Unity is strength: our team is made up of students from both the Lyon 1 University and INSA Lyon engineering school, supervised by two research lecturers. Biochemistry, biotechnology, health engineering, bioinformatics and modeling… The diversity of our academic backgrounds ensures a variety of skills and profiles, creating a well-rounded and motivated team.
A few INSA Lyon teams had previously participated in iGEM, but the last students from INSA Lyon to participate in iGEM was in 2017, with INSA Toulouse. We learned about this fantastic competition from our synthetic biology teacher, Philippe Le Jeune. This course is taught during our third year at INSA Lyon, although the course materials are not freely available. He helped inspire a student, Evanne Martin, to create a 2022 iGEM team! Even though she wasn’t able to continue the competition, she helped bring all of us together.
When talking about iGEM with the Lyon I university on our campus, Agnès Rodrigue (our PI from INSA Lyon) was able to recruit Erwan Gueguen (our PI from the university), along with a few students! Our team is therefore made up of students from the Lyon 1 university and the engineering school INSA Lyon! We are so happy to be working together, as we were able to meet people from the campus that we wouldn’t have met otherwise. Although the team was created in May 2021, we only started brainstorming on this project in October 2021, and the whole team contributed to the conceptualization of the project, inspired from the work performed by the MAP laboratories and previous iGEM teams such as Cambridge 2010, China SHSID 2018, Singapore NUS and Bonn 2019. Lab work started in January 2022 and every member working on the wet lab was responsible for lab maintenance. The work we provided for iGEM was done entirely in our free time!
As well as students, this blending of both schools also brought together different skills and specialties. And this project wouldn’t have gotten very far without the help of many different people, from INSA Lyon and Lyon I university, sponsors, and many more! So here is the page dedicated to thanking everyone who helped us on this project. We hope everyone is as proud of the result as we are.
Madeleine Bourseul
Madeleine was the student leader of our team. She was the correspondent and coordinator between iGEM, our PIs and the rest of our students (project administration). Her main role was in the logistics and sponsoring team: finding companies and grants we could apply to (fundraising), in order to fully start our project, budgeting and all the administrative work, as well as the judging form. As the project progressed, she was able to involve herself more in the rest of the teams. She helped with the modeling part, analyzing microplate reader data and extracting results (data analysis and curation). She also helped out the wet lab team. She did presentations of the project, and helped write pages of the wiki (Homepage, Team members, Attributions, Description, Contribution, Collaborations, Sponsors, Education-Communication, Hardware, Proof of concept).
Laia Darné
Laia worked on the logistics team. She helped with budgeting and looking for sponsors (fundraising). She was responsible for the safety form, as well as the judging form. She worked on the wet lab in January and February. Her task was to make sure our fiatlux operon was in the BioBrick format, and she attempted an assembly of the different genes. She helped out with many presentations of our project, and helped write pages of the wiki (Description, Experiments, Engineering, Team members, Notebook, Medal criteria and special prizes, Wet lab).
Mathilde Cecchi
Mathilde was in charge of the communication and visualization part of our project. She managed our social media (public engagement), and was largely involved in the creation and editing of our promotional video. She also worked in the wet lab over the summer with Théo. They focused on optimizing the transcriptional units of the plasmid, and the storage and culture conditions (temperature and antibiotic concentration). She co-wrote the article for the MSP journal collaboration. She helped write pages of our wiki (Description, Engineering, Experiments, Notebook, Wet lab), and did presentations of our project at different meet-ups.
Elise Piette
Elise was in charge of the human practices team. She was in contact with both human practices instructors, to organize meetings and talk about the project. She found, organized and carried out most of the interviews, and did a lot of research on the ethics around the project. She also helped out on the software and the code, by assembling the different functions and classes. As well as working on the promotional video (script and editing), she also helped write pages of our wiki (Integrated human practices and Education-Communication). She helped out the logistics team.
Anaëlle Roman
Anaëlle did some research for the human practices team, and worked on and carried out interviews. She created the human practices survey. She also worked on social media and communication around the project, by creating and translating content and worked on the team brochure designed for companies. She designed and ordered the team sweatshirts and polos. She helped write many pages of the wiki (Experiments, Notebook, Education-Communication, Safety, Integrated Human practices and Material).
Marine Aurrand
For the human practices team, Marine worked on preparing, carrying out and exploiting interviews. She did a lot of research on ethics, and wrote the questions for the human practices survey. She helped write the script and find images for the promotional video. She also worked on the dry lab, by developing a code to detect a leaf on an image. Marine worked on the modeling and data analysis/curation side of the project, and on the statistical comparisons of the different bacterial strains. For 2 months (September-October), she worked in the wet lab with Guillaume. They worked on the conjugation with Dickeya solani, plant infections, characterization of the tool, cloning of the hok/sok system on the same plasmid, stability tests and host switches. She also helped write wiki pages (Integrated human practices, Experiments, Model, Wet lab).
Théo Mathieu
Théo did a lot of research and article reading at the beginning of the project. He also helped out the communication team, by creating content for social media and planning posts. He designed and wrote the card game, and did an intervention in a summer camp (6 to 12 year olds) to promote microbiology! He co-wrote the article for the MSP journal collaboration. He worked on the software, by creating the user’s interface. Théo worked in the wet lab in February: he transformed bacteria with two plasmids (containing parts of the operon) to check that the bacteria were bioluminescent and that the silent mutations hadn’t affected the functioning of the operon. He also worked in the wet lab for a month during the summer, with Mathilde. He created and designed the hardware for our project. He participated in many presentations of the project, and helped write pages of the wiki (Hardware, Experiments and Software).
Manon Aubert
Manon did a lot of research at the beginning of the project to come up with a plan to start the experiments (enzymology and contacting our instructor, the ilux operon and iGEM parts). She contributed greatly to the coding and creation of the software that allows the analysis of images of luminescence, but also the modeling part of the project. She also worked to organize events of scientific vulgarization in activity centers for children, middle and high schools, and companies promoting innovation (public engagement). She helped organize the pages for the wiki and design it. She also did presentations of the project and helped write pages of the wiki (Software).
Marianne Richaud
Marianne worked in the logistics team, especially on grants. She also coordinated the crowdfunding, by creating the platform, communicating around it and handling the rewards (fundraising). She prepared, carried out and worked on interviews as well, for the human practices team. She prepared questions for the human practices survey. For the dry lab, she wrote the code to detect luminescence for our software tool. She also worked on the modeling and data analysis/curation of the project, and worked closely with the two instructors. She helped write pages of the wiki (Modeling, Integrated Human Practices), and did presentations of our project at different meet-ups.
Léa Le Large
Léa helped out the communication team, by creating some content for social media. She also helped look for donors for our crowdfunding. She mainly focused on the modeling part of the project with Marianne and Marine, and contributed towards data analysis and curation. She also helped out the software team, by helping develop the code for detecting luminescence. She did presentations of the project, and helped write pages of the wiki (Modeling).
Solène Favier
Solène was part of the team that performed research and read lots of scientific papers at the beginning of the project. She started the wet lab experiments with Laia by trying to put the ilux operon in the BioBrick format, attempted an assembly of the different genes, and optimized the protocols. She also focused on enzymology, by determining the different reactions and contacting the corresponding instructor. She also worked to organize events of scientific vulgarization to activity centers for children, middle and high schools, and companies promoting innovation (public engagement). She did presentations of the project and helped write pages of the wiki (Proof of concept).
Cassie Kohut
At the beginning of the project, Cassie spent time researching and reading articles about the toxin/antitoxin system, plasmids, Dickeya, and the black leg disease of tubers. She also spent a few days in the wet lab: she was able to clone luxCD and the hok/sok system in two different plasmids. She worked on social media, by creating popularization posts. She participated in multiple project presentations and also did an intervention in a summer camp (6 to 12 year olds) to promote microbiology. She helped write pages of the wiki (Education-Communication, Sustainable development, Notebook), and did presentations of our project at different meet-ups.
Guillaume Fulconis
Guillaume helped out the communication team by creating content. He also participated in searching for funds through our crowdfunding, by sending out emails, and helped out for the promotional video. For 2 months (September-October), he worked in the wet lab with Marine. They worked on the conjugation with Dickeya solani, plant infections, characterization of the tool, cloning of the hok/sok system on the same plasmid, stability tests and host switches. He also did presentations of our project, and helped write pages of our wiki (Wet lab results, Experiments) and documented the parts on the Registry.
Tom Roblin
Tom did a lot of research and article reading at the beginning of the project. He worked in the wet lab in January: he tried to assemble the different genes luxCD and luxABE in one plasmid. Tom also worked on the video for the crowdfunding, and co-wrote the article for the MSP journal collaboration. He focused a lot on the enzymology side of the project, to characterize the luciferase. He did research, wrote the protocols and carried out the experiments. He also focused on entrepreneurship. He learnt how to code for the wiki and its design. He helped write pages of the wiki (Implementation, Supporting entrepreneurship, Experiments), and did presentations of our project at different meet-ups.
Basma Makhloufi
Basma worked on the communication team, by designing the logo, helping to write the team brochure, creating content for social media and brainstorming for the promotional video. She also helped write the script of the video. Basma focused on the enzymology side of the project, by doing research, writing protocols and performing the experiments, to attempt to characterize the luciferase. She also focused on entrepreneurship. She did presentations of the project, and helped write pages of the wiki (Implementation, Supporting entrepreneurship, Experiments).
Agnès Rodrigue
Agnès was our representative with all administrative and logistic matters, as well as general support. She was one of our teachers of microbiology at INSA Lyon and we immediately thought of her when creating the team. She helped us with our finances, and was also often in the lab to guide us in our experiments or to address our doubts with advice.
Erwan Gueguen
Erwan was primarily in charge of helping us with all scientific matters, as well as general support. He is passionate about microbiology, and our project is inspired from his field of research. He helped us a lot throughout lab practices, protocols and taught us general ways to tackle challenges, by providing project support and advice. He followed our progress during the whole year, taking time for us and our endless questions.
Marianne Chouteau
Marianne is also one of our teachers of ethics and social sciences at INSA Lyon. She gave us very insightful advice to continue our research and debates, especially on the subject of integrated human practices.
Marie-Pierre Escudié
Marie-Pierre is one of our teachers of ethics and social sciences at our school. She guided and helped us a lot through our human practices interrogations.
Marion Letisse
Marion, a senior lecturer at INSA Lyon, was a valuable asset to our sponsoring team, as she put us in contact with many former students and companies. She even helped us find our graphic designer! She also gave us a lot of advice on enzymatic reactions and the characterization of our tool.
Typhaine Brual
Typhaine is a PhD student in the lab where we conducted our experiments. She works in the team with Erwan and Agnès and was a great asset to our team. She helped us on countless occasions with lab and difficult technique support, with her amazing protocol notebook, but also with her patience and support in our experiments and questioning.
Makram Mghezzi-Habellah
Makram was a former member of our team, but had to step down when he carried on his studies in Paris. However, he didn’t stop giving us great advice for the project and wet lab, and helped us improve our project presentation!
Calvin Dutreve
Calvin, a student in bioinformatics and modeling at INSA Lyon, was kind enough to help us develop the coding for the wiki. He did an amazing job, and we couldn’t thank him enough for the time he helped us save. He was very efficient and his work was of extremely good quality!
Barbara Duroy
A previous member of our team, she helped us develop the design of our wiki. She also helped out the sponsoring and the logistics team as much as she could!
Auriane Vicente
We would like to give an enormous thank you to our fantastic graphic designer, Auriane Vicente. She also studied at INSA Lyon, and is passionate about graphism, illustrations and photography. She provided us with a fantastic logo and mascot, as well as animations for our promotional video. She was key for our communication and we are very grateful for her support, confidence and high-quality work. Take a look at her website or her instagram account (@aurianevicente) to browse her portfolio and designs.
Ninon Gauthier
Ninon drew the fantastic comic you can read on the home page. We love the minimalist style of her drawings, and the comic perfectly illustrates a concrete application of our tool.
Yvann Frangville
Yvann is a student from the mechanical engineering department of INSA Lyon. He helped model our prototype on Fusion 360, so we could build it thanks to the CAD! We want to thank him for his fast and high-quality work!
Adel Amine
Adel took most of the team photos you can see throughout our Wiki! He also helped with the pictures of luminescence, lending us cameras and material, and his time. We want to thank him warmly for taking the time to do all our photo shoots!
Paul Legrand
Paul shot and edited the video you can see on the Team page. With the help and materials of La Mouette club, we produced this great video. Thank you Paul for this enjoyable time!
Paul Martin
Paul is a musician friend of a member of our team and he offered to do a part of the voice-over for our official promotional video. You can find him on social media with @stanhazemusic.
Victoria Bourseul
Victoria, a professional translator, helped us with translating a small part of our content from French into English and proofreading other material! Thank you for your help!
Lab support
A big thank you to Xavier, Bastien, Julie, Géraldine, Véronique, Guy, Vladimir and Sylvie from the MAP laboratory for answering all our questions and helping us whenever and however they could! The team from the MAP laboratory also coached us for the presentation.
Celine Costaz
Celine was very helpful for the enzymatic part of our project. She gave us advice and difficult technique support for the purification of our luciferase and provided us with material to do it.
Sandrine and Hubert Charles
Sandrine helped us with the modeling of bacterial growth. Hubert helped us understand the statistical comparisons of the different bacterial strains. We thank them for their help and guidance!
Sergio Peignier
Sergio is a research-professor at INSA Lyon and helped us a lot with our software. He helped and guided us throughout the creation of our application, and gave us advice regarding the different tools to use!
Clubelek
The Clubelek is a student association of INSA Lyon: they helped us with the electrical connections for our hardware.
FabLab
The FabLab is a student association of INSA Lyon and the Lyon 1 university, and they helped us with the wood cutouts for our hardware!
Le Progrès
We would like to thank Damien LEPETITGALAND who wrote about us in the French regional daily newspaper, based in Lyon. Thank you for believing in our project! Click here for a link towards the article!
Bayer Crop Science
Like us, Bayer Crop Science is focused on shaping the future of agriculture and thrives to help farmers protect their harvests. From the beginning of our project, they have shown support and confidence in our project, and have gone out of their way to help us. They welcomed us many times within their LifeHub innovation center to present our project to their researchers, coached us for the presentation, and even helped us organize a conference that will take place in November! We are very grateful for their help.
Crowdfunding
We would also like to warmfully thank every single person who made a donation for our project through our crowdfunding. We want to thank them for their support and confidence in our project, and are very grateful for their donation. We would especially like to thank: Florence Mathieu, Olivier Richaud, Florence Roman, Anne-Laure Bove, Laurence Bois-Valet, Corentin Le Gall, Denis Plattard, Ana Belén Cepeda Hontecillas, Eija Lextrait, Isabelle Chenoz, Marie Feuga, Victoria and Frédéric Bourseul, Clara Roujeau, Catherine Boussagol, Marianne Chouteau, Nelly Favier, Corinne Clavaron, Jean-Claude Martin, Sandrine and Hubert Charles, Armelle Roblin, Camille Bacquié, Carole Knibbe, Nathalie Boyera, Alexandre Jodeau, and all the other donors who wished to remain anonymous.
Biosciences Department
Thanks to Carole Knibbe and the whole biosciences department of INSA Lyon for providing us with a space to work and the administrative support throughout our iGEM season.
Davyd Chaumard
Davyd helped coach us for the presentation, the week before the Jamboree!
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
We want to thank Bruno Printz and Anne Grevet from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty for their guidance in French and European regulations and for granting us an informal interview. Anne Grevet is in charge of GMO studies and biotech and Bruno Printz is in charge of the national biocontrol related reglementation. We thank them for their time and their valuable input.
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