On November 8, 2022, after the results of the 2022 iGEM competition were released, our team quickly communicated with the Tsinghua University team at that time.
After analyzing the results of the 2022 competition, the two sides concluded that "the iGEM jury is more inclined to hear a complete story than just the results of scientific research", and the Tsinghua team believes that they spent too much time proving the feasibility of the project and neglected the integrity of the story, which is one of the lessons we should learn.
In addition to focusing on the construction of our own projects, we also actively liaise with other iGEM teams and social groups, and actively cooperate in four aspects: team building, experimental technology, business dialogue, and publicity projects。
In addition to discussing the evaluation criteria, the leaders of the two sides also discussed "how to recruit" and "what kind of new people should be recruited". In the end, both sides agreed that "professional students should be allowed to do professional things", rather than just recruiting new students in biology.
The exchange with Tsinghua University gave us a clearer direction for the subsequent team building, and also exchanged lessons learned from both sides. It is believed that through this exchange, the teams of both sides can get a better ranking in this year's iGEM competition
Our 2023 iGEM team from ShanghaiTech University went to Hainan University from July 8 to 11, 2023 to participate in the annual China iGEM Community Conference (CCIC). CCIC is a platform for iGEM teams across the country to showcase, communicate, and collaborate. At this congress, we present our research project this year, LAMPS (Vortex Blue Autoluminescence System). Our participation not only received a lot of suggestions and feedback, providing more guidance for our future research, but more importantly, we found partners with common goals at this conference - Fudan University and Shandong University - and established long-term partnerships. Cooperation with Fudan University and Shandong University can be found
We developed a strong friendship with HZAU during the experimental process of the project. We often exchange experimental experiences, and in addition to this, we lend HZAUluxIluxR plasmids and inform them of their composition. Our cooperation has made the project progress of both parties smoother.
As senior students, we often assist Suzhou High School students in conducting experiments. We shared the experimental operations, advised them on protein expression and molecular cloning experiments, and lent the Suzhou High School team pUC57 skeleton.
We have a good cooperative relationship with CAU. We lent CAUluxluxR plasmids back on July 15. In the subsequent experimental process, our two teams have been in close contact, consulting each other about the points that need to be paid attention to in the experiment, and introducing the appropriate experimental operation. Both parties' projects are progressing together in cooperation.
Fudan is our long-term partner, as early as before the CCIC meeting, we have had experimental technical communication and exchange, we lent Fudan University NS3 recombination carrier, and helped each other at all stages of the experiment, the reciprocal bond between the us promoted the two teams to make more efficient and effective progress.
We have had in-depth exchanges and cooperation with the SUSTC_China. We provided them with PCC7942 algae species and CscB plasmids and shared our experience and methods in cyanobacteria culture. In the process of cooperation, we encountered the problem of cyanobacteria contamination, consulted with SUSTC and discussed the solution strategy, so we added sodium bicarbonate to the culture medium to prevent and solve this contamination problem.The cooperation allows both teams to save time wasted on experimental errors.
In order to eliminate the environmental impact of our live bulbs, we would like to make their houses degrade on their own in the environment without any other impact. After learning that SDU-CHINA was conducting research on the production of PHB, which is a high-performance packaging material with excellent degradability, we discussed the feasibility of using it as the housing of our light bulb. The design model is as follows
Su Rui, founder and CEO of Shanghai Yiru Biotechnology Co., Ltd. We contacted him long before our project was finalized. Su Rui provided us with many investors in this field to facilitate our interviews,the interviews including: product technology, experimental technology status, application scenarios, business models, markets, etc. and provide guidance on the commercialization of our projects. Because our project aligns with his company's "green and eco-friendly" philosophy, we also expose them to new biosustainable materials.Both of us see a possible future direction in the cooperation.
AlgaeVerse is a scientific and technological innovation team composed of graduate students majoring in landscape architecture at Soochow University, who hopes to propose practical solutions for algae applications by doing algae-related landscape design. Our team contacted them via the Internet, hoping to learn how to design landscape architecture drawings and explore the possibility of cooperation. We had an in-depth interview with Algae Verse. During the talk, we gave a detailed introduction to the LAMPS project to Algae Hyun Line. The other party expressed strong interest in the algae cultivation method, and shared the application scenarios of microalgae design in landscape architecture and some excellent design cases. After in-depth exchanges, we learned that the current design cost of algae landscape in China is high, and the market has not yet been fully opened, but there is still great potential for development, and Algae Yunshi expressed a high degree of recognition and interest in the LAMPS project, and introduced the method of using midjourney mapping. Both sides said there is hope for deeper cooperation in the future.
In August 2023, FDU_China contacted us to work with them to produce a set of picture books promoting synthetic biology. At the same time, they also contacted Tongji University and National University of Defense Technology to participate in the cooperation in the production of this picture book. In this event, we discussed with EDU leaders from three other universities to determine the specific content and division of labor of picture books. At the same time, the four parties reached a consensus that we need to produce both Chinese and English picture books so that our picture books can be more widely disseminated. In the end, the four parties decided to produce two picture books with the theme of "genes and gene editing", and decided that we would be mainly responsible for the drawing and layout of the second picture book. Through the cooperation, the publicity impact of all four teams has been jointly improved.
On September 2, 2023, the captain of BOKU got in touch with us through our ins account to collaborate with us on some projects.
After discussing together, we finally decided to cooperate in the form of mutual assistance in publicizing the project, and we also showed a friendly attitude to BOKU and expressed our hope for more in-depth cooperation in the future.
