Partnership
SCIE
As we shared the same laboratory at LINKS Academy, the projects of LINKS_China and GreatBay-SCIE developed complementary with one another even before the start of the iGEM 2022 competition. In this mutual relationship, we constantly shared our project plans and progress throughout the iGEM season, and helped each other in multiple aspects from project design, experiment, and human practice activities.
The mascot of GreatBay-SCIE, Dr. Selly, and our mascot, UV-Prisma.
Planning and Selection of Strains and Pathways
Discussion of potential plans and methods by LINKS and GreatBay-SCIE.
After both LINKS_China and GreatBay-SCIE decided on their project, we helped each other plan later experiments through advising each other on potential metabolic pathways and selection of yeast strains. GreatBay-SCIE’s project aims at converting cellulose into xylose, and because their research of the practical usage of xylose, advised us to utilize xylose as a carbon source for the production of MAAs and provided us with related papers. After performing more research, LINKS_China utilized xylose for carbon source and thus inserted the genes XYL1, XYL2, and XYL3 in L2 strains. Our experiments show that the utilization of xylose for producing MAAs largely increased the production of the intermediate S7P.
At first, GreatBay-SCIE selected the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus as the base strain to express their enzymes. Although K. marxianus has a high secretion rate and is used by GreatBay-SCIE’s core papers, studies on K. marxianus was extremely limited, thus making experimentation and genetic editing extremely difficult. Therefore, we suggested GreatBay-SCIE to use S. cerevisiae to express their genes. In addition, we helped GreatBay-SCIE to master CRISPR-Cas9 technology in S. cerevisiae and provided GreatBay-SCIE with genome positions for insertion, relevant protocol, and a vector plasmid in S. cerevisiae that we proved to be usable and efficient.
Experiments Modeling Hardware
As LINKS_China composes of team members throughout the entire China and even students abroad, we lack many students to prepare and perform the experiments. Therefore, GreatBay-SCIE often provided us with a variety of prepared materials such as petri dishes, pipette tips, etc. Moreover, GreatBay-SCIE guided us with protein purification experiments, a fundamental process in our Sunburn Repair section.
A petri dish of wild type yeast GreatBay-SCIE provided to LINKS_China. We brought this dish to several of our exhibitions.
The lack of modeling experts had bothered LINKS_China for a long time. Fortunately, GreatBay-SCIE, which consists of multiple modeling experts, was willing to instruct us on multiple modeling methods and completed their pathway modeling together with us to provide experience to our team members.
LINKS_China, on the other hand, provided assists to GreatBay-SCIE in the design and production of hardware devices. Our advisor, Shuhan Ming, inspired and participated in the design of GreatBay-SCIE’s hardware and modeling on CAD programs in order for it to be 3-D printed.
Our advisor Shuhan Ming hosted a meeting to participate in designing GreatBay-SCIE's hardware.
Exhibition
After the school year begun, GreatBay-SCIE planned to host an exhibition at SCIE. We decided to enlarge the scale of the exhibition to increase the influence and facilitate GreatBay-SCIE with certain preparations. GreatBay-SCIE provided us with a venue for promoting our project and synthetic biology as well as several designs of posters. In return, we helped GreatBay-SCIE plan and set up the exhibition at SCIE. Under the collaboration of the teams, we were able to successfully spread knowledge of synthetic biology as well as raise awareness of problems and our proposed solutions. This exhibition inspired LINKS_China, and by using some resources provided by GreatBay_SCIE, our team members organized exhibitions and mini-lectures at multiple different schools, including BIPH, BIHZ, BISZ, Yucai High School, High School affiliated to Shenzhen Normal University, Guangdong Country Garden School.
Our members helped SCIE set up their exhibition.
Exhibition at High School affiliated to Shenzhen Normal University inspired by our exhibition with SCIE.
SCIE's exhibition spread synthetic biology knowledge and raised interest toward this subject and iGEM competition.
It is a great pleasure to work with GreatBay-SCIE throughout the 2022 iGEM season. The mutual relationship we maintained with team GreatBay-SCIE greatly facilitated the development and promotion of our project. We hope that we can maintain this positive relationship even after the iGEM competition to create products that could benefit the human society and environment.
Keystone
Even though KEYSTONE members are far away in Beijing, we had constantly and continually been engaged with online meetings. Thus, we were able to develop a through understanding of each other’s project and establish a firm partnership relationship. Throughout the iGEM season, we forged multiple solutions and solved multiple issues together.
In order to expand the practical usage of our product, especially of the sunburn repair section, we needed information regarding the possibility of animal experiments. KEYSTONE quickly responded to our needs and contacted dermatologist Dr. Wang for more information and introduced her to our team. Dr. Wang’s diverse experience regarding animal experiment of dermal repair allowed us to efficiently access critical information that were professionally approved in matters of sunburn repair.
Like in our partnership with GreatBay-SCIE, our advisor, Shuhan Ming, helped KEYSTONE with hardware. Shuhan and our team members assisted KEYSTONE to design and develop blueprints and models, thus playing an important role in the composition and planning of KEYSTONE’s hardware.
Our advisor Shuhan Ming and LINKS_China teams members discussing potential hardware plans with KEYSTONE teams members
In addition, KEYSTONE and LINKS_China helped each other out in planning large-scaled school exhibition. After LINKS_China proposed the idea with KEYSTONE, KEYSTONE provided us with past-exhibition plans and coursework associated with the basics of synthetic biology, laying the keystone of many of our lectures and introduction of synthetic biology. LINKS_China, in return, provided KEYSTONE with posters that introduces synthetic biology made together by LINKS_China and GreatBay-SCIE. Moreover, LINKS_China, with the large-scaled exhibition at multiple schools, helped promote KEYSTONE’s project.
KEYSTONE's exhibition.
Although our exhibitions are different to a great extent, LINKS_China and KEYSTONE constantly discussed about the exhibition and helped each other with planning the exhibitions.
KEYSTONE provided us with their planning of previous exhibitions and activities to aid our exhibitions.
We sincerely thank team KEYSTONE for the support given for human practice and for cooperating with us for the 2022 iGEM season. We hope that we could continue our partnership even after iGEM to build a better future.