Judging

Bronze Medal Requirements

✔Competition Deliverables Cellucoat has completed all of the competition deliverables including the wiki, the project promotion video, the team presentation and the judging form. Watch our Cellucoat promotional video to learn more!

✔Project Attribution Cellucoat has an attribution page which lists all those who have guided our team throughout this iGEM season and have directed the course of the project's development.

✔Project Description Cellucoat has a project description summarizing the Cellucoat project and its key objectives as well as our initial inspiration.

✔Contribution Cellucoat has several contributions defined on our contribution page including software, education, and measurement tools, new applications for functionalized bacterial cellulose, and part collections for and NisQ and PHB, which all serve for the purpose of helping future iGEM teams.

Silver Medal Requirements

✔Engineering Success Cellucoat consists of many different subprojects. As defined engineering success is a process of designing, building, testing, learning, and redesigning. This cycle has been implemented throughout our project in our wet lab and drylab subprojects.

✔Collaboration Cellucoat has enjoyed connecting and getting to know numerous other iGEM teams. Our collaborations range from our international JulyGEM to our newsletter with iGEM Queens. We also appreciate the chance of working with IISER_Pune on molecular docking!

✔Human Practices Cellucoat has had the privilege of working with professors in academia to industry members, and stakeholders. They have played a crucial role in ideating and designing our project as well as direct the course of our project with their expert feedback. Our human practices has provided guidance and feedback in understanding the problem at hand and directing our project design.

✔Proposed Implementation Cellucoat produced a packaging with the hope to be implemented in the real world as outlined on our proposed implementation page. Our team explored the target demographic who would benefit using our product while taking into consideration the fruit packaging pipeline.

Gold Medal Requirements

✔Integrated Human Practices Cellucoat ensures the information provided by our integrated human practices is used to shape our project in an iterative process. A continuous informative, redesigning, and testing process was followed throughout our project to make several different iterations throughout our project.

✔Improvement of an existing part Cellucoat improved upon the BBa_K2260002 composite part to make a key contribution to the iGEM parts registry page with our PHB improvement for future iGEM teams to utilize.

✔Project modelling Cellucoat’s use of modelling has played a critical role for our project by modelling the protein interaction with the bacterial cellulose fibers which in turn allow us to better our system of protein integration as well as developing the co-culture model which helped optimize our project designs.

✔Proof of Concept Cellucoat’s was able to put together multiple aspects of the project and demonstrate our proof of concept of our project and its key objectives. This consisted of using co-culture bacterial cellulose with additives such as nisin and PHB which were tested for antimicrobial properties and strength, respectively.

✔Partnership Cellucoat developed a partnership during this iGEM season with another local Albertan team. The University of Alberta iGEM and Calgary iGEM teams remained in consistent communication from June to October. We worked together to conduct antifungal tests and molecular docking for our project's target proteins

✔Education and Communication Cellucoat focused on education and communication initiatives within our communities about composting management, video education tools, and synthetic biology.

Special Award Requirements

✔Best Integrated Human Practices This year our team has taken steps to understand the problem and develop the solution by consulting with experts, stakeholders, and industry members. They have helped evaluate and shape Cellucoat through its iterative design process. Read more about how human practices have been integrated throughout Cellucoat here here.

✔Best Supporting Entrepreneurship Our project is a sustainable food packaging which is to be implemented in grocery stores. However, that is not an easy process. Therefore Cellucoat's entrepreneurship team has met with food packaging companies and customers to understand the financial, legal, and feasibility of the packaging material.

✔Best Model Cellucoat’s Modelling has played a vital role in informing our project designs. From co-culture models helping to optimize our bacterial cellulose production to understanding protein to sugar interactions with Nisin and PHB to bacterial cellulose fibers using molecular dynamics.

✔Best Sustainable Development Impact Developing a sustainable product was one of our key objectives as our Cellucoat is made to be a compostable food packaging. Not only that, we aimed to reuse fruit waste as another sustainable measure. We have looked into every aspect of our packaging to be compostable as well as spoken to members at our local compost facility to ensure this project remains sustainable regardless of the additives added to functionalize our bacterial cellulose. Read more about our sustainability here.

✔Best Software Tool This is the age of technological advancement and we used that to our advantage. Cellucoat’s software tools have made carrying out experiments easier as well as standardized. Other software tools developed have contributed in helping future iGEM teams such as SAMARA and INN. Read more about our software tools.

✔Best New Basic Part We submitted the antimicrobial region of nisin Q (NisQ, BBa_K4437004) as a new basic part for antimicrobial peptide expression with increased antioxidant properties compared to other variants of nisin. Read more about our new basic part and successful protein expression.

✔Best Part Collection Our team designed, expressed, and validated a series of parts for PHB. This collection furthers our narrative and provide a way to make our bacterial cellulose packaging more flexible. Read more about our part collection.

✔Best Education Cellucoat has aimed to not only educate varying age groups about synthetic biology and experimental techniques but also taken a step further to meet with local waste management and help develop a way to inform others of good waste management tips. Read more about Cellucoat’s steps to educating others about synthetic biology and Cellucoat itself here.

✔Best Measurement Accuracy and precision are key to good experimental data. Known as “KB-Perry”, Cellucoat developed a novel and precise measurement tool for Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion tests to standardize zone of inhibition measurements.