Team:UNSW Australia/Attributions

iGEM UNSW

Dr. Dominic Glover

Dr. Dominic Glover (PI) has provided the 2021 Team an immense amount of support over the course of the year especially with our Wet and Dry Lab team. With this being his fourth year leading an iGEM Team as well as his background in synthetic biology, Dr. Glover’s guidance and advice have become integral parts of the team. We would like to thank him endlessly for his input and for the opportunity of being part of the iGEM experience.

Mentors

Joshua McCluskey

Joshua supervised the wet lab team and helped with heat shock protein experimental design. He also provided guidance and advice on glutathione plasmid design.

Sakthirupini Ramamurthy

Sakthirupini had helped our iGEM team in various aspects. With Science Communication, she inspired us; showing us an image to aim for at the start of the year, when things when in disarray.

Gustave Severin

Gustave trained and supervised the wet lab team. He helped us with lab techniques and experiments involving DNA and protein extraction, running DNA and protein gels, media preparation and plating, and general wet lab work. He also provided guidance and advice on heat shock protein experimental design.

2020 UNSW iGEM Team

We thank the 2020 UNSW iGEM Team for setting up a strong foundation for us to build on as a Stage 2 team. They have helped us lead the way to using science to better the world around us; letting us learn from their mistakes and ensuring our team strives with their best abilities to succeed.

Chelsea Liang

As part of the 2020 UNSW iGEM Team, Chelsea assisted the 2021 Dry Lab Team as a mentor with her experience as Dry Lab Lead. She walked the current members through the progress that last year’s team had made in regards to both structural and mathematical modelling, and informed us of the project goal that they had in mind. With her instructions and outgoing personality, the 2021 team could develop a strong foundational understanding of our project and the necessary tasks that needed to be accomplished.

Deborah Chandra

Deborah was part of the 2020 UNSW IGEM Team as a Wiki and Design Lead. Having only a small team dedicated to Wiki and Design at the start of 2021, Deborah was a reliable and supportive mentor that helped the team get on their feet. She taught members with her knowledge in designing websites and shared her experiences with iGEM. Meetings with her were always productive which set the basis of our work ethic for the year.

Kelly Varianne

Kelly, as part of the previous iGEM team supported the team as a whole, along with Science Communication in each goal they had achieved. She was encouraging and assisting, bringing light to aspects that we have had forgotten, celebrated with us for each success, and also shared our grief over the loss of opportunities due to the current pandemic environment. She narrated to us her experiences in 2020, letting us know her regrets but also her achievements. This allowed the team to shine and improve with each succeeding year.

Labwork

Brendan Burns

A/Professor Brendan Burns provided insight into potential risks of genetically modified organisms in the environment. He aided in designing how future testing should be carried out with interactions within the environment in mind. Professor Burns is an expert on environmental microbiology and the complex interactions found in the environment.

Brian Ee

Brian provided us with advice on structural modelling, and in particular, provided invaluable guidance on running molecular dynamics simulations. He introduced us to molecular dynamics concepts, such as the difference between all-atom and coarse-grained simulations, referred us to tutorials, and provided us with scripts to run molecular dynamics simulations in GROMACS. We are incredibly grateful to Brian for providing us with his expertise and time!

Ian Dawes

Emeritus Professor Dawes provided us with detailed knowledge on the glutathione system as a response to oxidative stress in eukaryotic organisms, particularly yeast. His information guided our design as we looked toward eukaryotic models for our system.

Lars Nielsen

Professor Nielsen provided key insights into kinetic modelling, helping us to see what could be achieved with it and what might be valuable information to take from the model to the experimental system. He also gave specific advice on how to perform ensemble modelling, using a distribution of kinetic values.

Marc Wilkins

Professor Wilkins is an expert in the fields of proteomics and the dynamics of protein interaction networks. He was able to provide insight into protein localisation, advised us on useful structural modelling tools, and provided contacts with other researchers.

Wallace Bridge

Associate Professor Bridge advised us to look into the regulatory pathways involved in maintaining homeostasis of glutathione and ROS concentration levels in Symbiodinium. His input informed us of the possible areas to consider when troubleshooting for our experiment.

Human Practices

Businesses

We would like to thank the team at Pro Dive, Cairns Visitor Centre, Cairns Tourist Information Centre and Mike Ball Dive Expeditions for proving their perspectives and helping us convey the urgency to solve these mass coral bleaching events, on a socioeconomic level.

Government Bodies

We are incredibly thankful to work alongside influential figures in the Government realm such as David Wachenfeld, Kevin Gale and Will Howard. The advice dispatched by these individuals fortified the collective argument that there’s no better time to introduce the solution of synthetic biology than here and now.

Traditional Owners

We would like to extend a massive thank you to Traceyelee Manuwuri Forester for enlightening us about the connection between the Indigenous community and the Sea Country. The information was not only instrumental in shaping the direction of our project but shaped our worldview of the Science landscape, as well.

Wiki

iGEM WikiSync

We utilised the iGEM WikiSync tool developed by the 2020 iGEM BITS Goa team, which served as an incredibly helpful tool for painlessly and efficiently uploading our Wiki pages!

Members

Ana Bilic Human Practices Team Member	Took the lead in developing a survey to understand the perceptions of the public towards coral bleaching and synthetic biology Deepened her survey writing and data analytics skills to formulate key insights for the Human Practices page Engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to learn more about their perspectives, which have been documented in the Integrated Human Practices section
Imogen Kelly Wet Lab Lead	Directed and organised Wet Lab experiments and schedules with the help of the iGEM mentors Directed and conducted research to support Dry Lab and complete interviews with stakeholders after wet lab work came to a close Acted as a presenter and contact for the technical aspects of the project Participated in a variety of events as a wet lab representative, including conferences, presentations and interviews
Karina Guo Science Communication Lead	Coordinated the Biodiversity Symposium Facilitated collaboration between different iGEM teams and members of the general public Contacted Indigenous and local artists of external sources to support the team in garnering a wider perspective on their research to support diversity and inclusivity beyond those with a science background
Konstantina Harellis Wet Lab and Dry Lab Team Member	Conducted experiments, and wrote experimental and safety protocols for the Wet Lab team to ensure safe laboratory practices Researched kinetic parameters for the glutathione mathematical modelling of Dry Lab and proposed the introduction of glutathione peroxidase in the antioxidant system Conducted extensive literature reviews to support both Wet Lab and Dry Lab, and directed and facilitated communication between the two subgroups Contributed to writing the safety form and Wiki content, and participated in the team's events and presentations as a Lab representative
Larae Kale Design Lead and Wiki Team Member	Developed design assets which were used extensively throughout the project, including in presentations and throughout the wiki Communicated with the lab subgroups to design clear and engaging visual aids to scientific topics Created animations and other assets for the wiki Developed project timeline for iGEM deliverables Produced the team's Project Promotion Video
Leonie Dickson Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member	Brought technical computing and bioinformatics knowledge to the group when joining PROTECC Coral partway through the project in June Lead the coding for the wiki, creating templates using static site generator 11ty and uploading each subgroup's content Contributed to kinetic modelling for the proposed glutathione system and performed structural modelling on the heat shock protein HSP22E Contributed to wiki writing, participated in the team's presentations, and contributed design ideas for the wiki and presentation video
Monika Vesse Human Practices and Wet Lab Team Member	Engaged with a wide range of stakeholders alongside the Human Practices team Incorporate stakeholder perspectives into the Integrated Human Practices section Communicated between the Wet lab and Human Practices teams to shape the Proposed Implementation of UNSW iGEM’s solution
Naomi Warren Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member	Brought her bioinformatics and biochemistry knowledge to the group when joining PROTECC Coral partway through the project in June Performed extensive structural modelling on HSP22E and contributed to kinetic modelling for the proposed glutathione system Reached out to experts Prof. Marc Wilkins (UNSW), Prof. Lars Nielsen (UQ) and Prof. Ian Dawes (UNSW) for information and advice Contributed to wiki writing and participated in the team's presentations Helped code up the wiki pages with the Wiki and Design team, and contributed design ideas for the wiki and presentation video
Preethika Subash Human Practices Lead	Lead a team of three to build upon the foundations of Phase I of PROTECC Coral and re-evaluate the aspects they wanted to include this year Formulated the idea of creating a survey to help the team understand why there is a gap in knowledge between the public and science, and how the team could address it through their project Contacted an array of stakeholders who weighed in on the issues posed by coral bleaching and the impact of UNSW iGEM’s solution
Richard Wang Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member	Performed extensive research on coral reef ecology, with focus on marine biodiversity and implications that affect the ecosystem positively and negatively Communicated and integrated research in the form of a board game directed at young adults to stimulate discussions regarding coral reef conservation
Ryan Tchan Wiki and Design Lead, Dry Lab Co-Lead, Admin Co-Lead	Designed the PROTECC Coral hoodies that were given out to members of the team and supervisors/mentors Designed simple gifs and animations as part of the Wiki and Design group, and lead the design of the Virtual Exhibition Conducted research for Dry Lab and contributed to wiki writing Scripted and edited the Presentation Video Managed and communicated with the team, resolving any grievances throughout the project
Sarah Chong Wet Lab Team Member	Performed and designed Wet Lab experiments Conducted research into the glutathione system and contacted academics Lead the safety form write-up and contributed to wiki writing
Vivian Lieu Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member	Illustrated and wrote a children’s book and designed merchandise and puzzles for the educational package aimed at educating the broader community in a fun, simple and effective manner Contacted potential science communication collaborators and merchandise suppliers Organised and facilitated communication for collaborations (podcast and Aurecon industry event) Conducted wet lab research and acted as a wiki writer
Ying Fei Liew Wet Lab Team Member and Admin Co-Lead	Designed, performed and troubleshot wet lab experiments Contributed to wiki and safety form writing, and acted as a presenter on behalf of the Wet Lab team Organised team meetings and kept track of deliverables' deadlines