CONTRIBUTION

In this section, we describe our contribution to the iGEM community. We developed five guides to help future iGEM teams providing them with tools for protein engineering, fundraising, entrepreneurship, controlled substances and AFM.

Introduction

Undeniably, iGEM stands out in its strong sense of community. Being a part of this community allows us to build on the experience of the hundreds of teams who came before, and we pay it forward by returning our own contribution. On this page we outline what we did to help future iGEM teams and other researchers with their projects.

To aid iGEM teams to come, we have decided to put together five different guides on specific topics, based on the experience we gained during our own project. The topics range from generally applicable to all iGEM projects to very specifically related to elements of our own project. For each of the topics, we found that there was no easily accessible, comprehensive documentation to point beginners into the right direction, and thus decided to create our own guides. Scroll down for more information about each of the guides, and simply click on the cover images to view or download the whole guide.

Tools for Rational Protein Engineering

Protein engineering is an approach that is both powerful and broadly applicable to all kinds of research projects. With the amount of tools and resources out there to help you in protein engineering, it can be hard to find a starting point. In this guide, we use our own protein engineering pipeline as an example to explain the use of various tools and databases, such as PDB, AlphaFold, PyMOL, HMMER and Benchling, and showcase how they can be combined to design protein variants. Additionally, the guide includes a beginner’s tutorial for how to visualize proteins in PyMOL.

Fundraising & Crowdfunding for iGEM Projects

Something every iGEM team needs for their project is money. If you take the right approach, you will find that people are very supportive of ambitious student projects, and that you have plenty to offer them in return. This guide offers an overview of the different ways in which you can raise funding and find resources for your project: through academic funds, sponsorships and crowdfunding. It explains how to successfully write grant applications, land deals with companies and run a crowdfunding campaign to fund your research.

Entrepreneurship for iGEM Projects

We were lucky enough to have the preceding TU Delft iGEM team to tell us: “if you want to work on entrepreneurship, you have to consider your approach at the very beginning of your project”. Because of this, we got into contact with a patent attorney very early on, and were able to file a priority patent application before the Wiki Freeze.

Every team should be aware of the options they have, and this guide offers a comprehensive overview of the things they need to consider at the start of their project. Additionally, it includes tips on how to excel at the Supporting Entrepreneurship part of the competition by market analysis, product design and even patent application.

Controlled Substances in Research

If your research project involves a controlled substance, trying to navigate the legal framework to find out whether or not you are allowed to use it can be difficult. This guide aims to provide iGEM teams and other researchers with basic knowledge about legality, licenses and security practices required to decide how to move forward with their projects.

Atomic Force Microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy can be a crucial tool for research involving immobilization of macromolecules, assembly of nanostructures, or manufacturing of biomaterials. However, AFM is not commonly taught to students as many other laboratory techniques are. This guide offers beginner-level instructions for using the Bruker NanoWizard IV Atomic Force Microscope and provides troubleshooting with quick solutions to the most common problems encountered when using AFM.