Collaborations

Sharing our iGEM project and networking through special events

INSPIRE

Through our collaboration with various iGEM teams, we want to make more people enthusiast about our project and synthetic biology.

NETWORKING

By doing some collaboratory events we have made an extensive network inside the iGEM community.

OPPORTUNITY

These collaborations allow us to promote our project and broaden our synthetic biology knowledge.

To gain valuable academic connections by learning from other iGEM teams and contribute to their projects, as well as gain support from other iGEM teams, iGEM Leiden 2022 Team joined some collaboration projects and meetup events. Through these collaborations and meetups, we broaden our knowledge about synthetic biology as well as promote our project within the iGEM community. We did this through presentations, poster sessions, and a promotion video.

Collaboratory Works

Agar Art Exhibition

The Agar Art Exhibition event was initiated by iGEM Bulgaria. For this collaboration, they asked other iGEM teams to use their creativity and draw an agar plate with microorganisms and send our agar picture to them. In the end, they will use all the agar pictures (from their own and other iGEM teams) for the Agar Art Exhibition that will be held on 18th November 2022, on the Antibiotic Resistance Day. We, iGEM Leiden 2022 (Binanox), sent our artwork picture, namely butterfly, flower, and sun made with microorganisms, on 13th June 2022. It was a great pleasure participating in this collaboration and showing off our microbiology art and creativity. Our agar plates also have been shown before in one of our events called Leiden Science Family day on May 22, 2022 (more information about this event can be found on our Education & Public Engagement page).

Comic Project

The iGEM Tec Chihuahua Mexico offered a collaboration with other iGEM teams around the world in a Comic Project. In this comic project, each iGEM Team was invited to make a two-page long colorless comic that explained their project in English. This comic was then translated to Spanish by iGEM Tec Chihuahua Mexico. These comics were used as educational material for children from 6 to 12 years old in elementary and middle school in Mexico. We sent our comic on the 10th of August 2022 and the final compilation was ready on 27th of August 2022. Our comic book collaboration has the title “The Magic of the Synthetic Biology” and consists of 22 different comics from 20 iGEM teams around the world. This collaboration gave a beautiful result that we are proud to be part of. By sharing this comic book with children, they not only can color it but also gain knowledge about synthetic biology in a fun and simple way. See the result of our comic below!

MSP Journal

iGEM Maastricht had their third edition of MSP Journal this year and asked our team to be part of it as we did in the previous year. MSP Journal is the journal platform made with the aim to put forward the most innovative research done by iGEM teams from all around the world. The final journal is published on the MSP iGEM Wiki and the MSP-Vector website. We were enthusiastic to join this collaboration by showing more of our project through a literature review article. This literature review explained the foundation of our iGEM project and the reason we brought this project in certain directions. Furthermore, we peer-reviewed three articles from other iGEM teams (TecCEM Biosensor, Patras Diagnostic Tool for Lung Cancer, and Patras Crop Improvement Machine). Through this peer reviewing process, we learned about other iGEM team projects which cover other problems that can be tackled using synthetic biology. Furthermore, we got feedback on our article from three other iGEM teams, and by using this feedback we were able to make a better literature review article about our project, which we could be very proud of. This collaborating process gave us a meaningful experience in writing a scientific article. Our literature review has the title “Metallic Nanoparticles for Photothermal Therapy”. Have a look at our paper over here:

Meetups

Dutch meetup

July 2022

All iGEM teams in The Netherlands were invited to the Utrecht Science Park for a meetup organized by iGEM Wageningen, iGEM Eindhoven, and The Center for Living Technologies. All teams presented their project, networked, and gained valuable insights into synthetic biology through various presentations by experts and professionals.

Junior
Jam

26-28

August 2022

This mini jamboree was organized by iGEM Münster and was held from the 26th to the 28th of August, 2022. We, iGEM Leiden 2022 (BINANOX) had a booth where we could show people our project with a poster and promotion video. We were also given feedback on our video which helped us improve it.

The Junior Jam meetup is a mini Jamboree, which can be used as a mock-up and preparation for iGEM teams before they attend the Grand Jamboree on 26-28th October in Paris. This event was held by iGEM Münster on 26-28th August 2022 at Max Planck Institute, Münster, Germany. Four of our team members, Maxim, Jennifer, Anna, and Windi, had the opportunity to attend this event. During this event, we had a booth to show our project through a poster and promotion video. In the end, the jury gave feedback on our promotion video and we used that feedback to improve our video.

During this event, we also heard some scientific talks from experts such as Dr. Trappman from Max Planck Institute, Prof. Dr. Pfüter from the University of Münster, and Dr. Mirko Himmel from University of Hamburg. From their scientific talk, we broadened our knowledge in synthetic biology and got inspired by their amazing projects and achievements. There was also a panel discussion on the topic “Does it need synthetic biology for a suitable bioeconomy?” with Prof. Dr. Jochen Schmid from University Münster, Prof. Dr. Liv Jaeckel from HHL Leipzig, Dr. Mirko Himmel from the University of Hamburg, PD Dr. Joachim Boldt from the University of Freiburg, and Dr. Dennis Eversberg from the University of Jena. From this panel discussion, we realized that synthetic biology has a prospect as a tool to maintain bioeconomy, but there are still many aspects that need to be considered in terms of implementation and regulation.

We also had three different workshops that could be chosen by the Junior Jam participants which were “Start up in the natural sciences - from an idea to a bestseller”, in which we can learn to make our idea to be a real end product, “Storytelling - but how? How to put your projects in the right spotlight”, where we learned to sell our project to the public and potential investors, and “Q&A with GASB - Ask the iGEM experts”, where we can ask iGEM experts about Jamboree or discuss and ask a solution to solve some difficulties in our project.

Moreover, at our booth we proudly displayed and explained our poster “iGEM Leiden 2022 presents Binanox: Producing bimetallic nanoparticles for use in cancer therapy” and introduced our spiky nanoparticle model. Next to the scientific events, there was also time for socializing with other iGEM teams who attended this meetup. We got to know other iGEM teams by playing some games and attending fun socializing events in the evening. This first edition of Junior Jam added much to our experience in our scientific field, broadened our knowledge about synthetic biology potential, and strengthened our iGEM community within iGEM teams who attended this meetup through all of the programs given.

BeNeLux Mini Jamboree

October 2022

This mini jamboree organized for BeNeLux teams organized by iGEM TU Eindhoven will take place on October 18th, 2022. Teams will have to create a booklet, present their project, and make a poster. This will be great preparation for the grand jamboree the following week.