Overview
A scientific project does not solely take place in the laboratory. It is also essential to have an exchange of ideas with outside parties, as they can provide a fresh and new perspective on the matter. To offer a platform for thought exchange between the iGEMers, we hosted this year’s European Meet Up, the Junior Jam. Beyond European borders, we also collaborated with the team from the UBCO Canada, as we both pursued projects regarding bee immunity against pathogens. Within Germany, we had the privilege of being invited by the team from HHU Düsseldorf, along with our fellow iGEMers from RWTH Aachen, to visit them in their hometown. These meetings provided invaluable opportunities to refine our project presentation, learn about the work of other iGEM teams, engage in scientific talks, and connect with like-minded people from all around the world. In addition to interacting with other researchers, it can also be helpful to change the working environment to boost our spirits (in Germany, we call it “Tapetenwechsel”). So, we spent a week at the marine biological tideland station in Carolinensiel at the North Sea. This journey proved to be not only beneficial for BeeVAX but also for fostering a sense of community among our team members.
Junior Jam – The European iGEM Community visits Münster
What is iGEM without its community? Building connections with other young researchers and passionately discussing projects and topics regarding synthetic biology are some of the principal aspects of the competition. Therefore, we organized our meet-up Junior Jam – The European Meet-up, to connect teams from all over Europe. It took place in the castle of Münster from 4th - 6th of August. During scientific talks, project and poster presentations, as well as workshops, all participants had the opportunity to discuss and educate themselves further about synthetic biology and the realization of science-based start-ups. It was a great experience learning how to organize and carry out an event with over 100 participants, which included 20 teams from 6 different countries, advisors, and other experts.
Schedule:
Friday:
The meet-up started on Friday afternoon with the welcome of all teams in the beautiful castle of Münster. After a short introduction, we listened to the scientific talks of Sonja Billerbeck and Jochen Schmid, which offered different facets of “The Future of SynBio”. Afterwards, all teams introduced themselves for an overall impression of the participating teams. To deepen the connection between the participants we organized a get-together with a barbecue. Enjoying good food and some music, members of different teams had the opportunity to get in touch with each other through a SynBio-Bingo game, which encouraged everyone to mingle.
Saturday:
Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend. Each team had the opportunity to present their project and get constructive feedback from other teams, advisors, and PIs. In between, Andreas Möglich, another expert in synthetic biology, presented interesting insight into his research and the German Association for Synthetic Biology (GASB) was introduced. During coffee and cake, poster presentations encouraged a deeper exchange about the team projects, leading to new inspirations and interesting insights into the work of the other teams. At the end of the day, the iGEMers had a wonderful evening in a bar in the old town of Münster.
Sunday:
On Sunday morning, the REACH EUREGIO Start-up Center hosted inspiring workshops on “How to Pitch a Start-up” and “From Science to Start-up”, in which the participants had the chance to learn more about how to build and promote their own start-up. Before we officially closed the meet-up, we announced the winner of the Best Presentation Award: iGEM Hamburg with their project about transFERRITIN
Afterwards, everyone was invited to a farewell picnic for last personal talks. In the afternoon, the teams went home full of inspiration for their projects and iGEM spirit.
Result:
The Junior Jam was a huge success! All participants received constructive feedback and exchanged ideas with other iGEMers. The activities laid the perfect foundation for a great network of future biologists. In addition, the workshops and scientific talks were very educational for all of us. We received a lot of positive feedback, and our expectations were far exceeded. We cannot wait to see you again at the Grand Jamboree in Paris!
Canada – Cooperation with UBCO iGEM
On May 30th, we started our collaboration with the iGEM team from the University of British Columbia in Okanagan, Western Canada. This collaboration mainly consisted of several video meetings in which we discussed differences and similarities concerning the culture and business of beekeeping around the world. For this purpose, we exchanged information about several meetings and consultations held with beekeepers both here in Germany and in Canada. This helped us tremendously to develop our ideas on how to implement our improved Vitellogenin in North America compared to Europe.
Comparison of beekeeping practices in Canada and Germany
We learned a lot about the cultural differences and similarities in beekeeping between Germany and Canada. Beekeepers in Canada often manage a large number of hives at once, ranging from several hundred up to several thousand hives, with each containing 40 to 80 thousand bees. This results in giant bee colonies in close proximity, requiring measures against both cross-infections and parasite or virus infestations. In Germany, most beekeepers only maintain a small number of hives, often not more than five to ten. Therefore, most German beekeepers are part of beekeeper associations, which organize concerted treatment plans and measures against parasite infestations. So, while in Germany, beekeeping is most often pursued as a hobby with only a little focus on effectiveness and productivity, the beekeepers in Canada rely heavily on simple and easy to employ measures for keeping Varroa mite infection within narrow limits.
The main weapons used in the fight against Varroa mites by Canadian beekeepers are therefore organic acids such as oxalic acid, which are being applied to all hives in a designated area in a short period of time to decimate the mite population most sustainably. In Germany, the main focus is not on ease of use but mainly on the quality of the product, honey. Therefore, multiple different treatments are currently in use. Most prominently organic acids, but also other and less renowned treatments such as "Bee-Sauna" and acaricides. A "Bee-Sauna" is a device that heats up the hive to about 42°C. It is used to kill off the temperature-sensitive mites by denaturing their protein structures while posing little risk to healthy bees. In both regions, our approach would prove to be a better alternative, as it is easy to use and doesn’t risk contaminating the honey.
At a meeting in July, we learned about parasitic fungi which are posing a substantial and growing threat to Canadian beekeepers. The two species of microsporidia, Nosema apis and N. ceranae, are the cause of nosemosis, a serious disease of the European honey bee, Apis mellifera. Since we never heard of that specific threat to bees, it presented a valuable addition to our project, which focuses on bee immunity against all types of fungi. If you want to learn more about how our project protects bees from entomopathogenic fungi, please visit our Project Description.
Additionally, we learned about several different detection methods used to monitor Varroa mite infestations. One of these methods uses a sample of 300 bees, which are sealed in a jar containing windshield cleaner liquid. This separates the mites from the bees. After separating the mites from the dead bees via sieving, the amount of Varroa mites per bee can easily be determined. While it presents an easy and quick method, it comes at the cost of about 0.5%–1% of the hive. Another frequently used method is a glue strip at the bottom of the hive. While the legs of bees are long enough to step over this strip, the mites stick to it and can later be counted. From what we have learned, this procedure is rarely, if ever used to battle the Varroa mites but only to monitor the infestation of the hive.
The University of British Columbia is in possession of various beehives, and therefore, multiple experts in handling these bees are available to discuss all bee-related topics. This expertise strongly influenced our vision of possible future implementations of our project. Mainly, the repeated and necessary use of vaccination via syringe was rejected as it poses too much of a threat to fatally injure the bees. Beekeepers both in Germany and Canada proved to be surprisingly open-minded to the use of genetically modified bees.
The collaboration with the UBCO iGEM team allowed us to understand the different relevance of beekeeping in Canada compared to Germany. We adapted our vision for our implementation according to the feedback on our syringe approach.
Meet-Up with iGEM HHU Düsseldorf and RWTH Aachen
We were thrilled when the iGEM team of
HHU Düsseldorf
invited us, along with the team from
RWTH Aachen, to visit them on May 6th, 2023. The visit started with a tour of the HHU
campus, a beverage, and some casual chatting to get to know each other. The
informal chat quickly evolved into a scientific talk about our projects,
which made a perfect transition to the main part of the meeting: The three
teams displayed their projects in presentations of fifteen minutes, followed
by a brief exchange session. The feedback round segues into an exchange
about potential collaboration opportunities, which continued over pizza and
drinks.
The meet-up in Düsseldorf allowed us to showcase BeeVAX to an uninvolved
audience for the first time. Therefore, it served as a valuable training
ground for honing our presentation skills. The feedback session demonstrated
what questions might arise when presenting our project and what key points
we needed to clarify in our presentation. Additionally, we had the chance to
refine our proficiency in scientific discourse in the English language.
Beyond our professional improvements, it was nice to connect with the German
iGEM community. Talking about shared experiences, obstacles, achievements,
and amusing anecdotes boosted our morale. We would like to thank the teams
from
RWTH Aachen
and
HHU Düsseldorf
for the valuable feedback on our project BeeVAX, the exchange of ideas, and
the overall inspiring scientific discourse. It was an enlightening
experience for us to gain insight into the working processes of other iGEM
teams. And of course, we extend a special thanks to iGEM
HHU Düsseldorf
for having us. It was a pleasure!
Carolinensiel - Our North Sea Adventure
As our project progressed and the semester came to an end, we felt that we could use some time to focus on the work of the next few months and strengthen our team cohesion. Thus, we decided to plan a team trip. We chose the marine biological tideland station in Carolinensiel as our destination and contacted our university to book it for a week in July. There, we used the time to go through the respective lab plans of each lab group, developing an overall concept and a detailed plan for the next weeks. Additionally, we resumed the planning of our meet-up, the Junior Jam. We were able to lay out a preliminary plan for our team's wiki and created a management plan for writing, editing, and reviewing the wiki texts while also managing to complete the first draft of some of these wiki texts. Since two of our three lab groups were not able to start their work yet, we used the time to dig a little deeper into the literature regarding our project and developed a plan for the CTL14-Vitellogenin heterodimer protein as an additional approach. The evenings were mostly reserved for teambuilding activities, strengthening our bond, and getting to know each other better, which would help us work more closely together in the months to come. Some of our team members used this free time to come up with creative ideas for our future team apparel. In the end, this week in Carolinensiel proved to be a productive one that not only yielded substantive results but also helped us recharge our batteries to continue our work in the coming weeks and months.
