Notebook

January

January was an exciting month for our team as we embarked on the journey of selecting our team members and finalizing our team composition.

January 9, 2023: Our Mentors explained about iGEM and the previous achievements of our teams in the iGEM Competitions
January 10, 2023, to January 15, 2023: We surged through our previous team's Wiki pages and a few other teams in order to get an idea of how an idea about the competition and how an idea has to be developed
January 16, 2023, to January 27, 2023: The team selection process started
January 28, 2023: We selected our team members and finalized our team
January 30, 2023: We got the list of chemicals in the department and made a note of the chemicals that we can use for the preliminary experiments.

February

February 1, 2023: We started working on our project with full force.
February 6, 2023, to February 15, 2023: Brainstorming sessions
February 17, 2023, to February 22, 2023: Idea formulation
February 23, 2023, to February 25, 2023: We framed a preliminary budget with the list of chemicals that we will be needing for our experiments.
February 27, 2023 to March 6, 2023: CAT 1 Examination- No work was carried out.

March

March 13, 2023, to March 24, 2023: we had a collection of promising project ideas that held the potential to make a difference in various fields
March 27, 2023, to March 31, 2023: selection of organisms, pathways, and genome sequences that would serve as the basis for our project
March 23, 2023, to March 29, 2023: We learned about tools like SnapGene, which was valuable in our project design phase.

April

April 13, 2023, to April 19, 2023: CAT 2 Examination- No work was carried out.
April 20, 2023, to April 21, 2023: We presented our initial ideas to all colleagues, regardless of their year, and to all the faculties of our department
April 24, 2023, to April 28, 2023: After carefully considering the inputs from our faculties, we finalized our idea. We took into account feasibility, novelty, and potential impact when making our final decision.

May

May was a month filled with exciting progress for our iGEM team!

May 3, 2023: In order to secure sponsors for our project, we conducted an extensive search to identify potential partners who shared our vision and goals.
May 14, 2023: 1st iGEM alumni meet with Prasanna- gave us some input on funding, outreach, and human practices.
May 15, 2023: 1st official meeting to divide subteams and select leads along with our instructors and mentors
May 17, 2023: Insta Page Launch, We encourage you to follow us on Instagram [@igem_svce_chennai] to stay updated on our journey and be a part of our iGEM project.
May 18, 2023, to May 23, 2023: CAT 3 Examination- No major work was carried out.
May 21, 2023: iGEM alumni meet with Karthick- for input on ideas, biosafety, what to do and what not to do, ideas for ighp, and a few more contacts to approach regarding gene construct.
May 24, 2023: iGEM alumni meet with Veveeyan- complete lab instructions on how to build the gene circuit. We figured out a few problems with the idea, and then we did some literature surveys to refine the idea.

June

June 5, 2023, to June 19, 2023: End Semester Examinations
June 13, 2023: To gather additional resources for our project, we organized a crowdfunding campaign through an online platform called Milaap.
June 29, 2023: Meet with Alumni Rajeshwar Nitiyanandan- We presented our idea and sponsorship opportunity.
June 20, 2023: We actively reached out to potential sponsors who were interested in supporting our iGEM team and our project.
June 21, 2023: We submitted our initial project safety form
June 24, 2023: We conducted surveys to gain insights from our target audience, and the feedback we received allowed us to make informed decisions as we moved forward with our research and implementation plans.

July

July 5, 2023: Our team has been shortlisted for the Team Impact Grant 2023!
July 1, 2023, to July 7, 2023: Plastic-Free Month Instagram Quiz
July 28, 2023: World Nature Conservation Day Collaboration
July 30, 2023: Plastic-Free July Beach Cleanup
July 28, 2023, to July 30, 2023: Our team participated in the All India iGEM Meet at IISER Bhopal
July 24, 2023, to August 10, 2023: Schools and Colleges visits

Throughout July, we've been on a mission to make a positive impact on our planet. #GreenJulyJourney. Visit our Human Practices page to learn more about the above-mentioned events.

August

August 21, 2023 to August 23, 2023: CAT 1 Examinations- No work was carried out
August 24 and 25, 2023: Our Bioinformatics and Synthetic Biology workshop- BIOBLITZ- Phase I
August 30, 2023: Our team members had a chance to present our idea at the FICCI-Summit & Awards
August 31, 2023: We received the ordered chemicals to carry out the experiments

September

September 1, 2023: Primers and kits have arrived.
September 8, 2023, to September 12, 2023: Promotional video - Ideation, Filming & Uploading
September 13 & 14, 2023: BIOBLITZ-Phase II
September 17, 2023: Human Practices event- “Biopark”
September 20, 2023: Started filling out all the forms (Deliverables)
September 24, 2023: Village Visit
September 4, 2023, to October 6, 2023: Lab work

October

October 1st week: Lab work continued, & Wiki page- refinement was carried out
October 3, 2023, to October 5, 2023: CAT 2 Examinations
October 6, 2023: Visited TICEL Biopark
October 7, 2023: Submitted our Attribution form
October 10, 2023: Submitted our Judging form and final review of our Wiki page
October 11, 2023: We completed our Wiki page and it was ready to be submitted
October 12, 2023: Started working on our project presentation video