Team:UZurich/Contribution
Contribution
Part Contribution
We added information to an existing part flg22 ( BBa_K3286138), and of course contributed many new parts. We think they will be of great help to future iGEM teams, since there is not much research related to plant immunity in iGEM as well as the whole synthetic biology field.
Coding Contribution
We contribute our code in which we have defined many functions to facilitate the analysis of data from a ROS-experiment (you can find the protocol here). Data analysis can be very difficult and R is, despite its popularity in Switzerland, less known in some other regions of the world. The code is designed to be user friendly, modifiable and easily understandable thanks to our documentation. You can download everything here, for further information please visit our Best Measurement page.
We hope that with everything that we contribute, it will be easier for later iGEM teams to build their own parts and learn data analysis with R so that they can be as efficient as possible head on.
Education Contribution
Not only is there a lack of knowledge in the lab part, but there is also a gap in the education of people about the highly important topic of genetically engineered organisms in agriculture. To provide a tool which could fill this gap in knowledge, we have written an educational handbook, which you can download here.
Building up a brand
Considering that the search for sponsors and having access to great partners is a big part of achieving a great iGEM season, we set our sights on building a foundation for future UZurich teams.
For this, we decided to build a brand around “iGEM UZH”, which should, further down the road, be synonymous with great projects, fascinating research and a highly motivated team within the field of synthetic biology.
First, we defined what should be recognisable across different seasons and independent of the individual teams itself, and settled on a minimalistic logo, perfectly describing our essence:
“A representation of a Soma in a light fern green, with a synthetic DNA double helix in it and our team name settling in the major grooves of said DNA.”
Second, we went out and built up sustainable working relationships with sponsors and supporters, ensuring that UZurich teams after us can focus on evermore complex projects, trusting that they can rely on a supportive network that was built up with care over time.
Through carrying the same brand image and diversifying across some of the most popular social media channels such as LinkedIn, youtube and instagram with engaging content, we further ensured that we gain in recognisability over time.
Third, we created merchandise with our own logo, and kept true to our values by focusing on what is important, namely that we are one team with one goal: to improve the world through the use of synthetic biology.