Throughout our iGEM journey this year, we have been in close partnership with the McMaster_Canada iGEM team. We collaborated on campaigns that have greatly shaped each of our projects, and we helped each other on various steps throughout the iGEM journey.

Starting up

We helped McMaster_Canada iGEM with starting up this year, from registration and then to troubleshooting. During the iGEM registration process, we shared resources with each other to help reduce costs and to ensure that the process was successful. Our team helped them by overseeing and troubleshooting experimental procedures and protocols related to each of our projects. We also held meetings with them to discuss potential collaborations related to their wet lab and outreach initiatives. Additionally, we oversaw and provided feedback on lab work related to their project.

Discussion on Mental Health

While our project is a therapeutic for cancer, we were also interested in the lived experiences of cancer patients. As described in our articles in the Hamilton Spectator, cancer imposes severe challenges on an individual’s life and the lives of their caretakers. The mental health of cancer patients is often overlooked as it is overshadowed by the physical aspects of the condition.

This year, McMaster_Canada is working on a diagnostic for Major Depressive Disorder. We held a collaborative in-person event with them. This event is an open discussion of mental health: what it means to us, what being “healthy” means, and its relation to physical health. We learned about the individual experiences of some members of their team. This led us to realize the importance of mental health, the uncertainties that come with cancer, and how we should frame our therapy with a more humanistic approach.