During our journey, we have gone through countless days of planification and logistics. Here we can find the tracking of how we developed our project, from start to end.
19th July - We have our first meeting as a group at midday. We get presented to iGEM and we also introduce ourselves to each other. In the afternoon, our instructor Ainhoa and our advisors have a meeting to get the team started.
21st July - We meet with the PI’s of the past UPNavarra_Spain team, 2019’s “Color is the new sensor”. We get introduced to the aim of developing a real application to solve a local problem. In addition, we were shown iGEM’s parts repository and the different types of human practices. Some key elements of the competition were explained to us such as the poster, banner, wiki, video presentation, medals and prizes. Finally, some financing ideas were proposed.
27th July - We decide to search for different local problems which could be solved by using synthetic biology as well as past teams’ participations. We considered many approaches but in the end we concluded in four different ideas: macro farms, vineyard applications, salinity / drought and kits to detect illnesses. For that, we divided the group into four different subgroups and searched for information.
13th August - Each of the groups formed presented their advances in their quest and later each of the concepts was discussed in regards to their viability. While some ideas such as salinity / drought continue, macro farms get dropped in favor of creating synthetic meat and vineyard applications and kits to detect illnesses get merged. Tasks get assigned to continue developing these ideas. Moreover, due to our future visit to CNTA’s installations we write a small script with the main ideas for our presentation and the spokeswomen get chosen, Susana and Irene.
27th August - We continue presenting the ideas, this time implementing information about other teams’ parts, professional investigation groups and businesses. So far, developing a synthetic steak seems to be leading on. As well, we read the final script for CNTA’s presentation.
1st September - We finally visit CNTA’s facilities and we introduce iGEM’s competition. We present our interest in synthetic food to get some feedback from experts, however their response was not as satisfactory as expected due to the complication of its development. That way, we decide to discard the idea.
13th September - We take our first photos as an official team.
27-28th September - We take our first photos as an official team.
27-28th September - We attended the autumn course of synthetic biology in the food sector organized by the chair of synthetic biology to take into account more opportunities for our project development.
27th September - Our advisors Rosa and Álex go to the Lekaroz biomeeting with the iGEM EPIC team. This meeting was of vital importance to promote young talent in Navarra, the bioeconomy and the biorevolution.
4th October - Mario and María go to MOA Foodtech to make the drawing for the participation in the 2021 Agar Art contest. Along with them was Hugo, which we did not know was going to be our future instructor!
13th October - We decided to divide ourselves into groups of three and kept rotating to brainstorm different ideas for the project. At last, we ended up with different possibilities and assigned one per couple to search for more information for the following week.
20th October - After many options were laid on the table, Raquel and Sergio’s option of synthesizing serotonin in a sustainable process by using synthetic biology was chosen!
25th October - We meet to have lunch together and discuss how to prepare for the trip to go to the 2021 Giant Jamboree in Zaragoza.
12th November - We go to Zaragoza for the Giant Jamboree where we meet tons of teams from all over the world and take a chance to see beforehand how the iGEM Jamboree works. On the way back, we also took advantage and designed our logo and talked about financiation and going to talk to different businesses of the region.
18th November - Juliana, Irene and Aitor present to the rest of the group their proposal of presentation to businesses of the project.
21st November - Mario, Sergio and Álex create a massive excel with decens of businesses and their contacts to see if we could get their financial support.
24th November - We held an online meeting to chat about carrying out a Christmas raffle to collect money and to search for a lab in our university where we could develop the project.
28th November - Part of the team travels to Tarragona to the BioNorth congress where we participated in a full scientific-cultural day and the local scientific talent presented different papers, talks and a round table.
1st December - We start developing a survey to spread around the population to see if the pandemic has a negative effect at a national level.
2nd December - Some team members go to Osasuna’s stadium, our local soccer team, to talk about the importance of mental health in sport. In addition, we get our tickets printed and ready to sell them for our Christmas raffle.
20th December - Some, including Susana and Álex, met with Cinfa and we presented to the company the problem we were facing and the solution we were proposing, they did not hesitate to help us financially to achieve our final goal.
29th December - A final meeting for the year is held to see how the sale of tickets is going and to discuss the plans for after the Christmas break.
6th January - The winner of the raffle was revealed and counted all the many we gathered.
14th January - Some team members, such as Sergio, and the company AINIA had a meeting to see how the nanoencapsulated serotonin would affect the microbiota of our organism.
25th January - Due to the international day of the fight against depression being the 13th of the same month, Mario and Susana made a video explaining the importance of this illness and the role of serotonin.
31st January - Sergio and Mario go on to create a bank account in Santander to have all the money from the Christmas raffle together.
7th February - One of our team members, Irene, got the opportunity to go to NavarraTV’s programme “La mulga” to talk about the role of women and girls in science on television with the speakers of the round table we were in the middle of organizing.
8th February - Raquel and Aitor got to go, along with our advisor Esther and instructor Ainhoa, to the mayoress of Barañain. We had the opportunity to present what iGEM is about as well as our project.
9th February - The time of the round table due to the day of girls and women in science finally came. Our iGEM group with the help of NavBiotec (student association of our University) organized an event called "Women in Biotechnology in Navarra". It consisted of a round table with the participation of prestigious women scientists from Navarra society.
15th February - We awarded Mikel, our raffle winner with a batch of gourmet products. As well Adriana got to receive some cheese due to selling the highest amount of tickets.
16th February - We continued discussing how to approach the plasmid constructions.
17th February - After the biochemical study of serotonin biosynthetic pathways, we felt the need to better understand the biological role of this hormone in the body. We therefore met with psychobiologist Laiene Olabarrieta and clinical psychologist José Javier López-Goñi.
23rd February - We had the opportunity to chat with a doctor in Psychology and university professor, Marta Beranuy, about the worsening of mental health at the population level as a result of the 2019 pandemic.
28th February - We presented to ANASAPS, a non-profit association composed of people with mental health problems, family members and all those interested in collaborating with the promotion of mental health. There we presented our concern for the state of people with mental health problems, and therefore the reason for the realization of our project.
1st March - Due to the pillar that the circular economy has in the project, Javier and Mario, with advisor Rosa and instructor Ainhoa went to the cheese factory Quesos la Vasco Navarra S.A. The same day our advisor Alex had the opportunity to make visible the importance of biotechnology in the development of the benefit of society in Rioja TV.
4th March - Member Mario and advisor Álex were interviewed by regional newspaper Navarra Capital.
5th March - Team leaders Raquel and Sergio met with Joaquín Fernández Irigoyen, Head of the Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA Proteomics Unit and associate professor at the Public University of Navarra (UPNA). He provided different methods of proteolysis for the extraction of the essential amino acid tryptophan, from the proteins that make up the milk whey.
8th March - Thanks to the team’s meeting with professor Eduardo Sánchez of the Public University of Navarra, we got a closer approach to the terms of circular economy, the difference between subproducts and residuals; and the cost of opportunity.
14th March - We got the chance to hear from Rosa Martínez and Cristina Lecumberri, from Verleal, about the residuals from the alimentary industry processing. We specially focused on the prosecution of broccoli, what parts of the plant are used, when its campaign takes place or temperature and time of escalation. MOA foodtech’s CEO and associate professor Susana Sánchez took the chance to give us a quick review about the use of microorganisms to create products of great value with high amounts of protein using as a source by-products of the food industry.
18th March - The team attended the presentation of the researcher and head of the Environmental Molecular Microbiology Laboratory of the National Center for Biotechnology, belonging to the CSIC, Victor de Lorenzo. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to, in private, exchange ideas on the optimal biobricks to improve our proposed genetic constructs. In addition, we discussed a possible continuation of the project related to the world of psychobiotics.
23rd March - In the meeting we had with Ingredalia, we were able to explain what our project consists of and what iGEM is. Due to the proximity of its line of work with the circular economy part of our project, it was clear that it was a company with which we had to collaborate.
30th March - Pamplona’s city mayor Enrique Maya welcomed members Marta, Sergio and Raquel, advisor Rosa and instructor Ainhoa to the Pamplona City Hall to talk about the visibility of mental health and the importance of the circular economy, under the brushstrokes of synthetic biology. Sergio and Raquel as well tell the group what they discussed with Jokin in their meeting about proteolytic protocols for tryptophan extraction.
6th April - A survey was launched and spread to determine the mental health situation in Spain before and after the COVID19 pandemic.
28th April - Aitor and Juliana were able to be interviewed by the space that radio COPE Navarra gives to our university to briefly explain what our project consists of and what are the benefits it brings to our environment.
5th May - María, Marta and Raquel had the opportunity to visit the offices of the grouping of municipalities Mancomunidad de Pamplona and chat with the president of the Mancomunidad.
11th May - We held an online Zoom meeting prior to the final exams to talk about the last details for the lab work.
30th May - Mario goes to the Agrobiotechnology institute to get the bacteria strain needed for transformation.
1st June - Advisors Carlos, Esther and Rosa summon a meeting to explain that Ainhoa can no longer continue being our instructor.
6th June - Along with other volunteers, members Raquel, Aitor, Susana, Javier and Mario gave a small workshop to highschool students about the use of molecular techniques to detect pathogens in crops.
7th June - Members Mikel and Javier assisted to the meeting “Reto Siberia”, which took place in the CIMA congress hall. Members of Navarra Government such as Ana Ollo, councilor of citizen relationships and Uxue Itoiz, General Director of Industry, Energy and Strategic Projects S4 held a speech along with members of the scientific community. The scientific community was composed of CIMA, CENER and CNTS research centers as well as pioneer business in Navarra (3P-Biopharmaceuticals, Bread-Free and Telum).
20th June - We met with Estíbaliz and Idoia our primary and secondary PI’s to get some feedback about the designed plasmid constructions and get some basic knowledge of lab security.
28th June - We got to the lab to get some audiovisual material and to start to get more familiar.
30th June - Juliana and Mikel held an online meeting with iGEM’s team from Waterloo.
5th July - We met our primary PI Estíbaliz to design the possibility of evaluating tryptophan’s possible toxicity to bacteria at high concentrations.
19th July - We met again with Estibaliz to redesign the laboratory approach as time came upon us due to the lack of an instructor due to Ainhoa’s leaving. We as well talk about the possibility of modeling the chemical reaction of tryptophan’s conversion into serotonin.
24th July - Maria, Aitor and Mikel met lots of teams in the Summer Online iGEM meeting and gave a small presentation about the project.
30th July - Javier could attend this year’s iGEM Hispanic meetup where we had the incredible chance to talk about design to use synthetic biology to convert subproducts of the food industry to serotonin.
2nd August - We held the first meeting with new instructor Hugo to give him an update about everything, what the project was about, what we had already done and at which point we were. The Wiki’s structure started taking shape and the constructions were revised for the IDT order. Search tasks of different protocols were assigned. As well, many of the deadlines were remembered and plans for future human practices.
11th August - We revise the state of the Wiki and the data obtained from the survey launched in April. Primers were designed for following cloning protocols.
10th August - We contacted iGEM TU Delft to translate and fill their survey.
18th August - We contacted iGEM Thessaly to translate a dictionary full of synthetic biology related terms.
25th August - The distribution kit finally arrived at the lab.
26th August - We went to our faculty and lab to spend the entire afternoon recording footage for the teams’ promotional video.
1st September - We met at the lab to see how we could approach the idea of using serotonin as a possible medicine and how the idea could be sold.
2nd September - The gblocks finally arrive at the lab.
3rd September - Mikel, Mario and Sergio along with advisor Carlos go to the presentation of Navarra BG's iGEM project and chat with them afterwards to organize a meeting of both teams. The same day, we take and upload some pictures that show the different features in the lab to facilitate access for people with reduced mobility, for iGEM Exeter.
12th September - Javier went to the Agrobiotechnology Institute from the Higher Scientific Research Center to get the plasmid for the lab work.
17th September - Both UPNavarra_Spain and NavarraBG finally meet face to face and exchange their projects and their concerns for the Giant Jamboree, only a month away.
21st September - The primers designed for PCR arrive at the lab.
22nd September - The team gets subdivided into the lab and wiki subgroups for what's left until freeze day to give a final push.
23rd September - The Wiki group meets at the university’s library to write down the entirety of the collaborations, human practices and attributions. Tasks get assigned in regards to contributions, modeling or description among others.
26nd September - A second meeting of the Wiki group takes place after the weekend to see the positive advances after the weekend in regards to the tasks assigned to each person.
27th September - Maria goes to the university’s official shop to get free hoodies for the Jamboree. The team made up of Aitor, Aroa and María also has a brief online meeting at night to separate the integrated human practices and education.
28th September - Primary PI Estibaliz and instructor Hugo go COPE Navarra's radio station to talk about iGEM and UPNavarra_Spain’s participation. Another night meeting takes place between the team members.
29th September - Irene met with Estíbaliz to end the implementation, and along with Aroa met with Idoia to set a date to start with the project presentation. Aitor wrote a draft for the future projections and Unai started uploading the attributions and members to the Wiki. Mario wrote down the different protocols carried out in the laboratory.
30th September - The entire team meets to check the travel plans to go to Paris, as well as some contributions, judging form and pending things. Aitor, Unai and Javier go to the European Researcher’s Night to not only explain the technical part and the laboratory work, but also to give weight to what it means to participate in a competition like iGEM. New CINFA I+D director Isabel Carrilero, congratulated our team for the great work and presentation performed.
2nd October - Our parts get added to iGEM’s registry with the optimized codon usage given by the IDT platform.
3rd October - Maria finishes the design for our official hoodies for the Jamboree.
6th October - We meet with secondary PI Idoia to get some help and start organizing the presentation we are going to give in the Jamboree.
8th October - The project description was revised by Hugo and Aitor and was uploaded to the Wiki. In addition, a front page drawing was designed by Hugo. A quick meeting took place to check everything that still had to be written down and uploaded to the Wiki.
9th October - After the survey in April, a second survey was launched and spread to determine the mental health situation in Spain before and after the COVID19 pandemic, and about circular economy to get a second iteration of the process. The human practices, collaborations and contributions were also uploaded to the Wiki by Unai.
10th October - The iGEM postcards were sent for iGEM Düsseldorf to distribute them all over the world.
11th October - The remaining parts of the Wiki are written by everyone and they are uploaded.