Though we collaborated with multiple teams around the globe, with some teams, the connection was beyond just a collaboration. We partnered with iGEM University of Barcelona, IISER Berhampur, and IISER Tirupati in this year’s project cycle. Through multiple interactions, joint troubleshooting sessions, and hosting events together, we made many long-lasting friends and memories to cherish along the way.
The long wait for months to find a team working on vesicle-based drug delivery systems ended when iGEM University of Barcelona (UB) texted us on slack. But when we learned about their project, we were more than excited about the possibility of a potential partnership with them. Our project was centred around using bacterial outer membrane vesicles to target breast cancer and UB's on using extracellular vesicles (EVs) to target Burkitt's Lymphoma. The homology in both the projects was striking.
On 26th June 2022, we had our first meeting with them. This was the start of a long and fruitful
relationship. Both teams presented their respective projects in this meeting and posed some interesting
questions. We also realised the many parallels between the two projects and were sure that it would lead to
a fruitful iGEM journey together.
Figure 1. First meetup with UB
During our project exchange session, we briefly discussed our cloning plans. UB introduced us to the basics of golden gate cloning and its potential.
For UB, it was their first time participating in iGEM. We were able to help and guide UB in the nascent stages of their project. Since we were working on similar projects, we were able to inspire each other during the project design and execution phase. We had multiple interactive sessions where we gave them an idea on how the iGEM cycle works. We went through the medal criteria and clarified their queries on the different aspects of the competition.
Figure 2. Team leads Pau Marin(UB) and Sneha(IISER TVM) going through the medal criteria
We highlighted the differences between human practices and integrated human practices. As a follow-up to this meeting, Merina and Julia from the respective human practices team had a fruitful discussion. The session helped them in framing a better picture of iGEM deliverables and medal criteria.
After the initial meeting, we met again to go over the common elements we can focus on for the partnership duration. Proposed implementation, math modelling, and human practices were the potential options. Our core ideas were the same- using vesicles as delivery vehicles- the difference lies in us using bacteria to produce OMVs and them using mammalian cells to do the same.
The major work of UB in the modelling aspect was in docking studies. In addressing one of our modelling questions, we are also making use of docking. Nikhil, the modelling head of our team, got in touch with Alejandro, the modelling representative from their side, and started active discussions on docking studies.
Our meeting with Julia was an opportunity for us to meet our partners in Spain and discuss at length about human practices and what each team has achieved so far. We started with our presentation and discussed how we chose our stakeholders and how each interaction helped us understand the underlying problem and decide on a solution. Team Barcelona also discussed about their work so far. We were able to discuss ideas and suggest activities which could enhance their work. We were also inspired by their plan to commercially evaluate their product and hoped to do something similar. Finally, we discussed finalising wiki content and ensuring we finish ahead of the deadlines to avoid missing any deliverables. The meeting ended with a sweet note of meeting in Paris for the Jamboree.
Figure 3. HP team members from IISER TVM -Merina and Kavya meet with Julia, HP team from UB
Figure 4. Clarifying queries on HP and IHP
We had our first proposed implementation brainstorming meeting on 14th July 2022. Here we decided that we will
partner on the proposed implementation throughout the course of the project. Our team gave a detailed overview
of what is expected in the proposed implementation and how we went about structuring our proposed
implementation
last year.
Having reached this conclusion, we decided to jointly develop a framework for the therapeutic application of
engineered nanovesicles. Since it is an emerging topic and we discovered that relatively few attempts had been
made to use engineered nanovesicles in therapeutics, we thought it would be interesting to share our
implementation strategy. To this end, we collaborate closely to consider basic questions.
We began by documenting the primary applications of engineered nanovesicles. Focusing on the legal limits and
the security and safety of the vesicles, we also worked on the agents' production process scale-up. In
addition,
we compared the market position of nanocarriers for medication delivery in Spain and India, indicating that
both
markets are receptive to this.
We discussed the crosstalk in the drug action mechanism and how mRNA enzymes in OMVs are similar to siRNA
mechanisms in the case of EVs. As the idea revolves around using vesicles as drug delivery systems, we thought
it would be a good idea to look into the clinical trials and loading cargo into OMVs/EVs. We organised the PI
content into sections based on similarities and differences between our projects and assigned team members to
work on it collaboratively. We decided to meet once in two weeks to go through and improve upon each other's
ideas. To continuously assess our progress in this regard, we created a common WhatsApp group.
Figure 5. Common workspace in WhatsApp
This was followed by the next monthly meeting on 14th September, 2022 where we went over the edits that were suggested and did some compilation of the information.
Figure 6. Common doc for discussing and comparing PI among the two teams
We had a follow-up monthly update meeting on 16th August 2022, where we discussed individual aspects of each team's implementation, such as clinical trials, mass production of vesicles, and safety and restructured our draft. We also decided to work on a market analysis of the respective countries to develop a realistic entrepreneurial plan for the projects.
Figure 7. Pratham (IISER TVM) discussing the market analysis with Neus (iGEM UB)
This was followed by the next monthly meeting on 14th September 2022, where we went over the edits that were suggested and did some compilation of the information.
The journey from mentoring UB to them giving us input and suggestions was beautiful. We felt great to see them
grow throughout the iGEM process.
UB’s Market Analysis study inspired us to look into the market analysis of the APAC region. As they were
actively working on contributions and creating parts, they guided us on how to upload and edit on the registry pages.
Figure 8. UB resolving our queries in the parts registry
We are truly glad to have partnered with the iGEM UB; we were able to provide some guidance as they were a
first-time iGEM team and also received some very insightful information which made the implementation of the
project what it is today. Apart from the project-related discussion, we had several fun discussions with team UB and we can't wait to meet them in Paris!
Figure 9. iGEM chit chat time!
Getting started with a meet-up and exchanging the project, we had no clue that iGEM IISER Berhampur would be
our partners for the entire duration. iGEM IISER Berhampur was working on APT4UTI, a platform developed at the
point
of care to detect uropathogenic bacteria. Their project caught our attention as they also addressed a health
issue mainly affecting the women population.
Our first meet up comprised teams presenting the project idea and the progress made so far. In the second
meeting, we figured out that our human practices and outreach sectors can go hand in hand. We
understood that it is high time we spread awareness of women's health issues. Lots of suggestions came up,
including a global talk series in collaboration with the iGEM teams addressing women's issues and a comic
strip
series featuring teams' mascots and portraying synbio through comic elements.
Figure 10. First meetup with IISER Berhampur
iGEM has evolved as a platform for addressing societal concerns using breakthrough synthetic biology and genetic engineering techniques. Several iGEM teams have focused on women's health issues. Why not bring together all iGEM teams working on women's centric projects under one roof? This led to the birth of We-Talk. A collaborative event with a focus on women's health issues with IISER Berhampur, IISER Tirpuati and IIT Roorkee. Teams took up the challenge of coming up with a blend of diverse activities ranging from talks to panel discussions. IISER Berhampur designed the posters for events. We had multiple meetings to discuss each event hosted by the respective institute. IISER Berhampur, organised and hosted a talk centered on menstrual hygiene. They contacted Dr. Indira Palo, Gynecologist & Obstetrician Doctor and arranged the logistics for the talk. She spoke on the topic of menstrual hygiene and challenges in adolescent girls.
Figure 11. We-Talk posters at a glance
Figure 12. Organisers meet up (Gayathri and Saran from IISER Berhampur)
For more information do check out the collaboration page
We were brainstorming on how to spread awareness about breast cancer and UTIs. Our human practices teams met and came up with the idea of an information pamphlet. To reach out to the local community, we also translated the pamphlets into regional languages and distributed them in our respective communities.
Figure 13. IISER Berhampur Incorporating our suggestions into their pamphlet
Figure 14. 14Our team is distributing IISER Berhampur's information flyer
Both teams were passionate about making kids realise the beauty of synbio through a fun activity. We came up with the idea of WHY? Science-based card game. With the IISER Berhampur team, we devised questions that would raise curiosity in kids and urge them to think beyond the box. We ensured that the kids could relate to the images.
Figure 15. Game cards front side & kids playing
Figure 16. Game card back side
The moderator has a set of 10 cards. The participant has to pick one card from it, flip and read the question below the given picture. If the participant answers all the questions correctly in the cards, they will get a prize. In this way, we unravel the truth behind these relatively complex phenomena in a fun-filled manner.
Here are the ten cards with questions and answers:
Silde 1 a,b,c Kids solving synbio worksheet Silde 2.Synbio worksheet
Apart from our diverse outreach and awareness programs, we acted as each other’s supporting pillars,
especially during iGEM deadlines, discussing the best way to present content in the wiki, managing
coursework and iGEM has been a topic of our discussion in quite a few of the meet-up sessions.
To kickstart our collaborative journey, iGEM IISER Tirupati was the best! The journey with Tirupati was memorable, as it evolved from collaborating on one event to being partners through the iGEM cycle. We exchanged the project ideas, had brainstorming and troubleshooting sessions.
Figure 17. First meet-up with iGEM IISER Tirupati
After our first meet up, we realised that we could partner on quite a few aspects of both the projects
As part of their APTASTELS project, they worked to create a novel aptamer-based diagnostic kit for detecting polycystic ovary syndrome. With the help of synthetically produced aptamers, miRNA, and recombinant proteins, they plan to create a cell-free kit for the diagnosis of the disease.
Given that both of our teams' projects are related to public health, we wanted to come up with creative ways to reach out to the younger generation, so we decided to think outside the box to create events while staying true to the core theme of synthetic biology and addressing health issues with novel approaches.
Though synthetic biology may not be everyone's cup of tea, music is a universal language that crosses age and language barriers. Hence to bring forth our life as iGEMers working with bacteria, our team, in collaboration with iGEM IISER Tirupati, present SynVibe, a musical that celebrates the routines in the lab with microorganisms, reading papers and repeating experiments. It was a challenging to incorporate our "own" story through the medium of song lyrics, direct the scenes, and choreograph. Two extremely well-known songs, Dance monkey and I don't care, served as the base tracks for our synbio parody.
We intended to showcase the diversity of laboratories across the globe, and iGEM IISER Tirpuati was happy to join us in the collaborative effort.
Our We-Talk organising meetup sessions turned out to be a blend of four Indian iGEM teams sharing ideas. From the talk series, it turned into a three-day forum with talks on cervical and breast cancer, menstrual hygiene and challenges in adolescent girls, an interview with the founder of OncoStem Diagnostics, a panel discussion and a fun quiz session.
FIgure 19. Poster of session conducted by Tirupati
As part of the We-Talk, iGEM IISER Tirupati came up with the idea of conducting a fun and interactive quiz based highlighting women whose contribution has been incremental in Science. Kickstarting We-Talk iGEM IISER Tirupati hosted the quiz Science meets fun which gained fantastic feedback from the audience. The quiz session enabled the audience to appreciate the role of women in STEM and the necessity of addressing women’s health issues.
AIIM has been a fantastic opportunity to interact, incorporate suggestions and critically analyse the iGEM projects of Indian teams. As always, Tirupati worked for hand in hand with the organising process and logistics of the event. During AIIM, we got an opportunity to meet the iGEM IISER Tirupati team in person- a moment of joy! We discussed the plan for Syn-Vibe, the collaborative music video during AIIM. AIIM had a session where the teams presented their projects to a panel of judges. Some of the iGEM IISER Tirupati members provided guidance in incorporating suggestions from the judges in the AIIM presentation and poster.
Figure 20. iGEM IISER TVM and iGEM IISER Tirupati meetup during AIIM
During the early stages of our project, Shreyas, a member of the iGEM IISER Tirupati team, who was also a member of
the 2021 team, advised us. Shreyas was an excellent guide because of his role in the 2021 team as we bombarded
them with questions ranging from ordering gene fragments to posting images on part pages to creating composite
parts whose basic parts do not exist on the parts page but whose characterization is different, and our doubts
regarding the medal criteria and the information overlap between the engineering cycle and the results page.
Their inputs invariably helped us get clarity and hone down the direction of our project.
