We partnered with team Tokyo Tech.
We went beyond collaboration and worked with them toward a common goal and improved our mutual projects. Here is a step-by-step description of how working with them has had a great impact on our 2022 projects.
May - Discussion of each other's projects from the previous year
We were both members of the iGEM Japan team community, so we contacted each other through there. At the time, we had not yet decided on the content of our projects and were still thinking about what kind of project we wanted to do. We started by reading each other's wikis and exchanging ideas: the Tokyo Tech team was working on eradicating tooth decay, and we were working on detecting gases by fluorescence. We advised each other on the content and wikis of each other's projects. This was a very useful time for us to think about the content of this year's projects. We decided to meet twice a month to update each other on the progress of our projects.
June - Discovering Common Goals (1)
We decided to generate biogas from cow manure and other resources in the surrounding environment of the university. Tokyo Tech had also decided to proceed with a project to predict dengue virus epidemics. We decided to focus our attention on Southeast Asia because of the similarities between our idea of introducing biogas in developing countries where infrastructure is not well developed and dengue virus epidemic areas in tropical and subtropical regions (especially those where it is difficult to introduce large machinery). We mutually researched each other's economic situation in Southeast Asia, and we also gained an understanding of the situation in the infrastructure, medical, and agricultural sectors, specifically the depletable resource problem + medical infrastructure, which we reflected in our mutual humanpractice.
July - Discovery of Common Goals (2)
By this time, both parties had solidified their projects and began to think about a partnership that was more focused on the essence of the project. During the meeting, Tokyo Tech asked us how to quantitatively analyze the fluorescence of cells. Since we were doing quantitative measurement of cell fluorescence in 2021, I showed them the difference between fluorescent proteins and luciferase from our last year's project. Specifically, we thought that luciferase might be more appropriate for a portable device than a fluorescent protein. However, we concluded that fluorescent proteins might be better for gene conversion efficiency and stability as sensors, and we discussed ways to make fluorescent proteins practical. I also taught them how to do molecular biological MODELING and MODELING for predicting infectious diseases. After obtaining this information, Tokyo Tech conducted experiments and shared the information obtained, which was beneficial to both parties. We also gave a lecture on the difficulties of taking biosensors out into the field as hardware.
August - Survey of local conditions
The first of our common goals
“To collaborate with other teams with similar end-users to research and solve problems in the field.”
In order to achieve this goal, the teams interviewed university professors and other experts.
- ・Methods that use large machines are not preferred
- ・Prefer methods that are cost-effective to implement
- ・If either of the above can be achieved, there is a strong possibility that a need exists.
We received useful information such as the following. Therefore, we had a discussion about "how Hardware should be", which resulted in improved development of Hardware for social implementation. Tokyo Tech shared several papers on the current status and limitations of local healthcare. Tokyo Tech shared several papers on the current status and limitations of local healthcare.
September - Mutual Cooperation in Fluorescence Observation
The second of our common goals
”to cooperate with each other on methods and modeling for quantitative analysis of cell fluorescence.”
To achieve this goal, we met frequently with each other's hardware teams beyond our regular bimonthly meetings.
We offered the following advice to the Tokyo Tech team
- ・There are many biological containment issues when dealing with synthetic organisms.
- ・When using light as a sensor, it is sometimes difficult to quantify.
- ・When using fluorescence, it is difficult to create an independent sensor using only living organisms.
- ・Propose equations that can be used as a basis for molecular modeling.
Based on this advice, Tokyo Tech team has successfully improved Hardware and Software on fluorescence detection. We also asked Tokyo Tech to provide us with data on the medical applications of the biosensors we were going to work with, as feedback after completing last year's project: "Can you tell me how much difference there is between fluorescence and luminescence emitted by a cell? We asked Tokyo Tech to provide us with the results of their experiments, comparing the fluorescence of their detection kit, especially EGFP fluorescence, with a paper analyzing the number of cells by luciferin luminescence instead of fluorescence.
