Team:Thessaly/Attributions

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Overview

This year our team formed in February, when 12 young and aspiring undergraduate students joined forces. Since then, after weeks full of meetings , hard work and a lot of help we managed to complete our mission, Amalthea 2021! Our project wouldn’t become reality without all these exceptional people that helped us through our journey. Throughout the months that followed, the project was often modified after receiving feedback from stakeholders. We would like to thank every single one that helped and supported us!

Members


Wet lab	Detect	GPCR
		pFlic
		Tyrosinase
	Ameliorate	Acetate
		Propionate
		Butyrate
		BglX
		Alginate
	cymR
Wet lab training
Dry Lab		Software
		Hardware
		App
Human Practices		IHP
		Collab
		Outreach
		ESC
Wiki
Presentetion
Promo Video
Graphic Design
Fund Fundraising
Implementation
Entrepreneurship

Supervisors

Kalliope Papadopoulou, Secondary iGEM PI, Associate Professor, Plant Biotechnology at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly. She gave us lab space as well as guidance and general support throughout the development of our project. As a research coordinator of the Omic- Engine infrastructure, she helped us with our lab supplies and orders. She also contributed to our Human Practices activities. She also helped us make the script for our Project Promotion Video and the Presentation Video.

Katerina Moutou, Associate Professor, Vertebrate Biology at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. She provided us with lab space as well as guidance and general support throughout the development of our project. As a research coordinator of the Omic-Engine infrastructure, she also provided us lab supplies. She helped us make the script for our Project Promotion Video and the Presentation Video. She also provided the most financial support.

Instructor

Nikolaos Delkis, MSc student, University of Thessaly. As an advisor and past iGEM participant, Nikolaos contributed to the general guidance and coordination of the team members, acted as a connection between Wet and Dry labs, and supervised the Wet Lab experimental design, by laying the general strategic plan. Moreover, he conducted a two-week hands-on training for Wet Lab members, which covered basic and advanced molecular biology techniques (lab basics, basic cloning procedure, competent cell preparation, modular cloning). Finally, he provided day-to-day mentoring and troubleshooting regarding experiments and general iGEM topics (Fundraising, Human Practices, Dry Lab, medal criteria, etc.).

Advisors

Afrodite Katsaouni, MSc student, University of Thessaly. As an advisor and past iGEM participant, Afrodite contributed to the general guidance and coordination of the team members. She supervised the Wet Lab experimental design, by laying the general strategic plan. Moreover, she conducted a two-week hands-on training for Wet Lab members, which covered basic and advanced molecular biology techniques (lab basics, basic cloning procedure). Finally, she provided day-to-day mentoring and troubleshooting regarding experiments and general iGEM topics .

Leandros Tsiotos, MSc student, Imperial College London. As an advisor and past iGEM participant, Leandros contributed to the general guidance and provided his mentorship on issues related to the implementation of our project in the real world and guided us on the incorporation of humanitarian approaches and ethical considerations in our project design.

Olga Tsiouri, PhD candidate, University of Thessaly. As an advisor, she provided her knowledge on many subjects that required a computational way of thinking, mentoring the Dry Lab throughout our project. Olga, contributed by always giving her useful opinion on the app development, modeling and capsule parts of our project, analyzing their perspectives and suggesting alternatives.

Ambassadors

			Anastasia	Athina	Elli	Katerina	Rafail	Sofia	Spyros	Stavroula
Wet lab
App
Human		IHP
Human		ESC
Presentetion
Promo
Graphic
Entrepreneurship/Implementation

Finance

Antonia Spanomitrou, Lab technician at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genomics at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. She helped us with the orders of our lab supplies.

Areti Xatzi, she helped us contacting Research Committee of University of Thessaly and filling our financial contracts with our sponsors.

Panagiotis Karras, Post Doctoral fellow at the Plant & Environmental Biotechnology Lab, at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. He made some orders for us ,having a shorter arrival date.

Stavros Gkonis, Employee in a private business, assisted at closing deals with sponsors.

Prom racing team, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), gave advice upon fundraising.

Lab Support and Advice

Athanasia Katsoula, Post-doctoral fellow, gave advice about cleaning and using pHmeter.

Christina Papazlatani, PhD Candidate, gave advice about autoclaving, rules of the lab and operation of some devices in the lab.

Dimitrios Kouretas, Professor, Animal Physiology - Toxicology at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly. We interviewed him about Personalized Nutrition Plans. Also offered us networking to interview other specialists in the food industry.

Elena Papadopoulou, PhD Candidate, assisted with the electrophoresis devises

Jenny Koukara, PhD Candidate, she helped team members to produce DH5A competent cells

Maria Feka, PhD candidate at the Plant & Environmental Biotechnology Lab, at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. She gave us Cloth, Loading Buffer, guidelines on how to prepare acidic solutions and the maintenance of the autoclave.

Marianna Avramidou, PhD Candidate, aided the team to clean the lab

Rafail Angelakopoulos, PhD candidate at the Laboratory of Genetics, Comparative and Evolutionary Biology at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. He provided us with plates for our in vitro experiments conducted with a plate reader. The Lab also gave us 200-1000μl and 2-200μl tips, and 1,5 ml tubes.

Stathis Lagos, PhD Candidate, showed the team how to use the Milli-Q Water System.

Tilemachos Dimitriou, Post Doctoral Researcher and Laboratory teaching staff at the Laboratory of Molecular Virology at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. He provided us help on how to use the lab equipment.

Human practices

Integrated Human Practices

Artemis Chatzigeorgiou, Professor at the Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics Department, University of Thessaly. She commented on the perspectives and possible extensions of our project as well as on scientific methods it is related with.

Dermenoudis Stergios, Biologist and Researcher is a researcher at Dr. Logothetidis's lab specializing in the field of physical matter in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). We interviewed Mr. Dermenoudis in the beginning of our project about the outer cell of our capsule.

Konstantinos Beltsios, Chemical engineer and professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). We approached Mr. Beltsios for his expertise with chemical engineering and in particular his knowledge on polymers.

George Papadopoulos, Chemical engineer and a professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). We interviewed him about the membrane we would use in our capsule.

Dimitris Tsiourvas, Chemical engineer and researcher at the Department of Physical Chemistry of Demokritos. We interviewed him after Mr. Papadopoulos recommended him to us to further help us about our capsule membrane.

Paraskevas Kitsos, Computer scientist and professor at the university of Peloponnese. While researching for ways to encrypt the data transfer from to capsule to the mobile phone we contacted him to help us.

Alexandros Katsaounis, Chemical Engineer. We contacted Mr. Katsaounis to certify our choice of electrode sensor that we designed for our capsule.

Dimitrios Kouretas, Professor, Animal Physiology - Toxicology at the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly. We interviewed him about Personalized Nutrition Plans. Also offered us networking to interview other specialists in the food industry.

Georgios Kakarontzas, Associate Professor at the Digital Systems Department at the University of Thessaly. He shared his view on technical issues in reference to the development of our app.

Nikos Oikonomou, Senior Software Engineer at Centaur Analytics Inc. and PhD candidate at University of Thessaly. He offered a corporate look on our project, pointing out the limitations our project might encounter in the real world.

Matthiopoulos Konstantinos, Professor of Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. We interviewed Mr. Dermenoudis about the capsule and safety.

Fatouros Dimitrios, Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Pharmacy Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. We interviewed Mr. Fatouros about Probiotic Supplement and Implementation.

Kormas Konstantinos, Professor of Microbial Ecology and Aquatic Environment, Department of Agriculture, Ichthyology & Aquatic Environment. We interviewed Mr. Kormas about Gut Microbiome and Animal Welfare.

Vourtsis Dionysios, EBSA - European Biosafety Association. We interviewed Mr. Vourtsis about Safety.

Paraskevi Angelopoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Hygiene Doctor of Philosophy. We interviewed Mrs. Angelopoulou about Mental Health and Application.

Efstathia Papada, Clinical Dietitian-Nutritionist, MSc, Ph.D. We interviewed Mrs. Papada about Dietary Pattern, Probiotic Supplement and Application.

Koutsopoulou Theodora, Gastroenterologist. We interviewed Mrs. Koutsopoulou about Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Petros Spachos, Associate Professor at the School of Engineering, University of Guelph. He analyzed the possibilities and perspectives of many information-transmitting technologies and protocols.

Michail Stamatakis, Associate Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, University College London (UCL). He provided very useful advice on modeling, concerning solvers, stiff equations and the stability of certain quantities.

Alexandra Meziti, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics of International Hellenic University. We interviewed Mrs. Meziti about Gut Microbiome and Animal Welfare.

Adele Costabile, Associate Professor (Reader) in Nutrition at Roehampton University. We interviewed Mrs. Costabile about Gut Microbiome.

Konstantinos Gerasimidis, Professor of Clinical Nutrition, University of Glascow. We interviewed Mr. Gerasimidis about Detection System and Probiotic Supplement.

Nicolaos Kostomitsopoulos,Vice-President of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA). We interviewed Mr. Kostomitsopoulos about Animal Welfare and Ethics.

Giaouris Efstathios,Associate Professor of Food Microbiology. We interviewed Mr. Giaouris about Probiotic Supplement.

Manolis Terrovitis,Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Information Systems of the Athena Research Center. We interviewed Mr. Terrovitis about Application and Digital Health.

Persefoni Giannouli,Assistant Professor of Technology and Food Quality Control of Plant Origin. We interviewed Mrs. Giannouli about Probiotic Supplement.

Tassou Chrysoula,Director of Research at the Institute of Agricultural Product Technology (ITPA) of Elliniko Of the Agricultural Organization "DEMETRA". We interviewed Mrs. Tassou about Probiotic Supplement.

Agorastos Agorastou,Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 2nd University Psychiatric Clinic of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki". We interviewed Mr. Agorastos about Mental Health .

George Antonopoulos,Farmer, he gave us insights on Food tradition.

Sandrine Uttenweiler-Joseph,Researcher at Biosystems and Process Engineering Laboratory (LISBP). He gave us feedback about our product.

Maria Klapa, Head of Metabolic Engineering and Systems Biology Lab (MESBL), FORTH/ICE-HT. She advised us on many aspects of our project useful for both the wet and the dry lab, including non-invasive alternatives, possible noise sources in measurements, specific advice on modeling and many more.

Education & Public Engagement

Antonia Magou and Nadia Angelouli, the supervising theatrical teachers, organized with us a beautiful workshop under the auspices of Without Omega, which deals with theater pedagogy and theatrical play and made a video about it for us.

George Koumerkeridis, Application specialist in Siemens healthineers. He gave us his feedback on our general project and its potential in the pharmaceutical market.

Lemonia Karapaiou, MSc student of Pedagogical Science at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She gave guidance for creating our High Schools Guides and approaching biologists. Moreover she edited texts and helped us approaching students of High School to inform them about Synthetic Biology.

Olga Kostika, University of Thessaly graduate, kindergarten teacher. She helped us with the activities that we organized for EPE and were connected with the children’s book.

Vasiliki Zoundouridou, Psychologist. She consulted us on our approach towards the mental health perspective of our project and helped us develop it into an excellence in another area.

Anastasia-Angeliki Karypidou, Undergraduate student of English Language and Literature. She revised the teacher's guides from a literary point of view and helped us with the use of gender-inclusive language.

Eva Klonowska Gkoni, Employee at a private business, translated the promo video in Polish

Alexandros Hartonas & Dimitris Vallas, Life of Folm production, They filmed and post produced our presentation video. They also helped us with the recording of the video’s voice-over.

Anastasia Hatzipli, Principal of the Education Branch at the Penitentiary Facilities of Volos. She helped us participate in the team's Taiwan SDG’s impact challenge by promoting educational material to the young prisoners.

Antonis Theodorakis, Freelance Videographer & Photographer. He filmed and post produced our Promotional Video. He also helped with the promotion of our Sponsors

Antonis Tzimas, Owner of IndepenDance Studio. He promoted our outreach events through the social media of his business. Also, teachers and dancers from his dance school entertained the kids who participated in our events.

Vasileios Mitsias, he gave us permission to host a presentation about Synthetic Biology to High School students and communicate our project with the next generation of potential iGEMers.

Kyriakos Syntzakis, Owner of Kirikoko. He helped us with the layout of our official apparel and printed our project’s hoodies.

Makri Eleni, Biology High School Teacher. She helped us with the brainstorming procedure for the Educational Guides.

Maria Aliati, Aesthetician, Team’s Friend. She helped us film a video with simple experiments for kids in order for our Team to participate at the Virtual Athens Science Festival.

Maria Papadimitriou, Professor of Arts & Design at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly. As the founder of the Temporary Autonomous Museum for All (T.A.M.A.) which is active in the fields of Culture, Education and Environment, she was the right person to give us advice for the visualization of some aspects of our project such as the AR effect we created.

Paraskevi Poziopoulou, High School Vice – Principal. She helped us get in touch with groups of people with no proper access to educational material.

Participants at our seminar about the introduction of Synthetic Biology to the high school curriculum:

Tegos Dimitrios-Savvas - High School Teacher

Chrisi Traka -High School Teacher

Papastergiou Elisavet -High School Teacher

Dimou Argiro-High School Teacher

Argyro Verganelaki-High School Teacher

Maroglou Fotini - Psychologist

Kontova Maria -High School Teacher

Alevridis Ioannis-High School Teacher

Despoina Moschouri-High School Teacher

Antonios Dagklis-High School Teacher

Thomai Zisi-High School Teacher

Lamprini Pappa-High School Teacher

Styliani Fasoula-High School Teacher

Lemonia Karapaiou - High School Teacher

Outreach

Glykeria Ydraiou, Reporter in the “Ταχυδρόμος” newspaper

Minas Charalampidis, “Θεσσαλία και επιστήμη” (Thessaly and science) online broadcast producer

Antonis Malaktaris, Project Leader in SciCo

Vassilis Ignatiadis, Journalist in iatronet.gr and euro2day.gr

Athanasios Tsagkadouras, MSc student in Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and scientific columnist

Acknowledgments

General support

Athina Milona, iGEM Regional Ambassador Coordinator to Europe, Msc Marketing and Communication at the Athens University of Economics and Business. She provided guidance during the 2021 iGEM season concerning our Human Practices.

Dimitrios Koutsioulis, CEO of Enzyquest, we discussed about team’s project and he expressed theis thoughts upon project Amalthea. He gave us the first informations about making a bussiness paln and folowing legislations

Vasiliki Kavvatha, MMBA candidate at the Athens University of Economics and Business. She offered us mentoring on entrepreneurship.

Ioannis Chatzimpeis, owner of give and fund, the crowdfunding platform we used.

Markos Gavalas, employer of 3D hub in Athens that helped us to correctly print our capsules.

We would like to thank every team member of iGEM Thessaly 2020 , as we continued our 2-phase year project. Foteini Papadaki, Magdalini Koroxenidou, Venetios Michelioudakis, Asteria Tsapadikou, Stylianakis Emmanouil, Lemonia Apocha, Vasileios Stergiou, Anastasios Messis, Ifigenia Daskalaki, Georgios Mouchtaridis, Nikolaos Delkis, Marios Lange

Financial sponsors

A.M.NOMIKOS, Epsilon Health, Pfizer, Ethniki Asfalistiki, Metrolab, Enzyquest, Anadrasi, Lab solutions, Zagorin, Pindos kotopoula, Renault, Mediplan, Fleming BSRC, Renault

Crowdfunding supporters

Dimitrios Laskos, Eleni Magkli, Marianna Magli, Athanasios Karakostas, Sofia Papamargariti, Dimitris Biliouris