Attributions

The team

Being part of the iGEM INSA-UPS Toulouse team requires motivation and complete engagement from each member from the beginning of the brainstorming to the Jamboree. A selection was accordingly made by the PI team to recruit the student team. Each candidate student had to fill a form which included a resume, a cover letter and a draft of a project proposal valuable in the iGEM context. We presented these elements in English during an interview with the instructors so they could evaluate our skills, motivation and eventually define our future role in the team. We therefore have diverse and complementary profiles to be able to help each others with the iGEM tasks.

In January, we started the brainstorming sessions by sorting each project draft and searching novel ideas. We read a lot of bibliography, consulted specialists and conducted studies of feasibility. This led to the progressive elimination of many preliminary proposals while the idea to work on allergies soon emerged. After defining the outlines of our DAISY project, we next agreed on a mascot, a corporate identity, a graphic design including our mascot as well as strategies for human practices and entrepreneurship. We also spent time designing all the experimental plans to be prepared for our benchwork. From June to September, we performed all the experiments. In August, we started the redaction of the deliverables and built the wiki. Every week from January to October we also had weekly meetings as a team, including our advisors and PI.

iGEM Toulouse policy

The project concept fully emerged from the students team. All the work including funding and finance management, considerations about human practices, communication efforts, laboratory manipulations, results analysis as well as modeling was carried out by us, the students. Our instructors and advisors brought us precious help to mature our ideas, giving advice about science and all the other aspects related to our iGEM project, teaching us the required laboratory techniques and giving us feedback concerning all of our communication supports.

We were fully involved in the project during a year from the beginning of selections, in November 2021, until the Jamboree in October 2022. We had to manage ourselves to raise funds for the project, including the wage for each student member during the summer internship. This last item accounts for the major part of our budget but represents an important reward for our hard work and dedication. It also means that we could not afford a big student roster. We would like here again to thank our main sponsors warmly: Le Catalyseur, TBI, TWB, INSA Toulouse Foundation, the UPS Research Commission, Allergobox and Adisseo.

Team members

Charline Baraban

Communication leader

She was involved in all the communication aspects of our project: managing our social media, contacting the press and writing the newsletter for our sponsors. She was in constant contact with other iGEM teams and met a lot of them to discuss about possible collaborations, especially with iGEM Thessaloniki. She also was, with Juliette, the main organizer of the French meetup and wrote the “How to meet up” document alongside teams Hamburg and Münster. She additionally created the models of bacteria in polystyrene with Juliette. She helped Laure with the storyboard of the presentation video. Charline helped to edit the “Cracking Allergies” videos and added subtitles in both English and French. She helped Morgane and Laure with the wiki by designing the pages. In the wet lab, she focused on the cloning of the allergens Gal d 2 and Ara h 2 and conducted experiments about FACS.

Thomas Crestey

Finance leader

He contacted universities, laboratories, companies and private funds to help us collect the necessary budget for the smooth running of the project. He also managed all our income and expenses and made sure we would never run out of money throughout the year. He was involved in the dry lab effort with Raphaël and Laure by establishing the equations then simulation for the experimental design. He also was responsible for ordering the necessary materials during our experiments. In the wet lab part, he focused on the cloning of the DARPin and proving it was on the membrane of the bacteria, then conducted aggregation assays with Laure. To finish the wetlab rush, he did surface control experiments to try to show presence of allergens and DARPin on the surface.

Raphaël Fruchard

Modeling leader

He was deeply involved in our modeling effort. He had a lot of weekly meetings with Thomas, Laure and Pierre. He adapted the aggregation model to represent our bacteria interactions and did a lot of bibliography concerning the dry lab project. He was also in charge of managing the autoclaves and checking that we had enough cones and sterile material. In the wet lab, he was involved in the Interlab experiments with Juliette. He also focused on the cloning of Der p 1, cloning RFP on allergen strain and conducted experiments about surface controls.

Guillaume Gomez

Wet lab leader

He designed almost all the primers and sequences for the project on Benchling. He also was in charge of ordering materials for the project. He created the planning for all the experiments and wrote the protocols. He supervised our experiments because of his past laboratory experiences and always managed to find solutions to our problems. He was more precisely focused on molecular biology experiments to help all the team to build the allergen bank and the DARPin.

Samy Kohil

Entrepreneurship leader

He had several meetings for entrepreneurship with Juliette. He conducted all the reflections about how to implement our project in the health industry. He also was at the origin of the idea behind the project and the bibliography master of the team. He edited the presentation video and created the logo. For the wet lab, he focused on the cloning of the allergen Ana o 3 with Morgane, and the control of the presence of sfGFP on the surface of DARPin strain.

Laure Lamothe

Organization leader

She was in charge of organizing the weekly meetings and taking notes to keep track of our verbal exchanges. She had the important task of making sure that we respected all of the official iGEM deadlines. She was also involved in the dry lab efforts alongside Raphaël and Thomas. She prepared the storyboard and took care of filming the presentation video. She drew the bacteria we used in our graphic charter and the first draft of Daisy. She did the animation of the logo and of the FACS for the video. In the wet lab, she focused on the cloning of the DARPin and trying to prove it was displayed the membrane surface with Thomas. She also made sure that we completed the lab book everyday. At the end, she tested aggregation on droplets.

Juliette Royer

Human Practices leader

She was the brain behind the conception of the polystyrene models of our bacteria that she created with Charline. She also was a key member in the organization of the French meetup. She organized most of our encounters with expert researchers and took care of writing a conclusion after each meeting with them. She also contacted schools, scientific exhibitions and tutors for us to present our project to them. She wrote 10 scripts for our education videos “Cracking Allergies”, directed the filming and edited the videos with Charline. She also created the poster for the European meetup in Hamburg and the presentation slides for the French meetup. She helped Samy with meetings for entrepreneurship. She organized practice lab work in high school with Laure. In the wet lab, she conducted the Interlab experiments with Raphaël and focused on the cloning of the allergen Der p 1, then red fluorescent on allergen strain, and aggregation assays.

Morgane Tassaint

Wiki leader

Morgane worked half-time with us, so every morning she came to the lab, then in the afternoon, she was involved in coding the big majority of the wiki with the design help from Laure and Charline. She gave life to all the design ideas we had for the website and trained us to implement the content. For the wet lab, she focused on the cloning of the allergen Ana o 3 with Samy.

Instructors

Brice Enjalbert

INSA teacher and researcher at TBI, BLADE team

He is our PI as well as our referent instructor for the Organization and HP items… but he was involved in many more areas. He was a great help during the brainstorming to sort the most promising ideas. He is always present to advise us and correct a lot of things even on Sundays at 8 a.m!

Ambre Jousselin

Lecturer at Université Paul Sabatier, and researcher at CBI

She is our secondary PI and the referent instructor concerning all Wet Lab aspects. She always has some great experimental tips to share! During the Summer internship, she came almost every day to answer our questions. She also shared her expertise regarding fluorescent microscopy.

Pierre Millard

Researcher at the MetaSys team at TBI

He is the referent instructor for our modelisation efforts. He followed the latest news about modeling, helped us to create some preliminary models and always had good ideas during the brainstorming. He helped us organizing to complete our ambitious modeling project.

Cédric Montanier

Researcher at the CIMEs team at TBI

He is the referent instructor regarding all finance aspects. He helped the finance leader to update the budget datasheet, gave ideas during the brainstorming sessions and provided us the E. coli Tuner strains, and helped designing the experiment to prove the exportation of our proteins in the membrane.

Denis Jallet

Researcher at the MetaSys team at TBI

He is the referent instructor for the Wiki leader. He helped us by sharing resources for brainstorming and efficient laboratory protocols. He was really present all summer to give advice and helped us to interpret some results in the molecular biology field. He also helped with the supervision of the wiki construction.

Stéphanie Heux

Leader of the MetaSys team at TBI

She is the referent instructor of the Communication leader and the entrepreneurship leader. She helped to define the communication strategy and got really involved in the organization of the French Meet-up with EUR Bioeco. She also helped Samy for the entrepreneurship work and gave him some useful contacts.

Advisors

Lucie Barthe

PhD student at TBI, I2M team

She proofread our DNA construction on Benchling. She advised us regarding lab techniques. She taught us how to analyze results, draw relevant conclusions and design experiments to interrogate new hypotheses.

Luana Cintori

PhD student at CBI, Chromatin and cellular proliferation team

She explained her best tips for PCR and helped us to establish the experimental timeline. She was always there to cheer us up!

Saber Amri

PhD student at Infinity INSERM

He taught us how to make gels step by step and brought good technical advice.

Alain Liné

Professor at INSA Toulouse and researcher at TBI, team TIM

He explained to us how to build a PBE and the deep meaning of the DQMOM method for our modeling effort.

Béatrice Jalenques-Vigouroux

Lecturer in Information Sciences and Communication and ethics professor at INSA Toulouse

She accompanied us along the project to check our ethics standards and gave us good contacts to deepen the Ethic on Biotechnologies aspects.

Necessary specialists

Jasper Kamphuis

Toulouse Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases

He explained to us the main topics for allergy, and how we can use antibodies.

Chloé Beuraud

Immuno-oncology researcher at Evotec

She did a PhD about respiratory allergies and introduced us to the topic of allergies and gave some ideas to start the project.

Gabrielle Potocki-Veronese

Research Director at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE).

She helped us with the microfluidics issues of our project and to use a a patented microfluidic technology to sort aggregates.

Emmanuelle Trévisiol

Deputy director of TBI

She presented the principle of the biochip to detect allergies.

Luc Colas

Lecturer in allergology and immunology and researcher at University hospital of Nantes

He confirmed our main hypothesis and numbers about the prevalence of allergies. He showed us the possibilities to use our project in real life.

Delphine Lestrade

Responsible for the TWB cytometry platform

She gave us the possibility to use the flow cytometry platform and helped us with microfluidics protocols.

Adilya Dagkesamanskaya

Research engineer TBI team I2M

She helped us by managing the microscope experiments at TBI and taking good pictures of our fluorescent bacteria. She has exceptional skills for making microscope slides without breaking them.

Jean-Luc Menardo

Former allergist

He brought us a lot of knowledge about allergies and his professional point of view. He also proofread the scripts of the “Cracking allergies” serie with a lot of dedication.

Eric Espinosa

Immunology professor at Paul Sabatier University

He proofread the scripts of the “Cracking allergies” serie and gives us a lot of information about allergies.

Jérôme Morchain

Professor at INSA Toulouse and researcher at TBI, team TIM

He proposed us the equation of 𝚪 for modeling, and helped us to implement it on our aggregation model.

Maxence Holtz

Trainee at TWB

He provided his incredible mScarlet plasmid allowing us to make the red-fluorescent strain A.

Chloé Habouzit

Lecturer at INSA Toulouse and researcher at TBI, team TIM

She monitored for us the flow cytometry for assays with fluorescent strains.

Sophie Lajus

Engineer at TBI, CIMEs team

She made us the droplets for controls and sorting. Her advice to fix concentration conditions on droplets was precious.

Other specialists

Jean-Denis Pedelacq

Research scientist at IPBS-CNRS

Specialist of the Split-GFP, he explained the possibilities in using this detection system to point out the aggregation.

Matthieu Arlat

Researcher at LIPM-INRAe and professor of microbiology at the UPS

He explained to us how bacteria interact with one another and pinpointed that the Type VI secretion system could serve to detect aggregates. He additionally gave us contacts with other experts in the field.

Pascal Lebourgeois

Professor at UPS and a researcher at TBI

He suggested and argued that Lactococcus lactis could be a good bacteria for desentinization purposes.

Eric Cascales

Research director at Mediterranean Institute of Microbiology

He gave us information about the T6SS, and advised us.

Yvan Canitrot

Researcher at LBCMCP

Expert of FACS, he presented how this method could help us in the process of testing different allergens.

Meet-Up helpers

Carole Molina-Jouve

Coordinator of the EUR-BIOECO

She shared her network to help organize the French Meet-Up.

Lauren Arata

Project manager at EUR-BIOECO

She managed the organization of the French Meet-Up with Charline and Juliette.

Isabelle Meynial-Salles

Professor at TBI, PEEP team director

She was a member of the jury.

Sandra Beaufort

Lecturer at INP/A7 - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique

She was a member of the jury.

Younes Bouchiba Alem

PhD at TBI, CIMEs team

He was a member of the jury. As a former student of iGEM Toulouse, he spent time partying with us at Dubliner’s to support our mental health. He was a huge help to implement the Wiki, as the Wiki boss he is.

HP and Entrepreneurship helpers

Colette Schenker

Le Catalyseur

She provided us with SWOT and business model canvas for Entrepreneurship, as well as general advice about intellectual property and start-ups. She was our main counselor at Le Catalyseur.

Julien Durand

Sweetech CEO and co-founder

As a start-up founder and CEO in Deep tech, he gave us advice about business models and regulations.

Mathias Enjalbert

Highschooler, Villefranche de Lauragais

He likes drawing and designing and he has created the 3D representation of our future Daisy Laboratory.

Marième Leygonie

CIRASTI Occitanie

She organized the Exposciences Occitanie, an event we could take part in. This enabled us to explain to children what bacteria and allergies are and to depict the goal of our project.

Alain Bérard

C2IP INSA Toulouse

He provided us with a camera, micro and light as well as a lot of tips for filming our presentation video and “Cracking allergies” series.

Emmanuelle Rial-Sebbag

Research director in bioethics and health law at INSERM

She is a contact given by Beatrice Jalenques-Vigouroux to build our Ethics strategy, so she helped us with the ethical aspect of our project.

Cristel Paccaud

Biology teacher in high school Lycée Pierre-Paul Riquet

She helped us organize the highschool interventions for her pupils.

Lab support

Boualem Sebbouh

Laboratory technician at INSA Toulouse biological engineering department

He helped us a lot during our lab work by stocking our materials and answering all of our questions about the lab organization. He did the troubleshooting for the autoclave device. He was a real sunshine all summer for us!

Sylvie Cancel-Pfister

Laboratory technician at INSA Toulouse biological engineering department

She helped us during our lab work period to order chemicals. She explained to us how to use the lab machines. She made us delicious cakes to forget our lab failures and was a real support in our iGEM journey!

Etienne Severac

Engineer at TBI, CIMEs team

He taught us how to use the plate reader apparatus for the Interlabs experimentations and for further fluorescence manipulations.

Christophe Ellero

Material manager at TBI

He taught us how to use the autoclave and installed all the softwares required for modeling on our computers.

Nathalie Doubrovine

Prevention and regulation officer at TBI

She educated us on good practices, French reglementation and safety in the lab.

Agathe Michel-Brévot

Human resources officier at TBI

She helped us to establish our internship conventions.

Poulpy

Reversible poulp

Always followed our mood in the lab.

Materials providers

TWB

Toulouse White Biotechnology

They provided us with a lot of material and gave us access to their FACS and flow cytometer.

TBI

Toulouse Biotechnlogy Institute

They provided us with a lot of materials, machines and specialists during our experiments.

INSA Toulouse

Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse

They lent us a lot of materials and welcomed us in their establishment during the summer. This allowed us to do all of our experiments.

IDT

Integrated DNA Technologies

We were able to synthesize genes free of charge thanks to their support to the iGEM community.

CBI

Centre de Biologie Intégrative

They gave us access to their laboratory to conduct specific experiments and use their fluorescent microscope.

Artists

Antoine Dugas-Viallis

Student in 3D animation(@toinounouille)

He is a first year student in animation. He is Daisy's dad, he drew her and gave her life for our videos!

Fabien de Jouvancourt

Musician (@channes.music)

He made the music for our video.

Laurent Grégoire

Coordinator of artistic fields at INSA Toulouse

He lent us material to film our presentation video.

Fundings

Le Catalyseur

Université Paul Sabatier

Funding to help students in their start up projects linked to sciences.

TBI

Toulouse Biotechnology Institute

Biology & Chemical Engineering research institute located in the campus of INSA Toulouse.

Fondation INSA Toulouse

Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse

The INSA Toulouse University Foundation allows companies and individuals to work together for the development of the Institute.

TWB

Toulouse White Biotechnology

TWB’s activity is based on the use of innovative biological tools that will be installed at the heart of high-performance industrial processes, for the materials chemistry, agro-food and energy markets.

Commission de recherche UPS

Université Paul Sabatier

The Research Commission manages funding for research work on our home university.

Adisseo

iGEM Toulouse historical funder

The company is among the world leaders in animal nutrition and has provided historical funding for the iGEM Toulouse team.

CBI

Centre de Biologie Intégrative

The Toulouse Integrative Biology Center brings together five research units which form a strong center in post-genomic biology.

Allergobox

Start-up about allergies

AllergoBox.com is an application dedicated to people with food allergies and intolerances. AllergoBox offers many cooking recipes to get around allergies!