Team:Victoria Wellington/Attributions

Attributions

What did the team accomplish

The aim of the project is to attempt production of tropine in Escherichia coli and Synechoccocus elongatus. At this stage we have designed gene constructs and PCR-verified one out of four constructs. We have also carried out some structural modelling for the enzymes used in our pathway.

General support

We would like to thank the David Ackerley, Jeremy Owen, Wayne Patrick and Monica Gerth lab groups for letting us use the lab space and equipment. In particular we would like to thank David for his project support and advice for the iGEM teams at Victoria University (in 2019 and 2021).

Project support and advice

For specific project support, we would like to acknowledge Mitch Ganley, Vincent Nowak, Kelly Styles and Hannah Lee-Harwood.

Fundraising help and advice

For fundraising help and advice we would like to again acknowledge David Ackerley, Alistair Brown, Mitch Ganley and Manuel Blank.

Wiki support

We would like to thank Demelza Robinson, Manuel Blank and Kelly Styles for their support with the Wiki.

Lab, technical, and project advisor support

For the above-mentioned we would like to thank Vincent Nowak, Kelly Styles and Mitch Ganley.

Sponsors

Thank you to all of our sponsors that provided financial support for our project and invested in the progression of synthetic biology education at Victoria University of Wellington. The Faculty of Science and Engineering have played a big role in supporting iGEM at VUW since it started in 2019. The Ferrier Research Institute has also made significant financial contributions that have helped improve the scope of possible projects that the teams can pursue.

Integrated DNA technologies, Twist Bioscience, Decode Science and NEB have provided gene synthesis and consumables to add in molecular biology. Geneious has provided licenses for use of its cutting-edge bioinformatics software.

Asana provided our team with free temporary licenses for their project management software, which proved to be useful in organizing and delegating tasks for the project.

Personal attributions

Manuel Blank

I have been a part of iGEM for many years and so have been able to offer support and advice to our team throughout our project. Specifically, I helped with team recruitment and admin support.

Kirby Brown

In the lab, I worked on Gibson assembly, transformation and plating of Escherichia coli EC100. I have been in charge of minute taking and our team’s social media presence and I spoke at the Twist Biosciences Discovery Afternoon.

Marshall Kennedy-Newton

I played a role in the progress of our project by preparing electrocompetent E. coli EC100 and working on the protocol page for the wiki. Throughout our journey, I engaged in discussions and offered ideas.

Alexandria Linton-de Boer

As a co-team leader, I helped facilitate meetings by coordinating the agendas and I presented alongside my teammates at the Twist Biosciences Discovery Afternoon conference. In the lab, I contributed along the whole process of plasmid assembly and transformation.

Neil MacMillan

Being a co-team leader, I helped guide discussions and bring the best out of my teammates. My work in the lab involved restriction digestion of the vector and Gibson assembly for the E. coli constructs.

Vincent Nowak

For this iGEM project, I mainly focused on the design of gene cassettes, vectors and later the Gibson assembly of these constructs. I also contributed to the attempts to grow Synechococcus elongatus UTEX2973 and was involved with the management of the overall project.

Ben Roberts

My contribution in the lab ranged from media preparation, cloning, CRIPSR and PCR verification of plasmids. I also spoke at the Twist Biosciences Discovery Afternoon conference.

Demelza Robinson

Demelza prepared the primary Wiki template and design.

Azaria Sheppard

I played a role in the technical side of our project by using codon harmonisation of our plant genes for E. coli and S. elongatus UTEX2973 as well as preparing and transforming electrocompetent E. coli EC100. Additionally, I presented at the SBA conference and was part of the Q&A board.

Kelly Styles

I was involved in the design of the heterologous gene constructs for both E. coli and S. elongatus, as well as limited lab work and supervision of undergraduate students. I also helped edit the Wiki.

Lee Tejada

My part for this project is to help on the spermidine synthesis gene deletion on S. elongatus UTEX2973 using CRISPR. I designed the primers and sgRNA needed for this part of the project.

Kae Watanabe

I made many contributions to the lab work of our project, especially in attempts to grow the S. elongatus UTEX2973. I optimised growth conditions while setting up the incubator and plating and inoculating solid and liquid media.

Mitch Ganley

Mitch came up with the basic idea of this project and offered his guidance along the way in the planning and implementation. He also contributed a great deal to the selection of cyanobacterial strain, culturing equipment and culturing attempts undertaken.

Hannah Lee-Harwood

Hannah contributed a lot to the planning of this project, in particular to the selection of genetic parts and cyanobacterial strain. Her lab work was mainly focused on the conjugational helper strains and preparing competent cells.