Partnership
What’s the most useful and common way for iGEM teams to communicate between them? It is what we call Meetups. We can describe them as reunions between teams, someplace where all groups can talk with one another about their projects and the differences with the other ones, or to also have a collaboration together. Since the moment they began to be used, more times and more teams think that it’s a good idea to create their own Meetup, for all those benefits that they can earn.
Thanks to all of this, the iGEM groups have managed to not isolate themselves for the distance with other teams thanks to the existence of a way to reunite with one another online. They also have ensured that those concepts that the people that surround them can’t know, be easily understood by other teams. This will help to increase the confidence that a team puts on their project, as they must defend it in front of others who are as well competitive and passionate just like themselves.
We have also found ourselves completely interested in this useful way that exists to have an opportunity of talking about our project, earning the possibility as well of correcting our errors in our presentation, and getting more confidence for the moment that we will have to do this at the Jamboree. We have been part of some Meetups prepared by another team, but we also have the idea of preparing our Meetups. We wanted to collaborate in the same way as others and discuss with those who have done similar things as us.
This year we have performed various activities with other iGEM teams. As a team, we have made a wide range of activities, in almost all registers.
Meetups
Better Health Meet-Up
Date & Location: August 26, 2023, Virtual
We have had the great honor of being in the Meet Up organized by Puiching Macau. In this Meet-Up we did a showcase of our projects after doing a very nice Icebreaking Activity. Some other guests were the University team of NU-Kazakhstan.
Puiching_Macau is a high school team that is aiming to develop a DNA damage detection system that can investigate carcinogens in our environment with engineered eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.
Thanks to that gathering we have made a lasting bond with Puiching_Macau that has been manifested in collaborations that we will mention afterwards.
Grand High School Meet-Up
Date & Location: September 16, 2023, Virtual
We had the enormous pleasure of hosting our very own Meet-Up. We aimed to unite the High School community under the same umbrella.
The online gathering was a huge success, and we had the pleasure of inviting our friends Puiching Macau from Macau and the Turkish team of Saint Joseph.
Saint Joseph is a team that has developed Behcheck. Behcheck represents a Lateral Flow Assay Test Kit designed to detect the HLA-B27 protein's presence. Research findings have underscored the enduring significance of this protein variation as the foremost genetic determinant in Behçet’s Disease. Notably, this factor demonstrates the strongest association among non-phenotypic factors, as ascertained through pathergy tests.
Navarre Meet-Up
Date & Location: September 23, 2023, Onsite
We hosted this encounter with the other team of our region, the undergraduate team UPNAvarra-Spain.
This team works in the Food & Nutrition Track. They are pioneering a circular economy project, producing resveratrol in Escherichia coli using wine industry waste. Resveratrol, found in wine and grapes, offers antioxidants and cancer protection. Our goal: eco-friendly, local production for improved health. We'll enhance bacteria's natural biosynthesis pathway to achieve this.
Having a good relationship with our closest neighbours is of paramount importance and thanks to this Meet-Up we have achieved that.
Attendings
It is always important to know what other people are doing at the same time as us, having the objective to help, so obviously is interesting to learn about them. With the case of the other igem teams, we had that opportunity by being part of different meetups were we also talked about our project. And the igem teams are not the only ones that are making interesting things with synthetic biology or even more in this moment. Because of that we decided to also attend to different meeting of many professionals and many different people, every one of them talking about things that helped us to grow as scientist. We were able to learn so much, and we left from every talk happy, and with even more knowledge that would help in our project.
Now, you can know which attendings we were at:
IGEMx
We have had the enormous pleasure of attending the webinar organized by the iGEM Community known as iGEMx. The gathering was built upon bioeconomic and cellular economy.
Former CSIC researcher Professor Jose Jimenez from Spain is currently working in London and taught us about the cells, the use of carbon in them, and how it affects cellular performance.
We were eager to be part of this meeting. With more than 30 attendees, the meeting was a huge success. Also, we want to thank Nava Namickam and Sneha PR for their good management and smooth work
1st Biota Talks
Last Saturday 16th of February, we attended the 1st Biota Talks. In this marvellous meeting, we talked and exchanged information and opinions regarding the 2021 Marburg Team in Plant Synthetic Biology and Biosecurity topics.
Thanks to Mariam Ezzalarab, Ambassador of iGEM 2023 in Africa, we talked with other people from that continent and not only synbio were touched, but also, we also talked about our main interests, and we learned a lot about it.
An amazing thing that happened was the fluency and familiarity that we felt in the meeting.
We learned that the iGEM feeling goes far beyond the competition or the wiki freeze but enters in every one of us 4000 people.
In conclusion, not only does science need to be discussed, but it must be felt and simplified so we can make a better outreach to the Community.
Thanks to Farouk Abdo, Mariam Ezzalarab, Yorgo Al Moubayed, and Dr. Mohammed for giving us a huge blast of a gathering and we are eager to be in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th… Biota Talks and all the ones coming.
One thing that we especially liked was the variety of profiles at the meeting. Also, the talks are offered in English and Arabic so almost anyone can learn and be part of it.
IGEM Community Day
On Saturday 18th, we attended the iGEM Community Day. An opportunity in which thanks to Ms. Zolnier and Mr. El-Moubayed, we met the Project Heads of the different projects of the Community in 2023, and we learned about those projects. The Project Heads from all parts of the world,, showcased their projects and encouraged us to participate in them. There was a wide range of projects that touch almost every filed like Inclusivity, Education, Communication, Governance, and even the well-known iGEM Cycle.
Some of the Project Heads are also Ambassadors of iGEM, like Jaume Puig, Ambassador of our country in iGEM.
Also, the organization of the meeting, allowed the opening of chatrooms to talk and discuss the different projects with their directors.
Thanks to the iGEM Community, Synthetic Biology can arrive in the non-scientific community, making it accessible to all people, and helping the demystification of GMOs. Not only is it a great help for the external Community, but also it is a great help to us iGEMers. Without the iGEM Community, we wouldn't have all the opportunities such as the Ambassador Program, the Project Heads or the amazing Job Board for pursuing our career in Synbio.
Thank you Cibele, Yorgo and all the amazing people that showed us the importance of iGEM Community and to the Project Heads for their amazing projects that will change the world of Synbio.
