Meetup

1. The 6th Southern China Regional Meeting

SZU-China has been hosting the Southern China Regional Meeting since 2017. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were forced to reduce the scale of the conference this year. Finally, we turned the meeting into a combination of online and offline mode. We are committed to providing a platform for iGEM teams to share and learn from each other.

Figure 1. Meeting brochure

A total of 12 teams took part in the conference. In the morning session, the participating teams introduced their projects, answered questions from other teams and made suggestions to other teams. During the afternoon session, teams could discuss future cooperation possibilities.

Figure 2. Photos of meeting

At the Southern China Regional Meeting, we got to know many like-minded teams and gained many novel ideas. We chatted very well with the team members from CUHKSZ. It was this meeting that laid the foundation for our partnership.

Figure 3. Group photo

It is worth mentioning that we also designed exquisite gifts for each participating team and gave them in the form of lottery. Presents included badges, postcards and key rings.

Figure 4. Giving our presents

2. iGEM Meeting Up

On May 1st this year, we participated in iGEM Meeting Up hosted by ZJU-China, CPU-China, ZJUintl-China, ZJUT-China and HiZJU-China. The event was held online, and 21 teams signed up to participate and share their projects.

At this meeting, we realized that RNAi encapsulated by liposomes is expensive. Therefore, we went back to the search for new and cheap materials, and finally set our eyes on carbon nano-tube. At the same time, we realized that our plans for prevention and treatment with Trichoderma atroviride and RNAi, respectively, were not clear enough. As a result of that, we rewrote a more complete story line.

Moreover, we got to know HiZJU-China and NJU-China at this conference. We shared the same agricultural theme with HiZJU-China, at the same time, used RNAi technology consistent with NJU-China. As a result of that, we connected with the two teams and it both grew into partnership.

Figure 5. Slides for meeting up

3. The 9th China Regional CCIC

In August, we participated in the 9th China Regional CCiC sponsored by ShanghaiTech-China. Because of the severity of the pandemic, the conference was held online.

Figure 6. The sign of ccic

CCiC(Conference of China iGEMer Community) is a national summit independently initiated by Chinese iGEM participating teams, aiming to provide a platform for participating iGEM teams to share resources and promote mutual learning and communication. This year, more than 85 teams shared their projects. CCIC provides a high-level communication platform for young Chinese synthetic biology enthusiasts.

Figure 7. We are sharing our project

Teamwork

1. SUSTech-Shenzhen

Due to our geographical proximity, we have maintained a good relationship with SUSTech-Shenzhen over the years. In March, we had a brainstorming meeting with SUSTech-Shenzhen, in which we shared our team's brainstorming thoughts and made suggestions to each other. This laid a good foundation for our project conception.

Figure 8. Slides for the meeting

After both teams had established our projects, we had another communication. At the meeting, we made a preliminary analysis of each other's projects and discussed the difficulties we encountered at the present stage. Both sides gained a lot. For us, SUSTech-Shenzhen had a lot of unique insights into human practices so that we have refined our future arrangements for human practices, and we had more enthusiasm and motivation to organize activities.

The communication went so well that in May we decided to collaborate on a pamphlet which aims to make more people aware of the appeal of Synthetic Biology. We put the finished products in large quantities under the dormitory, teaching building and library, for all interested people to read at will.

Figure 9. Pamphlet on Synthetic Biology

2. BNUZH-China

Thanks to the introduction of the last iGEM team member, we got to know the BNUZH-China and started to contact with them. After some short messages, we successively held several online meetings to introduce our projects and give advice to each other.

Early in the design of the project, we decided to produce small RNA molecules to enable RNAi. When communicating with the BNUZH-China, they considered that the inhibitory effect and absorption efficiency of siRNA by pathogens might not be high. So they suggested that we should take certain measures to ensure the stability of siRNA molecules, such as producing shRNA, especially in the complex environment of the field. After synthesizing BNUZH-China and various opinions, we decided to use shRNA as our second-generation RNAi effector molecule.

At the same time, the initial co-culture experiment of BNUZH-China cells and bacterial cellulose membrane was not successful. We pointed out that there may be the following reasons: the thickness of the membrane was too large so that the alkaline substances and impurities in the pores of the membrane were difficult to clean. The membrane was not washed to be completely neutral before use. Or if the autoclaved membrane was not purified before co-culture with cells, and it was soaked in medium directly after cutting, which results in contamination. Therefore, the BNUZH-China improved their experimental method: used 1-2mm sterilized neutral membrane, soaked in 75% alcohol for 24h before co-culture, then washed three times with PBS, and soaked in medium for 24h. In this way, the co-culture experiments showed that the cells grew normally on the membrane.

Figure 10. Screenshot of online meeting

3. XJTU-China

After a meeting with CSU-China, XJTU-China and CAU-China, we were surprised to find that both we and XJTU-China were working on agriculture-related projects. So we decided to start a collaboration right after the meeting.

Figure 11. Online meeting

This year, XJTU-China focused on herbicides. Meanwhile, we happened to go to Huizhou, Guangdong for farmland investigation. Therefore, we collected the questions that XJTU-China was interested in, asked the experts and sorted out the answers for them.

XJTU-China sought a professor from Northwest A&F University for us. We asked him about the resistance to biopesticides and the safety of pesticides designed by ourselves. Finally, we received valuable answers for our project.

Figure 12. We are interviewing Prof. Hu

We also collaborated with HiZJU-China, CUHKSZ and NJU-China. For more details, please check the Partnership page.