The iGEM team this year from the University of Bath team is engineering bacteria to absorb phosphate from wastewater, which is then released into the soil and secrete back the phosphate to be taken up by the plants. Their idea focuses on recycling phosphate, which is a valuable nutrient for plants but often ends up in wastewater in high concentration only to cause pollution in waterways.

Our projects share a common ground where we’re both aiming to uptake phosphate from wastewater using our bacteria. In our first meeting, we discussed each team’s project and found the common ground to be phosphate uptake through the bacterial system. This similarity has led us to having a further consideration of collaboration, and we started brainstorming how we could help each other improve. One shared thought we had was regarding presenting our projects and conveying our ideas well at the Grand Jamboree. Therefore, we established a presentation practice session to be held once a month and give each other feedback to refine our presentation skills. These sessions also served to update on progress and give feedback on each other’s phosphate uptake system.

For more information on their project, check out their wiki page using the link below:

In the first presentation practice session, each team presented their project and their progress in each aspect of their projects (i.e., human practices, dry lab and wet lab). We shared feedback mainly on the presentation skills and the structure, including from guest panels that were invited. Our sessions provided valuable practice for the Grand Jamboree presentation and led to further collaboration such as virtual symposium, due to our similarity in projects.

Feedback form received from Bath team for first session: