SynBridge

SynBridge is a synthetic biology maker-space in the University of Lethbridge that provides access to the infrastructure and equipment to both the Lethbridge Collegiate Team and Lethbridge High School allowing them to design and perform various laboratory experiments and bring their synthetic biology ideas to life. Sharing the same space has allowed both groups to collectively share ideas and advice about each other’s projects.

Lethbridge High School Team

Our team hosted a “Wiki Workshop” to teach and provide guidance to the members of the Lethbridge High School Team on how to create an effective wiki and how to code using HTML in order to meet the criteria for a standard wiki. Dry lab team member Mark provided modeling help to the high school team and additionally, advisors Fabian, Jessica, and Kristi provided mentorship to the high school team.

Furthermore, the high school team generously lended us Lwa-Cas13a to help us with our project.

iGEM Canada-wide Newsletter

This summer, our team participated in the Canada-wide iGEM newsletter initiated by the University of Calgary team. iGEM teams all around Canada shared information about their respective teams such as which location the team is from and about their projects therefore, prompting us to learn more about one another facilitating a deeper understanding of not only each other but also other team’s projects.

iGEM Phototroph Community

Our team joined a Slack workspace with iGEM teams UBCO iGEM and Concordia University as our projects are working with phototrophic organisms to exchange ideas about each other’s projects.

MindFuel Tech Futures Challenge in collaboration with SynBridge

Chemistry and Biochemistry Instructor Laura Keffer-Wilkes hosted an in-person STEM skills workshop at the University of Lethbridge in which the Lethbridge Collegiate, Lethbridge High School, University of Calgary, Renert iGEM, and Canmore Collegiate High School (CCHS) iGEM teams participated in. Not only did the teams participate in a wet lab workshop where each team learned various laboratory techniques, teams also attended sessions from several speakers relating to the field of synthetic biology, and coding sessions.