigating some details and potential customers, which helped us determine which project was better fit for society and our team.
Ibowu team held a meetup on 4/16/2021 and invited us to join in. During the meetup, our team shared several ideas about this year's project, from lactose intolerance to degrading cellulose . We shared each project by PowerPoint and discussed related problems and possible solutions to each project. After our presentation, the professor suggested that we need to do more market research and investigate whether the question already had a better solution and whether bringing in synthetic biology is necessary. The professor's suggestions inspired us and accurately found weaknesses in our project. Therefore, our team spent one week investigating some details and potential customers, which helped us determine which project was better fit for society and our team.
Keystone Synbio Fair
In 2021.10.16, we engaged in the meetup in keystone high school. We made a poster to illustrate our project. The teachers and students of the school got the chance to learn about synthetic biology and its application in different projects. We explained the mechanism and the whole process of our design. It is a challenging task for us to explain our experiment in a detailed and yet understandable manner. At first, we were using academic language to explain complicated concepts. It was not too friendly for people not familiar with biological terms. People kept asking us to clarify certain details about the project. We then decided to change our language, since the aim of education is to communicate with the general audience. Therefore we decided to use simple and straightfoward logic and terms to explain the three systems: sensing, phage carrying, and phage release. It was satisfying when people understood the process and told us how Killer X could be influential to modern organic agriculture. Moreover, this opportunity provides a precious chance for us to learn from rest of the synthetic biology community. We communicate with other teams by updating our progress, telling them the barriers we have met, and even peddled some souvenirs.
In 2021.10.16, we engaged in the meetup in keystone high school. We made a poster to illustrate our project. The teachers and students of the school got the chance to learn about synthetic biology and its application in different projects. We explained the mechanism and the whole process of our design. It is a challenging task for us to explain our experiment in a detailed and yet understandable manner. At first, we were using academic language to explain complicated concepts. It was not too friendly for people not familiar with biological terms. People kept asking us to clarify certain details about the project. We then decided to change our language, since the aim of education is to communicate with the general audience. Therefore we decided to use simple and straightfoward logic and terms to explain the three systems: sensing, phage carrying, and phage release. It was satisfying when people understood the process and told us how Killer X could be influential to modern organic agriculture. Moreover, this opportunity provides a precious chance for us to learn from rest of the synthetic biology community. We communicate with other teams by updating our progress, telling them the barriers we have met, and even peddled some souvenirs.
Lab Collaboration
We first established connections with them on their April 18 Beijing Area Local Meetup event. Members from both teams kept in touch closely throughout the iGEM season. At the time, iBowu-China's lab has permission to run daily experiments. After our lab closed due to COVID regulations, we reached out to ask them if we could share their lab space. Fortunately, iBowu team agreed quickly. Five of our team members performed experiments in their lab, including plasmid extraction, PCR runs, agarose gel runs for Gibson assembly. We also discussed our experiment techniques and project designs during our lab work. The figure below shows some of the experiment work done by our team during their time in our lab. With their help, we successfully tested plasmid p6006 and p6008 (fig.1), extracted sequence of lacl (a sequence of DNA used in the construction of dgpx1 system) and backbone of p6006 (fig.2 and fig.3), and achieved the construction of dcpf1 expression pathway, major tail protein expression pathway and CymR expression pathway.
We first established connections with them on their April 18 Beijing Area Local Meetup event. Members from both teams kept in touch closely throughout the iGEM season. At the time, iBowu-China's lab has permission to run daily experiments. After our lab closed due to COVID regulations, we reached out to ask them if we could share their lab space. Fortunately, iBowu team agreed quickly. Five of our team members performed experiments in their lab, including plasmid extraction, PCR runs, agarose gel runs for Gibson assembly. We also discussed our experiment techniques and project designs during our lab work. The figure below shows some of the experiment work done by our team during their time in our lab. With their help, we successfully tested plasmid p6006 and p6008 (fig.1), extracted sequence of lacl (a sequence of DNA used in the construction of dgpx1 system) and backbone of p6006 (fig.2 and fig.3), and achieved the construction of dcpf1 expression pathway, major tail protein expression pathway and CymR expression pathway.
SHSBNU_China
On July 28th, 2021, SHSBNU_China invited us to a meetup hosted at the Beijing Bluepha laboratory. During the event, our team shared the project with BJU, NDNF_China, and the BIT team. We discussed the difficulties faced during the experiment and possible solutions to the problem. After our presentation, several teams came and asked how we would use phage in the experiment, and were concerned about possible safety problems. One instructor from Bluepha lab suggested we can use key protein instead of activated phage, because key proteins can be tested by spectrum and electrophoresis, making it safer. From their suggestions, we re-designed the pathway using the key protein endolysin and major tail protein to substitute the phage gene. This allowed our design and experiment to continue without further concerns for safety problems.
On July 28th, 2021, SHSBNU_China invited us to a meetup hosted at the Beijing Bluepha laboratory. During the event, our team shared the project with BJU, NDNF_China, and the BIT team. We discussed the difficulties faced during the experiment and possible solutions to the problem. After our presentation, several teams came and asked how we would use phage in the experiment, and were concerned about possible safety problems. One instructor from Bluepha lab suggested we can use key protein instead of activated phage, because key proteins can be tested by spectrum and electrophoresis, making it safer. From their suggestions, we re-designed the pathway using the key protein endolysin and major tail protein to substitute the phage gene. This allowed our design and experiment to continue without further concerns for safety problems.
QHFZ North China Meetup
We joined the North China meetup at QHFZ on June 20th and presented our project. It was still early in project development, so we were only sharing the design of the project and proposed human practices. As we talked about the applicance of phage therapy to plant bacterial diseases, the experts approved the uniqueness of this design. However, they still expressed concerns of the safety problems of this therapy and encouraged us to research more on the specificity of Xoo phage, in order to make sure other bacterias will not be infected. With over 20 teams participating in the event, it was inspiring to hear other teams' presentations as well. We met teams that also worked on the DSF system and discussed abo ut its biosafety with them. Other teams, including Keystone, also gave suggestions on how to improve the dcas9 system. Because we were still early in the development, these suggestions are very useful to our experimental design in the future.
We joined the North China meetup at QHFZ on June 20th and presented our project. It was still early in project development, so we were only sharing the design of the project and proposed human practices. As we talked about the applicance of phage therapy to plant bacterial diseases, the experts approved the uniqueness of this design. However, they still expressed concerns of the safety problems of this therapy and encouraged us to research more on the specificity of Xoo phage, in order to make sure other bacterias will not be infected. With over 20 teams participating in the event, it was inspiring to hear other teams' presentations as well. We met teams that also worked on the DSF system and discussed abo ut its biosafety with them. Other teams, including Keystone, also gave suggestions on how to improve the dcas9 system. Because we were still early in the development, these suggestions are very useful to our experimental design in the future.
