Introduction
As the second ever iGEM competitive team from UBCO, we had great expectations to live up to. Last year, our team achieved success at the Grand Jamboree, winning gold. And this year, we were hoping to recreate the results. However we ran into some unexpected concerns.
Description
We started off strong, with a group of three, ready to face the challenges of raising money to send our team to Paris. Before our project was decided, we applied for and were awarded a grant from our University, and sponsorships from our Departments of Biology and Chemistry. Then, we hit a standstill. For a few months, we faced no replies, inactive team members, and began to worry. We tried out crowdfunding with GoFundMe, and managed to raise some funds to partially cover our expenses. We also created a sponsorship package, with the help of last year’s team. Take a look at it here.
However, the finance side of the project was still at a halt, until our efforts began to pay off, our project stirred some buzz, and our amazing sponsors decided to take a chance on us and save the bees!
Sponsors
We are bee-yond thankful for each and everyone of our sponsors this year!
Gold
The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Our registration for the 2023 iGEM competition would not have been possible without the generous, tier one sponsorship from the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Many thanks to BC provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp and Dr. Theresa Burns.
Silver
The BC Honey Producers Association
Further registration and lab supplies would not have been able to be purchased without this generous sponsorship. We appreciate the Association taking the time to meet with us, discuss our project, give feedback and allow us to present at their AGM. Special thanks to Dr Nuria Morfin, Heather Higo, Kerry Clark and Dr. Leonard Foster.
GenomeBC
We are very grateful for the tier two sponsorship provided by GenomeBC, which allowed us to partially cover travel costs to the Jamboree. We are further thankful for the opportunity to present to the staff.
Bronze
The Alberta Beekeepers Commission
This sponsorship allowed us to purchase important lab supplies, such as antibodies for our tests.
Academic Sponsors
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
We thank the faculty for their continued support of our team. Okanagan iGEM would not be possible without the Faculty’s belief in us.
Department of Biology
This generous sponsorship from our Department of Biology allowed us to purchase necessary wet lab materials, as well as have access to lab space. Special thanks to Dr. Michael Deyholos for the use of his lab.
Department of Chemistry
Our first sponsor and one of our greatest supporters, the sponsorship from the Department of Chemistry covered some of our registration costs.
The Tuum Est Student Initiative Fund
The Tuum Est Grant helped us in registering for the 2023 iGEM competition. This fund is meant to provide financial support for student initiatives, conferences, competitions and bring them to life.
Students’ Union of UBC-Okanagan (SUO)
The SUO has been a continuous supporter of our iGEM team in terms of social media promotion, funding and events.
Biochemistry Course Union (BCCU)
The BCCU has been a great support to us with sponsorship and events!
Industrial Sponsors
Thermofisher Scientific
We are very grateful for the 50% off discount Thermofisher Scientific gave to us, allowing us to purchase antibodies and reagents for the lab.
New England Biolabs (NEB)
We appreciate NEB for their continuous support of iGEM teams and the discount they provided us.
Addgene
We thank Addgene for the discount they provided us in purchasing our plasmids.
Geneious
Geneious software applications enable scientists to work with the DNA at the core of their research. Geneious Prime and Geneious Biologics take away the pain of data management and computational complexity, allowing scientists to focus on their research.
Snapgene
SnapGene provides the easiest and most secure way to plan, visualize, and document your everyday molecular biology procedures. That’s why scientists at leading institutions and companies around the globe depend on SnapGene every day.
IGEM Sponsors
2023 iGEM Impact Grant
We were thrilled to be among the recipients of the 2023 iGEM Impact Grant, which significantly helped reduce our Jamboree Fee, allowing us to put more money into the wet lab. We thank the committe for seeing the potential in our project.
Integrated DNA Tchnologies (IDT)
We are very thankful for the sponsorship provided by IDT. This sponsorship allowed us to synthesize 20 kb of DNA.
Twist Bioscience
We are also grateful for the sponsorship provided by Twist Bioscience. This allowed us to synthesize 10 kb of DNA.
GenScript
Our team was further grateful to be recipients of the GenScript monthly plasmid giveaway, giving us one plasmid prep for a maximum volume of 2μg.
Other Sponsors
Armstrong Apiaries
We thank Armstrong Apiaries for providing us with bees for our tests! Special thanks to Max MacDonald.
West Coast Seeds
Thank you to West Coast Seeds for providing us with free flower seeds for our bee trail on campus!
Staples Canada
Thank you to Staples for donating us posters for us to bring to Paris! Special thanks to Pradeep Raghuvansi for communicating with our team and arranging sponsorship.
Wild Antho
Thank you to Wild Antho Bee Farm and Honey for providing us with bees for our tests.
We want to thank all of our sponsors for their un-bee-lievable support! 🙂🐝