Partnership
As early as the 3rd of May, we met with Cairo University’s “The Pharaohs” through Zoom. Our projects had very different aims, but we early recognized that our wet lab work would intersect in one key step: tau synthesis and characterization.
During our first rendezvous, we were able to gain significant guidance in how to work with tau. As this protein is easily cleaved due to its native state being disordered, we came to understand that we had to choose an appropriate tau-isoform, which led us to angle our project toward brain injury as opposed to Alzheimer's disease.
We maintained correspondence via email, and met up through Zoom for a second time on the 16th of June. Here, we discussed how to accurately characterize the tau protein after its synthesis. After some discussion, we agreed that SDS-PAGE would be sufficient for this task.
In our efforts to further the mutual exchange of guidance and expertise for our projects, we set up a meeting between the Pharaohs and Professor Per Hammarström who is one of our project’s PI’s. He had worked extensively with the tau protein in the context of Alzheimer’s Disease, and was thus able to aid our partners in their efforts. More specifically, he provided the Pharaohs with background information on protein misfolding diseases, expression and purification tips, and shared experiences regarding recombinant human tau protein.
Moving on, as our wet lab work commenced earlier than that of our Egyptian partners, we were able to share our finalized protocols for tau synthesis, purification, and characterization with the Pharaohs early. This helped the Pharaohs look out for pitfalls that we experienced, and as such, they were able to take part of a more optimized protocol than would have otherwise been possible; something of particular necessity, given their unforeseen time constrictions as a result of problems with customs.
To increase public awareness and knowledge about Alzheimer’s Disease, we became proud participants of the Pharaohs’ Alzheimer’s Awareness Project. The project consisted of a video collage of multiple iGEM team representatives purveying a message about Alzheimer’s Disease in their respective native languages. Finally, we translated our partners’ Alzheimer’s Disease book into Swedish, which will serve to further educate the public about the disease and the role of the tau protein.