Team
The members of the 2022 Stony Brook University iGEM Team
Collaborations
From creating a scientific journal, to exchanging lab protocols, to creating a children’s workbook, the Stony Brook iGEM team has collaborated with around fifteen different teams from across the world, forming deep bonds and working to bring everyone in the iGEM community together in a productive and collaborative way. The Stony Brook iGEM team aimed to give every team the same enthusiasm and passion we gave to our own project, and worked together with these teams to achieve the goal of furthering the advancement of synthetic biology research. This included collaborations in the dry lab, wet lab, educational, and outreach aspects of our project. Every single one of the teams we met with, and each of the collaborations we participated in, have been extremely helpful towards our experiment, and we would not be where we are today without them.
Journal Collaboration
One of our largest educational and collaborative initiatives was the creation of a scientific journal designed for the use and consumption of the general public. Through this journal we sought to investigate social and health disparities, and address the societal implications of synthetic biology. In order to do this, we worked with 9 different iGEM teams from around the world, who each contributed an article about their project and its social relevance. The iGEM teams who contributed to our journal are listed below with the titles of their articles:
- iGEM Arizona State University (USA): A Complicated History of Heavy Metal Contamination in Arizona Groundwater
- iGEM Ashesi-Ghana (Ghana): An Affordable & Fast Approach to Gold Prospecting in Ghana
- iGEM EmpireGene (USA): Disproportionate Prevalence of Stroke in the United States
- iGEM GEMS Taiwan (Taiwan): Fusarium Won’t: A Solution to the Banana Crisis
- iGEM IISER Tirupati (India): The Diagnosis and Detection of PCOS
- iGEM IIT Roorkee (India): Accessible HPV detection - A Game Changer in the Prevention of Cervical Cancer
- iGEM Queens University (Canada): The Connection Between Freshwater Inequities and Healthcare Disparities for Canadian Indigenous Peoples
- iGEM Tec-Monterrey (Mexico): Inequality in the Mexican Health System and its Repercussions in Antibiotic Resistance; sRNA Designer: Thermodynamical Characterization and Scoring of Small Non-Coding RNAs
- iGEM XMU-China, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University (China): Shrimp Farming Calls for Urgent Help
iGEM Tec-Monterrey
iGEM Yale University
iGEM IISER Tirupati
iGEM GEMS Taiwan
iGEM EmpireGene
We met with almost every team involved in the journal collaboration, and created specific guidelines and expectations for the articles. Then, each team submitted their article, which was extensively edited, reviewed, and fact-checked, then sent back for confirmation that it aligned with the team’s goals. Finally, some teams would translate their articles into languages that could be understood by their local communities, and each team helped with the distribution and dissemination of the journal once it had been compiled. Additionally, some teams aided with the creation of graphics and images to be used throughout the journal.
Mathematical Modeling Guide
We developed a guide specifically for current and future iGEM teams to help them with basic mathematical modeling. Our team in particular struggled with this aspect of the project, and sought to make it more accessible and understandable for future teams. We created and shared this guide with multiple teams including iGEM Ashesi-Ghana, iGEM UCSC, and iGEM UNAM Bilkent. You can read more about these interactions on our Partnerships page. You can also view our guide to mathematical modeling below.
iGEM URochester
We collaborated closely with the University of Rochester’s iGEM team to create and distribute a children’s workbook about synthetic biology. This included biweekly meetings to develop and curate content for the workbook in order to make synthetic biology more accessible and understandable for elementary to middle school aged children. Each team developed 5-6 interactive worksheets, fun fact sheets, and worked together to develop a table of contents.
Then, both teams worked together to distribute the workbook to teachers, schools, and educational institutions around New York State. We also planned on uploading it to Amazon in order to properly distribute it to a larger audience. You can read more about the goals and design of the workbook on our Education and Communication Page.
iGEM URochester
iGEM GEMS Taiwan
In addition to collaborating on our journal project, we discussed the use and distribution of infographics with the iGEM GEMS Taiwan team. Both teams engaged in collaborative discussion where we shared and offered feedback on our graphics, and also distributed the work of each team on our social media accounts and to our local communities.
iGEM Queens University
For August 9th, also known as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we participated in an instagram collaboration challenge with Queen's University iGEM. August 9 is a time of education, celebration, and amplification of the accomplishments of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Our outreach initiatives included interactions with local indigenous communities to learn how we can help make healthcare more accessible and inclusive for these populations. Therefore, when Queen's University approached us with this idea, we were immediately excited. The goal was for participating teams to help flood Instagram with the scientific accomplishments of each of our country’s Indigenous peoples. We created a post, and on August 9 posted it with the hashtagI #IDWIPqGEM2022. Our post can be seen below. Eleven other teams from around the world participated in this challenge!
Further Partnerships
Throughout the course of our project, we collaborated extensively with four teams: iGEM UCSC, iGEM EmpireGene, iGEM Ashesi-Ghana, and iGEM Bilkent UNAM. These teams helped shape the design and execution of our project significantly, and we similarly aided them, resulting in long-lasting and meaningful partnerships which we felt extended beyond a simple collaboration.
iGEM EmpireGene
The EmpireGene iGEM team first reached out to us in mid-May to collaborate. Since then, we have engaged in numerous zoom calls, and even in-person meetings. Our teams collaborated extensively in our education and communication initiatives, dry lab, and even in the wiki portion of our project. In particular, the EmpireGene team contributed to our scientific journal, contributed to our protein modeling, and helped us translate some of our articles into various languages. We also helped mentor the younger team, bringing them to the Stony Brook University campus, giving them a tour, and helping them take advantage of the resources our university has to offer young scientists.
iGEM UCSC
We were contacted by the iGEM UCSC team because they were also working on producing a natural protein found in the human body. Over the summer, our two teams have collaborated in many aspects of our respective projects including in areas such as dry lab and wet lab. In particular, they helped us explore the idea of expressing our protein in yeast, which is not something we had previously considered.
iGEM UCSC
iGEM Ashesi-Ghana
We were intrigued by Ashesi-Ghana’s project, which included developing a biosensor to improve gold-mining prospects in Africa. Through multiple meetings and correspondence over email, we significantly helped them develop their mathematical model. They further helped us explore the possibility of developing a biosensor for the detection of protein S in the bloodstream in order to reduce costs of current tests and streamline the diagnosis process, which is currently very complex and inaccurate. They also contributed to our scientific journal and helped with distribution.
iGEM Bilkent-UNAM
Disclaimer: This team withdrew from the iGEM competition, but is still planning on continuing their research independently. We would like to include them as a collaborator and partner because they have influenced our project significantly, and despite them not competing anymore, we also had an impact on their work. At the very least, we want to thank them for such a fruitful and engaging collaboration, and we wish them the best of luck with their project!
The iGEM Bilkent-UNAM team helped us translate a variety of our materials into languages including Turkish and Russian. They translated some of our journal articles and our algorithm for protein S deficiency testing. We exchanged wet lab protocols with them, and each team helped troubleshoot for the others. They also helped review our protein modeling work and gave us feedback on our methods and results. We translated their synthetic biology children’s book into languages including Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Gujarati, and Hindi, and also gave them our mathematical modeling guide to aid in the dry lab aspect of their project.
iGEM UNAM
