Notebook

Talked about what iGEM is, what last year’s team did, what are the next steps in this project and then the team members got to know each other a little bit.

Held first official team meeting where we selected team leaders, went through some practicalities and started brainstorming.

We discussed office and work spaces, met a new team member and started brainstorming.

We decided sub team leaders for human practices, dry lab, wet lab and IT, talked about each group's responsibilities and met yet another new team member.

First group photo of the team and a caption that says we are excited for this iGEM journey.

We discussed this year’s team logo, making of one-pager and upcoming presentation for Suomen bioteollisuus ry.

Started to vision our team values, talked about Bioteollisuus Forum presentation, looked at the medal criteria and started to plan our education journey

Post about our logo with the new team colors that Jesse picked out (team voted which combo is the best). Quote from the caption: We wanted to carry on the tradition where the new ABOA team picks out their own new colors for the team logo!

We agreed on future meeting time, what medals we would like to aim for and talked about labs.

Mariel and Ami went to present ABOA for 15 min to second-year biochemistry students to promote ABOA, iGEM and recruit new team members.

We agreed on time for a team photoshoot and brainstormed for professionals to contact about our project idea.

Meeting with our PI to talk about the project topics we have been thinking about. We narrowed down the possible topics to a few of them.

Planned fundraising strategy, wrote an email base and set responsibilities to each subteam member.

Sara and Mariel went to have a cup of coffee and tea. We discussed what should be done and when. Basic team administration.

Sara and Saana went to present ABOA for 15 min to third-year students to promote ABOA, iGEM and recruit team members. We got two team members after this!!

We took our first professional group photos and individual photos at Quantum. After the photoshoot we went to a pub to hangout.

We met our new group members from Åbo Akademi, talked about starting a promotion video and discussed lab status.

Talked about fundraising status, future school visits and what researchers have been contacted.

Promo video planning, decided how to execute the individual introductions on Instagram and updated our social media accounts.

We introduced every team member on Instagram: their name, what they study, what sub teams they are part of and favorite things.

We talked with Aino, who is a preschool teacher at Ilpoisten päiväkoti, to talk about how we should teach the children about synthetic biology.

Satu and Joakim had a meeting with Jasper. They visited the lab, the warehouse and talked about the lab work in general.

Went through what lab teams are doing, what is the budget (750€) and agreed on team values.

Participated in a World Health Day collaboration that was organized by the Patras Medicine iGEM team. We made and decorated a poster about Joyce Meyer’s quote. We sent a photo of us with the poster to Patras Medicine and they made an Instagram compilation of iGEM teams who participated.

Sara and Ami held a presentation about ABOA and our project. We got a grant from the University of Turku after this meeting.

Talked about fundraising status, future school visits and team shirts.

We sent fundraising emails to companies together and applied for grants.

We visited Ilpoisten päiväkoti and taught 3- to 5-year-old children about lab safety and cell modification.

Talked about collaboration with the Aalto-Helsinki team and arranging a meeting with them. Discussed also about our research plan and team registration.

We brainstormed promo video ideas and decided the plan and schedule for the execution.

We discussed how to do the team registration.

Talked overall about Synechocystis, what things need to be considered when growing cyanobacteria, how to monitor cell functions and how to handle mercury in the lab.

In honor of Earth Day we participated in a Clean Up collaboration that was organized by the iGEM Bulgaria team. We cleaned up the area near our campuses.

Went through IT, media and lab statuses, talked about registration and made a plan for summer.

We had an opportunity to talk about synthetic biology, our project and iGEM in general in the Bioteollisuus Forum that was organized by Finnish Bioindustries. Before our presentation we learn about the current situation of synthetic biology in Finland and the different Finnish companies in this field. After the presentations we had the chance to have eye-opening conversations with the representatives of various bioindustry companies and organizations.

Sara and Mariel had a meeting with our PI. They registered the team for the iGEM competition and discussed how to proceed. They also got some very good advice as team leaders from the PI.

Went through our current budget, upcoming events and lab team got everyone up to date on what was happening.

Discussed the promo video and its schedule, started to plan our education campaign and decided upon our project reveal.

Discussed how to get started with lab, research and what things need to be considered in the different phases of the project.

We started our educational campaign on Instagram. We explained different synthetic biology terms and topics regarding our projects.

We had a Zoom meeting with the other Finnish team: Aalto-Helsinki. We presented our project ideas and talked about collaboration ideas.

Talked about upcoming lab orientation, collaboration status with the Aalto-Helsinki team and project status.

Discussed our interest in Turku’s Comic Festival, decided the plan for Tiedekoulu visit, planned our future events and compiled a list of questions that you help start the conversations with our stakeholders.

Visited an upper secondary school in Helsinki called Kulosaaren yhteiskoulu. We taught them about our project, iGEM and different biology terms especially those regarding genetically modified organisms. To activate the audience and get the conversation following, the students got to brainstorm their own iGEM project and we went through those together in the classroom.

Everyone who wanted to work in the lab during the summer needed to participate in a laboratory orientation which Anniina Lepistö held in order to ensure the safety of us and others. We walked through the different lab facilities, learned protocols regarding autoclave and other devices, learned about the break room etiquette (if you drink coffee, you bring coffee) and said hi to various people working in the lab.

We visited Turku’s Tiedekoulu (Science school in English) and there we taught the children about cells, microscopes and together we extracted DNA from bananas.

We had a meeting with the subteam leaders to check that everything is already for the upcoming summer months.

Talked about the Biotop meeting, project name and future collaborations and upcoming events.

Went over research to decide the genes we would be working with. Then started to design the genes and the construct.

Went over what progress has been made and how we should continue.

Had a meeting with Aalto-Helsinki and Heureka. We discussed the possible workshops and dates for the education events.

We planned our future Human practice work and education journey: we planned how to organize

We discussed what are the sources and impacts of mercury in aquatic ecosystems.

We discussed forestry, its history and future, how forestry is done on marshlands. We discussed ditching of marshlands and what are its impacts on forests, ecosystems and mercury emissions.

We discussed water purification technologies, ditching of marshlands, processed waters and the fertilization of marshland forests.

We went through the budget, talked about making a project reveal video and what was going on with human practises and collaborations.

We discussed mercury in ecosystems, its impact, Minamata convention and eutrophication of bodies of water. We also got some very good advice concerning scientific research.

Joakim met with Linda Vuorijoki and they discussed about codons and how to harmonize them.

Our team shirts arrived which were provided to us by Turku University of Applied Sciences.

Discussed our ideas, the schedule and how are we preceding with the wiki building.

IT put up our project description on our wiki page.

iGEM Calgary organized an event called JulyGEM in which we participated via recording.

We discussed and went over feedback we had about team members.

We talked about who is going to Paris and booked our tickets!

Discussed the contribution, values and a possible field trip to a local lake and swamp area with an expert

We planned a workshop and wiki home page

Talked about what the presentation video is, the schedule and the division of the workload

We had a conversation with Elisa Männistö about swamps, ecology and the role they have in our ecosystems. We gain a lot from the conversation.

We met with Laura to discuss the protection of the Baltic Sea, what things to consider in these types of projects and how our project can have a continuous impact on our waters. We received a lot of great points and questions we need to find answers to.

We planned the Heureka workshops and Science Basement talk we are doing as a collaboration with Aalto-Helsinki. Unfortunately Aalto-Helsinki could not make it to the meeting but we got a lot of work done and sent our ideas to them.

Went through our project budget and collaboration plans.

The lab team researched, planned and contacted experts about mercury and how to handle it responsibly.

We visited a local underground wastewater treatment plant. We took a tour of their facilities, learned about their work and had a meeting with an expert to discuss biological purification and what to consider in wastewater treatment.

Talked about future events and went through every subteams status.

We had a stand about our team, project and synthetic biology at the fair for new students of Turku. We met numerous new students, guided them with pipetting and got to answer and ask interesting questions.

We had a Zoom meeting about our collaboration and decided to do a report about cyanobacteria and biosafety. Also we discussed our projects and shared feelings about the slow growth rate of Synechocystis.

We organized a DNA, RNA & Protein workshop in Heureka, a science center in Vantaa, with the Aalto-Helsinki team. In the workshop the visitors learned about the power trio of life and got to build DNA & RNA themselves.

We talked about what Katja and the Turun pursiseura does, the insights Turun pursiseura has regarding sailing and the Baltic Sea and then how we should consider them in our project.

Went through collaborations and lab stuff.

We met our PI Pauli Kallio and discussed our implementation text and how to present our ideas the best way with visual aids.

The Team Leaders discussed what has to be done and with what urgency. We did a delegation and planned the next steps of our project.

We talked about the restoration of peatlands, what Hiilipörssi does and what things we should take into consideration regarding restoration in our project.

We went over the first versions of our lab wiki texts with our advisors. They gave us really good comments and insights. We will take these points under consideration.

We went over the first versions of our Human Practice and other wiki texts with our advisors. They gave us really good comments and insights. We will take these points under consideration.

We organized a DNA, RNA & Protein workshop in Heureka, a science center in Vantaa, with the Aalto-Helsinki team. In the workshop the visitors learned about the power trio of life and got to build DNA & RNA themselves. The second time we added pipetting to the workshop in order to be more interactive and exciting.