Introduction

Besides improving the world with synthetic biology, Mingdao iGEM has faith that the aim of holding this competition does not stop here. Another critical goal is to connect peers who have a craze for biotech from different ages, races, and identities through interactions with each other. Despite enduring this grievous pandemic, the passion for iGEM has never withered between the teams, and we were able to break through all the obstacles, finishing every part of Collaboration at last.

Initially, with CSMU__Taiwan, a team we have collaborated with for a long time, we did a Partnership that lasted for a year along with many other tasks. In addition to this, we also cooperated with teams all over the country, including the creation of a database for short videos with NCHU_Taichung, online exchanges with NCKU_Tainan, participation in the Taiwan iGEMers jamboree, the promotion of local foods with CCU_Taiwan, and the collaboration with GEMS_Taiwan to translate posters.

NCHU_Taichung

Through making short and subtle videos, teams are able to make the public understand synthetic biology and project proposals in a simple and interesting way. As a means of accomplishing this, we collaborated with NCHU_Taichung, a highly professional institution.

In late July, the National Chung Hsing University team contacted us expressing their will to gather all Taiwan iGEM teams' promotion videos and publish them on the Youtube channel "Taiwan iGEM". In response to the project, we depict the experimental process and product, the Phage Drink, within a short animation. Currently, the promotional film is available on Youtube with approximately hundreds of views.

This short film creation and promotion with Chung Hsing University is meaningful cooperation. It allows iGEM teams across Taiwan to promote their own projects and selected topics, which at the same time establishes a platform for the public to communicate and learn. Furthermore, the well-organized layout saves people from researching multiple topics, while the video is interspersed with simple widespread science knowledge to guide students who are interested in iGEM.

CSMU_Taiwan -1(overview for partnership)

After building up our team, one of the first things we did was to contact team CSMU_Taiwan, a nearby collegiate team, looking forward to building the same long-term partnership this year as between mutual teams in previous years. Coincidentally, in the early stage, before both topics were figured out, we found that immunology is what we would like to focus on, so we reached a consensus and recommended each other's instructors to give one another lectures. In the end, not only did we start Phaccine's project under Dr.Ming-Shiou Jan’s inspiration, but also Csmu_Taiwan successfully established their project idea with the suggestion given by Dr. Pei-Hong Chen. Our Partnership began ever since, and it can be distributed into the following stages.

1. Brainstorming: Recommended instructors to each other for advice on the topic (mutually)
2. Wiki examination: Helped each other with layout and content research of web pages (mutually)
3. Wet skills training: Mentored pupils (Lab skills (mutually))
4. Public survey: Helped the other with designing surveys (Mingdao to Csmu_Taiwan), propagate the survey to public (Csmu_Taiwan to Mingdao)
5. Public promotion: Testified the oral vaccine promotion board game (Csmu_Taiwan to Mingdao), collaborated on the Taiwan iGEMers’ theme song(Mingdao to Csmu_Taiwan)
6. Experiment assistance: Re-checked the data of Western blot (Mingdao to Csmu_Taiwan),offered the references for protein purification( Csmu_Taiwan to Mingdao)

See more in our “Partnership” page.

NCKU_Tainan (online meeting)

With the goal to learn more about how iGEM operates, we proposed an online meeting with the experienced NCKU iGEM team. The course started by the presentation of their team project, afterwards, there was a brief discussion on the project. Then it was our team to present, showing them our motivation and what our team had accomplished so far. Lastly, the instructor of team NCKU gave some precious advice on our project.

It’s our deepest gratitude and pleasure to have the opportunity to consult with the acme of Taiwan’s teams—NCKU. Being the champion in the year of 2019, they have long been an indispensable part of iGEM in the nation. Not only did we share our fellow projects of the past few years in this exchange, but also we shared insights on the ones we’re doing this year. The project of their team was absolutely mind-blowing, which inspired us to follow their steps.

On the other hand, they told us “With the choice of edible vaccines for the topic, team Mingdao has the potential to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus and the lack of vaccines in rural areas. Meanwhile, it is surely innovative for you to use probiotics methods for vaccines. We hope to stay in contact with your team and continue to follow your project!” Looking forward to the model conference in August, we sincerely hope to value each chance of exchange, listen to different opinions and voices, and exceed our expectations.

NCKU_Tainan 2022 and Taiwan iGEMers Jamboree

With the competition around the corner, our team still lacks the experience of presenting formally. Thus, we decided to join the simulated jamboree initiated by NCKU, a well established school in Taiwan, held for all Taiwan teams, hoping to gain experience from our seniors and become accustomed to how the activity works. To accomplish this, we put a lot of effort into the thing, making slides that feature our motivation, wet lab, human practices, dry lab, and our future goals.

During the jamboree, we successfully pulled off our presentation. Initially, we were not so familiar with explaining the complex idea of our experiments to others, but we still had our poster and slides done with the faith that we hoped to enhance the understanding between others and us, and finally get loads of positive feedback from other teams. Though it’s a tiring and challenging business, we still managed to make it on time. This novel experience really boosted our confidence and our ability to perform in front of the public.

Additionally, it was such great pleasure to see college teams presenting their project, especially when they explained the principles behind their experiment. So professional and accurate were the statistics, such as the gene parts and the electrophoresis graph. Thus, we took this great opportunity to meet with various other teams in Taiwan and as a result, we collaborated with them later on.

CCU_Taiwan

With the aim of combining local Taiwanese delicacies and the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, we created the “ Taro rice noodle soup,” which is a unique, nutritious and easy-to-be-made treat, after doing research on related information. We sincerely hope that with the joint efforts with CCU_Taiwan, more people will be able to enjoy delicious foods while staying healthy.

In order to meet the requirements of “protecting the cardiovascular system,” we started with ingredients that are beneficial for our heart and vessels. However, the feasibility of it is also to be considered. Lastly, we decided to first target taros, which are good for our body and are the local specialties in Taichung. After skimming through recipes and eliminating ones not matching up, we finally came up with the revised Taro rice noodle soup. We prepared the food based on recipes online, but due to the modification of many ingredients–some of which we had never cooked before–the process was a bit chaotic. However, fortunately, the final product is very delicious and very successful.

Using English as the primary language, we did our best to lay out the procedures as clearly as we could. We believe that this dish can be successfully prepared by both novice cooks and foreigners who are unfamiliar with Chinese culinary techniques and ingredients. It is our pleasure to cooperate with CCU_Taiwan, and finish the recipe. Our inspiration came from Taichung’s local specialty–taro, which is then made into the revisioned rice noodle soup with a recipe available for the public to cook at home. Through this collaboration, the public could not only have healthy diets, but also be informed about iGEM, a highly professional activity, which is indeed an opportunity that is hard to come by.

GEMS_Taiwan

Our vision is to translate the English Poster into three different languages in order to allow people in East Asia who are not familiar with English to comprehend our entire plan. As a result, we are looking forward to receiving more responses from abroad.

Through the IGEMers Conference that was hosted by Cheng Kung University during 8/22-8/23, the gems were interested in our experiment poster; therefore, they proposed to collaborate with Mingdao for translation. Since Gems had contacted two teams from Thailand and South Korea, they will be assisting us on translating into Chinese, Thai, and Korean–maximizing the fluency in a native speakers’ tone. We set up the IGEM website by posting four language versions of the posters on the website and further promoting those posters while expanding our target audiences.

We deeply appreciate the opportunity that Gems has given us; it is an honor to be involved in this translation plan. From our perspective, students often encounter high threshold criteria of English technical terms to be engaged in Bio Tech activities. By overcoming language barriers through promoting multi-language posters, we are able to internationalize our products and also encourage teenagers to participate in IGEM.

CSMU_Taiwan -2(theme song)

Taiwan IGEMers' theme song collaboration

The theme song was composed by the team of Chung Shan Medical University(CSMU) and sung by Taiwan IGEM teams to promote the iGEM competition with an effective, simple method.

The lyrics' content combines the mood, internal mind, and day-to-day moment as an iGEMer. Even though we did not have the chance to meet up during the recording process due to the pandemic, the voice combination of different teams symbolized the spirit as part of iGEM. Moreover, we provided the daily routine of the Mingdao iGEM team, aiming to bring scientific experiments into daily life and to express the fact that iGEM was not as unachievable as we initially thought.

As a iGEM team from Taiwan, everyone had put in their own effort into the promotion of iGEM. We are hoping, by producing the theme song of iGEMer's heart, we will successfully spark the curiosity of people of various cultures about the competition. All in all, in the process of negotiating with CSMU, not only did our team become immersed in the connotation of the song, we also felt the centripetal force of Taiwan iGEMers.

CSMU–Fun Vax. board game

To satisfy our goal to enhance Taiwan's local citizens' basic knowledge of vaccines and biotechnology, the team came up with a board game named Fun Vax. for the purpose of promoting biological knowledge. Moreover, to maximize the efficiency of the game, we invited students–regardless of age and education level– from Chung Shan Medical University(CSMU) who have held many topic-related workshops to serve as play-testers to indicate the area for improvement.

During the process of guide playtesting, the members of CSMU found the rules too complicated. Gameplay such as numerical complexity and viral characteristics can easily confuse players making the educational purpose of the game ineffective. Combining the suggestions and game features given by game testers, we decided to introduce different levels of difficulty so that players can choose according to their own needs.As a result, we developed three levels of the board game, includes Hard(for middle school or above), Intermediate(for middle school or above), and Easy( for elementary school) , see more details in our Education & “Communication” page.

Even though the board game's content has been simplified, younger children still found it challenging because it requires some mathematical knowledge. TCM's counsel helped us understand the needs of various people by drawing on their expertise in hosting educational workshops, and it has been a huge benefit to us in the following promotions in elementary schools.

1. Hard, for middle school or above
2. Intermediate, for middle school or above
3. Easy, for elementary school

Conclusion

A myriad of collaborations could be found throughout the whole process of preparing for the competition. While we strive to promote IGEM, synthetic biology, and even our homeland, our team does not forget to obtain something valuable from these experiences.

For example, the long term collaborative relationship with CSMU helped us gain the ability to do western blot by ourselves and also had our boardgame checked deliberately. Insightful discussions of project topics with NCKU also helped our team adjust and identify the core values of the Phaccine. Additionally, during the IGEMers assembly, not only did our team examine the experiment content, but we also promoted the utility of bacteriophage.

Moreover, while the team benefited from the mentioned collaborations, we also assisted the society in multiple ways. Mingdao iGEM strongly believes in the importance of assisting each other and that the collaborations we’ve done has helped synthetic biology to assimilate into our daily lives as well as generating different social value with the community.