In the search for collaborations, we found out that team IISER Pune 2 has a project related to Dengue, a disease very common in Brazil, besides being a neglected disease, the theme of "synthetic biology tournament", our education project. Thus, as we were developing projects with common objectives, we saw the possibility of a collaboration.

So, in order to get to know each other's project better, we decided to set up a meeting to present the projects and discuss ideas about what we could do to help.

Since "synthetic biology tournament" had neglected diseases as its theme, we had made a handout with several diseases, including dengue. We talked about it during the meeting and they showed interest, so we translated it from Portuguese to English and sent it to them. And they added information about dengue.

In addition, as we have already mentioned, Brazil is a major focus of dengue fever. So as a way to help them search for data about cases of the disease, we set up a survey that we disseminated through our social networks and through institutional e-mails.

We also had two special meetings on Saturdays with them, attended by Maulori Curié Cabral, a professor specialized in Dengue. This was a Portuguese-English meeting, mediated by us, as we translated what the teacher and the team members were saying, for better understanding. On these 2 occasions, Professor Maulori helped them understand the Dengue problem in Brazil, prophylaxis measures, control, and scientific issues.

Figure 1 - Meeting

Figure 2 - Meeting

As a way to collaborate with team Chihuahua, we interviewed farmers in the countryside of São Paulo state. The Tec-chihuahua team researches fusarin wilt, a disease caused by a fungus that affects the soil and consequently affects the growth of the plant, causing it to atrophy and not produce fruit. We collected reports from some farmers and found out that this disease affects the jiló plantation. As a control strategy for this pest, the farmer uses biological control agents, as well as dry straw.

In addition to this disease, other diseases were reported to be very occurent in the plantations, the main ones being caused by fungi, mites and insects. We found, that currently the control used to contain these agents is the use of fungicides, acaricides and insecticides respectively, Comit, Prisma and chlorine are examples of these pesticides.

Most of the farmers interviewed did not know the term synthetic biology, however after the explanation and demonstration of how strategies using these mechanisms could help in combating these pests and improving production, they were willing to use these products of this tivo in their crops.

They also helped us with the dissemination of a form about ophidian accidents in Mexico, so that we could understand about this problem in other developing countries.

In addition, together with the UAM team, we developed a mathematical modeling manual.

We received a proposal from Lambert_GA team to pass on typically Brazilian and healthy recipes, our team searched the traditional Brazilian cuisine and brought the recipes for "Chicken and polenta", "Rice and beans", "Vegetable crepioca", "Tapioca hot mix", and "Chicken soup".

Initially, Patras Team contacted us through instagram with a project of a comic book with the theme focused on synthetic biology, in order to make the theme accessible to different ages.

Together with Team Patras, we made a translation into Portuguese of the comic called "THE TRAVESSURE OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY".

UFMG_UFV_Brazil team held the MeetUp iGEM LATAM event, and invited us to present about our project, this event was held on July 15th and had the participation of several iGEM teams, aiming integration and presentations, interview and dissemination of knowledge about synthetic biology.

TEC QRO team (from iGEM Design League) contacted us after the "Pitch and Match" HQ event for a modeling background, we held a meeting to present our project in a general aspect and an emphasis on modeling, thus giving insights into this area.

Figure 3 - Meeting

Chalmers-Gothenburg iGEM Team contacted us by email presenting the blog created by them and by the Lausanne iGEM Team, in which important, curious or funny scientific topics are presented.

We have translated into Portuguese the following blog post: "As células-tronco são criadoras" (Stem cells are creators).

The NTHU_Taiwan team has made contact by email to invite us to the iGEM MAP - Navigation of Synthetic Biology, a project designed to promote the importance of Synthetic Biology and where these experiments are taking place, by the creation of a map, where each team would be signaled by its character.

We sent our character "Honoratinho", an adorable winged jararaca.

Figure 4 - "Honoratinho"

We have developed, together with UAM and Tec-Chihuahua teams, a workbook and manual about modeling, which aims to teach about the subject and to help future iGEM teams to learn modeling. The manual was written in English and our collab translated into Spanish and Portuguese in order to reach a larger number of people. Also, two members of the UAM team, Mariana Martínez Noriega and Paola Abril Medina Flores, participated in our podcast, Honoratocast, where we discussed sexism in academia and how it impacts science and the participation of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

During the collaborations with the UAM and Tec-Chihuahua teams, the three teams found in the mathematical modeling manual an opportunity to, based on the difficulties and challenges we surpassed in modeling, create a practical tool for new iGEMers who want to start their activities in modeling.

The manual was written in Latex to be fully editable, given the possibility of updates and maintenances in the writing. In addition, the manual proved to be quite labor intensive as it was first written in English and then translated into Spanish and Portuguese to have a wider reach of struggling iGEMers.

Weekly meetings were held with the UAM and Tec Chihuahua teams to define and delegate roles in the construction of the manual so that it would cover as many difficulties and questions as an iGEMMer could have. Our team was responsible for introducing concepts to the manual, such as an introduction to simulation tools for molecular interactions, with the goal of at least showing the reader the alternatives that exist to conduct a modeling process. Among these tools we can mention ClusPro, PIPER, PatchDock, FireDock and PyDock. We also introduce and detail the parameters used in the modeling so that whoever reads this document is fully capable of interpreting them. Among the parameters are C-Score, Z-Score and TM-Score, Cluster density, ERRAT, Verify 3D and PROCHECK. At last, we translate our texts into Portuguese. During the process, much information about the modeling done by the three teams was shared, contributing to a greater unity among the teams, since we believe that our difficulties are often similar and shared, which motivated us even more to complete the mathematical modeling manual.

English Version:

Portuguese Version:

Spanish Version: