To us, iGEM is not only a competition but also an opportunity to communicate and cooperate with other iGEMers. This year, Tongji_China actively communicated with several teams and institutions to help solve the problems of each other and build a good relationship with these teams.

1. On January, Team members visited the Bluepha's laboratory. Under their introduction, we learned a lot about the basic operation methods of the common instruments in the laboratory and the general ideas for carrying out scientific research projects. We also discussed some interesting iGEM projects with them. We had a preliminary understanding of the iGEM competition after this visit.

2. On March 1st, We held the second topic selection meeting and invited senior researchers from Bluepha. They put forward constructive suggestions and innovative ideas for our topic selection, which inspired us to carry out research from the perspective of the market and learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of the existing products with similar functions. With their help, we narrowed the scope of the topics.

On the first of may, in the meeting up, each iGEM team introduced their projects and current progress , and actively communicated and established partnership in the after meeting communication section. Through exchanging ideas with various teams, we finally determined the direction of our project and obtained many valuable information.

In July, We had an in-depth online communication with the FAFU. Two teams briefly introduced their own projects and raised questions and the corresponding solutions about the problems in projects.

They helped us with:
The contact information of the relevant experts in the feed field.

We helped them with:
Provided them with information about the epidemic situation in Shanghai to help them make progress in their project.

Since the chassis microbes selected by us are Bacillus subtilis and we both select the same track, we have had many exchanges and cooperation. Help each other in experiments and exchange progress.

On July:
Conducted preliminary communication and established subsequent partnership. They recommended WB800 strain to us.

On August:
They recommended the integrated plasmids and the chemical methods for transformation. Because of the selectivity of the different promoters, they recommend that we can select several promoters and test several signal peptides. At the same time, it is suggested that we may study the project which they did in 2012, which also uses Bacillus subtilis as the chassis microbes.

In May, the partnership was established and many rounds of communication were conducted. Since the chassis microorganisms selected by both parties are Bacillus subtilis and the selected strains are WB800N, we have partnered with Shangjiao on the technology roadmap. (To learn more: Partnership Page)

Established relationship in April(To learn more: Partnership Page). Due to the epidemic situation, it was very difficult to organize activities in junior high schools and senior high schools in Shanghai. We contacted CUHKSZ and established cooperation of organizing joint publicity and exchange activities. (To learn more: Education Page)