In terms of external communication, UM-Macau has taken "connecting dots to form lines, and lines to form surfaces" as its key strategy. Through communication, we are able to find similarities in project design and cooperation in project promotion and practice among the vast number of iGEM teams, and obtain feedback on UM-Macau's own projects in the course of communication.

-Project communicate with HNU

    UM-Macau conducted our first online communication with HNU-China in June. Through the communication, we found that one of the HNU-China's functional modules involving tyrosine hydroxylase is related to our earlier adhesion module. In order to make use of all possible resources to optimize our adhesion module, we exchanged some relevant literature for mutual reference after the exchange. At the same time, we took the opportunity of the 10th CCiC symposium to have a longer and more in-depth offline communication and interaction between members of both teams. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figure 3.2.1 Online communication with HNU-China.

Figures 3.2.2 /3.2.3 Offline communication with HNU-China during 10th CCiC.

-Communicate with JNU

    In 2023, UM-Macau remained in close communication with Jiangnan-China. In June, we held our first online communication meeting with Jiangnan-China and discussed our modeling and human practice parts and both gave each other constructive advice. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figure 3.2.4 Online communication with JNU-China.

-Communicate with HKUST

    Due to the close location and our consensus reached, this year we communicated with HKUST in many aspects. We had several online and offline interactions during the whole process——We not only exchange lab work material including the iGEM distribution kit, but also co-worked and co-host with them to organize a series of communication events Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figure 3.2.5 Online communication with HKUST.

Figures 3.2.6 Offline visit between UM-Macau and HKUST.

-Communicate with BNUZH

    With the advantage of convenient transport and being one of the first groups of teams to establish contact with UM-Macau, BNUZH-China has maintained a smooth communication with us for a long time. UM-Macau has always been helping each other with BNUZH-China in project module construction, experiment and modeling, and has worked together in promoting the Greater Bay Area team to plan and co-host a series of communication activities. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figures. Offline communication between UM-Macau and BNUZH-China

-Communicate with SUSTech-China

    We set up a tight relationship with SUSTech-China because we have similar topic directions on gut microbiota but on different targets. We conducted an offline visit to SUSTech-China in July, exchanged mutual projects on the campus of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), discussed the suicide switching module, where commonalities existed between the our two teams, and shared possessed literature in their hands related to it. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figures 3.2.7 Offline communication between UM-Macau and SUSTech-China

-Communicate with LZU

    UM-Macau and LZU-China have developed an in-depth communication of ideas and cooperation because of our similar focus on gut research. The two organisations are helping each other in joint science education and multi-team alliances on similar topics, as well as sharing data on regulating the density of bacterial populations through suicide switches. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figure 3.2.8 Online communication with LZU-China.

-Communicate with NWU

    At the invitation of NWU-China, UM-Macau has established the Gut Alliance with NWU and other iGEM teams focused on gut microbiota to jointly carry out social research and gut health science activities. In addition, UM-Macau also cooperates with NWU-China in the delivery module of medicinal intestinal flora, and jointly builds similar functional modules for both sides. Details can be seen in the Collaboration part.

Figure 3.2.9 Online communication with NWU-China.

-CCiC

Throughout June and July, we participated in the 10th CCiC (..........) organized by HainanU-China, in which most iGEM teams in China had engaged. This is the first time for us to present our projects to many other iGEM teams as a rehearsal for our grand jamboree. The 10th CCiC conference is the first time UM-Macau attended the offline Chinese iGEM teams meetup, it was also amazing to listen to all the other team’s projects, exchange ideas with them and get very valuable feedback from iGEM's predecessors.

Figures 3.2.11/3.2.12 Our team members shared our project at the 10th CCiC conference.

Meanwhile, during the 10th CCiC at Hainan University, UM-Macau and BNUZH-China cooperate to form a debate team to participate in the Biology Theme Debate entitled "Does China's Animal Experimentation Ethics Require Only the 3Rs' '. UM-Macau team leader Edmend was awarded as the best debater of the debate, and at the same time expanded the influence of our friendship team with BNUZH-China.

Figures 3.2.13 Participate in the biology theme debate together with BNUZH-China.

-JulyGEM of Calgary

In July, we traveled across time zones to attend the University of Calgary's JulyGem meetup, where we heard from many iGEM teams from around the world and several synthetic biology luminaries. At the same time, we also shared our project with the panel of judges in the mock judging session organized by the organizers, and received feedback from our team in a systematic way, strictly classified according to the indicators of the iGEM judging process. According to the feedback results, UM-Macau would strengthen the shortcomings that still exist in the background construction process, and actively seek improvement suggestions from professors of our faculty and our friendly team in the colony delivery module where we have technical vague part.

Figures 3.2.14 Our team members shared our project at the JulyGEM of Calgary.

-Hong Kong-Macau Symposium

In August, in order to absorb the mature experience and strengths of the university teams from Hong Kong, at the invitation of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the organizer of this symposium, some members of the UM-Macau team came to Hong Kong to present our team's project on Celiac Disease to the four Hong Kong university teams and the two Hong Kong high school teams, and to listen to the project of the Hong Kong university teams. Through this symposium, UM-Macau was able to step out of the comfort zone of the past few years and experience the rigor of the Hong Kong teams from topic selection to project design - although the topics and contents of each team were very different, we were still impressed by the interlocking logic of the modules in their projects, and encouraged us to bide our time and help UM-Macau's future development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Figure 3.2.15. Group photo of Hong Kong-Macau Symposium meetup.

-Northwest China teams meetup

UM-Macau was also invited by Northwest University to participate in the Northwest China teams meetup in August, which featured teams from Northwest China. In the process, we were able to build a stronger bond with our friends from Northwest University and Lanzhou University. As the last team-to-team meeting we attended in the past few months, UM-Macau has achieved a global coverage in terms of east, south, north and west in terms of participating in the iGEMer meetup, which has given us a more comprehensive understanding of our team's strengths, and at the same time allowed us to understand our team's shortcomings in some areas. In the meetup, UM-Macau has made great progress in terms of content preparation and fullness of speeches compared to the beginning of the meetup and team exchanges. After experiencing several similar meetups, UM-Macau has also witnessed the progress of its ability to tell other teams about its project, which is an important ability for the November grand jamboree and judgment.

Figures 3.2.16 Group photo of Northwest China teams meetup.

-iGBA

（Co-founder: UM-Macau, BNUZH-China, HKUST, SZU-China） We, UM-Macau, was one of the initiator of iGBA league and co-host the large scale communication activity based on the region of Hong Kong-Macau-Guangdong Greater Bay area and invite the team of SUSTec-Med, SYSU-SLS-China, CUHK, HKU, ,,,,,,into our first industry-academia-research forum. All the co-founder teams and participate teams are from Hong Kong-Macau-Guangdong Greater Bay area, we set up this league with aim of establishing a network of collaboration between multiple teams in the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau region, and work together to bring more opportunities and possibilities for the future development of iGEM and synthetic biology in the GBA.

Figures 3.2.17/3.2.1 Logo and poster of iGBA

-Gut Alliance

(Co-founder: UM-Macau, NWU-China, LZU-China, SUSTech-China, CPU) All the teams in the alliance have similar project content about gut health and the relative therapy based on the engineered gut microbiota, whatever to solve the problem of food intolerance, IBD, or address hypercholesterolaemia or infections, etc. We use the alliance as a platform to share our experience with other teams, co-organize some educational events face to face with normal people and solve many technical problems together in this long session.

Figure 3.2.19 Logo of Gut Alliance