Partnership
This year, we were fortunate to establish two amazing partnerships with iGEM WHU-China and iGEM NAU-China. This kind of collaborative work informed and shaped our project as we kept in close contact with each other at different stages throughout the season. It was enjoyable and unforgettable for all of us to progress with our fellow iGEMers. You can read more about our partnership in the Partnership section, and please note that not all overlapped content will be included on this page.
Partnership with iGEM WHU-China
iGEM WHU-China focused on the treatment of MDD through secreted SAMe. We got in contact with them for the following three reasons. First of all, we are both on the therapeutic track. Second of all, both of our two projects center around the intestine, applying intestinal probiotics as the chassis. And finally, MDD and ASD are both neurological disorders that can be affected by certain metabolites in the human body.
From ideation to commercialization, we supported one another at different stages by holding online meetings and discussions. Each of us hosted two meetings, and in these four meetings, we shared our design, modeling, and human practices, and posed questions during the process. That enabled us to see our problems and make modifications accordingly. We also organized educational lectures together on MDD and ASD, informing the public about the two conditions and calling for their support.
Another component of our partnership is an online platform where each team member can post their questions or provide an answer to an existing question. Initially named the Intestinal Association, the platform was maintained and used by three teams: iGEM WHU-China, iGEM NJMU-China, and iGEM HZAU-China. Apart from the contacts, introduction, and design of each team, a discussion board was also set up for free discussion on the new findings related to the intestinal microbiota.
The online platform
Partnership with iGEM NAU-China
We collaborated with team NAU-China because they are working on the diagnostic approaches to the early detection of hepatitis. Since we are also trying to build a detection system in the form of testing strips, we figured that it would be beneficial for both teams if we collaborated throughout the season.
Together, we held XX online meetups at each stage of the project before finally meeting offline during the summer break. They also designed a couple of ice-breakers during the meetups, which were unexpected yet truly sweet.
A great challenge that we encountered when designing our testing strip was that our plasmid was too large for a kill switch to fit in. Hearing about this, team NAU-China shared articles on relatively small kill switches that they read about in an effort to help pull us through. Although we did not solve the problem by adding these kill switches, we were still appreciative of their genuine concern.
Our meetup with team NAU-China
Communication
We also carried out collaborative activities with other teams in a more flexible way. We considered this as another form of communication since we had the chance to share our understandings about a particular area with one or more iGEM teams and learn from them to improve ourselves. This year, we worked with a high school team, NFLS_Nanjing, to gain a deeper insight into biosafety and the ethics concerning synthetic biology. Moreover, we joined six other iGEM teams to establish the Gut Alliance.
Discussion on biosafety with NFLS_Nanjing
In order to better implement our project, we organized a discussion on biosafety and related ethics with iGEM Nanjing_NFLS. We talked about the regulations and rules about biosafety both in our country and our city of Nanjing. Additionally, we had a simulated debate on synthetic biological products. Determining whether products of synthetic biology are life or machines helped us have a better understanding of ethics as we tried to launch our project. It was interesting to learn about the different perspectives of high school students and university students and we were able to learn from one another in the discussion.
Discussion on biosafety with iGEM Nanjing_NFLS
The Gut Alliance
During our collaborative work with HZAU-China and WHU-China, we met other iGEM teams that focused on the intestine. Therefore, we decided to establish a formal association for every team that worked on the human gut and named it the Gut Alliance. Besides our team, the initial organizers of this alliance also include NWU-China, HS_China, HZAU-China, LZU-China, NEU-China, and Worldshaper_HZBIOX.
Logo of the Gut Alliance
Together, we developed a website based on the online platform on gut microbiota and tested the website within our alliance.
Meetups
The NIA
On June 4th, we joined iGEM NJU-China, iGEM Nanjing-China, iGEM NJTech- China, iGEM NAU-China, and iGEM CPU-China at the meetup for the Nanjing iGEM Association (NIA) discussion session. The NIA association is formed by six iGEM teams in the city of Nanjing and promotes the idea of sharing, learning, and improving. It is an excellent platform for each team to present their project from design to implementation before taking up questions from other iGEMers.
During the NIA, team NJU-China asked us about the prevalence of mitochondrial dysfunction among autistic children. They were unsure whether this type of dysfunction is associated with ASD based on their understanding of the condition. We answered their question by showing them the articles and databases that we referred to. Members of each team also had a thorough discussion on the pathogenesis of the disorder, based on which we decided to dig deeper into literature and up-to-date statistics to better understand mitochondria's role in the development of ASD. We learned more about ASD ourselves and even found more theoretical bases for our project as well!
The NIA meetup
PDF preview
You can download the PDF by clicking "Download" in the upper right corner after it opened.PDF: The NIA Handbooks(1)👈
PDF: The NIA Handbooks(2)👈
The August 6th to 7th Global Meetup
A month after the NIA meetup, on August 6th, we attended the iGEM global meetup hosted by iGEM Worldshaper-HZ, iGEM ZJU-China, and iGEM ZJUT-China. Due to the pandemic, we were not able to attend the meetup offline in Hangzhou and chose to join everyone on Zoom. Yet, iGEM Worldshaper-HZ was caring enough to send everyone an invitation letter despite so.
The invitation letter
We considered the meetup a great opportunity for us to share our project with many outstanding teams worldwide. Although nobody posed any questions during or after our presentation, we could still make further improvements through communication with other teams during break time. Professor Aiping Pang, who was also invited to the meetup, encouraged us to continue exploring the treatment of ASD via gut microbiota-mediated metabolite.
Meetups on education
Proper and adequate education is the premise for a better world for autistic children. As a consequence, apart from meetups about the more academic aspects of the project, we also took part in two cooperative activities concerning education. One is about the principles that we refer to when conducting educational activities, and the other is basically putting this into practice by educating the public on project-related concepts.
Education & Meetup
On August 5th, we attended a meet-up hosted by iGEM NJTech_China and iGEM NNU-China at Nanjing jiangbei New Area biopharmaceutical Public service Platform. The meetup offered a platform for us to share experiences and learn from one another in terms of education. 5 other teams also participated in the meetup, including NJU-China, NAU-China, NJXDF-CHN, Worldshaper-NJBIOX, and Worldshaper-Nanjing.
Team NNU-China invited Professor Xiaohai Shen, an experienced educator from the School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, to give a lecture at the beginning of the meet-up. Professor Shen offered us suggestions on approaches to human practices and shared tips on altering objects based on the target audience. He also talked about common analytical methods for the data collected from questionnaires and surveys. We were greatly inspired by his lecture and gained a better understanding of education for different groups of people. Experiences from other teams also inspired us a lot in terms of their creativity and inclusivity.
One team member from NNU-China asked us about our principles regarding educational activities. We answered by introducing each activity in the sequence of inspiration, objectives, and execution. This interaction inspired us to sort out our activities when writing our wiki for better delivery. We, in the meantime, were attracted by the application of stop motion animations in the promotion video and other educational materials of team NJTech_China. They provided a step-by-step guideline for making this type of animation and recommended helpful tools in their edition.
Educational lectures on Synthetic biology
This summer holiday, we cooperated with 11 other iGEM teams in an online education program hosted by BUCT-China. The program consisted of 12 lectures divided into five main categories: Synthetic biology and Life, Hair health and Alopecia, Gene editing and Engineering, Synthetic biology in Medicine, and Natural resources and the Environment. The lectures were aimed at educating the public on synthetic biology and its application in other fields.
Our team belonged to the fourth section, and we discussed the possibility of engineering living therapeutics with synthetic biology. We also shared our understanding of new findings in this field.
The program lasted two days, with one hour and twenty minutes allotted for each session. iGEM BUCT-China was able to gather teams from around the country to participate in this online program, and we all enjoyed ourselves in the process.
