Introduction

At Pyre, we are always on the lookout for opportunities for educational content, sharing our project and expanding our network in the synthetic biology community. This was achieved through collaborating with different participating schools in iGEM 2022.

Meetings with other UK iGEM Teams

During the ideation and dry lab stage of our project, we set up online meetings with 3 different iGEM teams to discuss our projects and find common areas for possible collaboration.

We spoke to iGEM Manchester 2022 (BloodAid) about their amazing project on developing a microalgae-bacteria co-cultivation, to convert inorganic compounds to useful biomolecules that can be used as biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. Although our projects were both aimed towards environmental sustainability, there was little overlap in terms of technical aspects. However, we were able to talk through modelling plans following the virtual meeting. Check out their wiki here.

We also had the chance to speak with iGEM Exeter 2022 (BIONEXE). The team decided to foray into therapeutics by designing a polymer with the tensile strength of spider silk, whilst with the electrical properties of graphene, to make a scaffold for use in tissue recovery. It was a unique and worthwhile application of synthetic biology, with the incorporation of the unusual element of silk spun by spiders. Check out their wiki here.

Finally, we talked to KCL (Symemco Therapeutics) about the generation of pterostilbene-expressing E. coli for treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. We discussed the experimental design with working in an E. coli chassis and using similar iGEM parts (e.g. codon optimisation) and followed up on their progress during the iGEM meetup at ICL. Check out their wiki here.

UK iGEM Meetup at ICL

In June 2022, the Sheffield iGEM team conducted an interest check for a UK iGEM meetup. There was an overwhelming response from all 10 participating UK teams, who were all excited to share the interesting work we had been working on with like-minded teams. A rough timeline was set up, and the team at Sheffield began to reach out to secure key speakers for the event. Shortly afterwards, SynBioUK discovered our event, and contacted iGEM ICL for hosting a bigger UK meetup in London. The date and speakers were set for a 2-day event from the 9th to 10th of September at the South Kensington Campus, at Imperial College London.

On the first day, academics from different universities were invited to present on the ongoing work at their respective labs. The topics from the lineup were extremely interesting, ranging from enzyme cages to synthetic cells. We were especially keen on the potential of enclosing our whole-cell biocatalyst in a capsule, such as the one described by Dr. Elani Yuval, for protection against adverse pH of the environment that we are deploying our system. We also gained appreciation for the amount of engineering cycles each lab managed to undergo over the course of a long term project, which were able to generate strong proof of concepts.

On the second day, we had our Jamboree dry run. Each team took turns to present their projects to a panel of past iGEM judges, detailing the case for each of our projects, including the progress and preliminary results. We agreed that the education and outreach components from each team were the most interesting. Although the event was held in September, we already generated enough results to show colour change in our aptamers and growth curves for engineered E. coli. The judges kindly awarded our presentation with first place, spurring us onward to continue working hard for the Jamboree. We thank them for the feedback, and have actively applied it to our future presentations.

Additionally, the panel on biosafety with Dr. Erika Alden DeBenedictis and Tessa Alexanian stressed the importance of having a biocontainment strategy with the development of each genetically engineered biological solution. Comparing GMO to dangerous weapons, it was pertinent that such technology does not get out of hand and cause unstoppable and irreversible damage. We at Pyre understand the need to ensure biocontainment is implemented in our project. As such, we have partner up with the iGEM Concordia 2022 Team (CyanoClean) to integrate a toxin/anti-toxin kill switch into our engineered E. coli.

We hope that this programme can be extended to become a tradition within UK teams. KCL was also keen on inviting coaches to the event, with plans to invite Forbes Public Speaking Coach (affiliated with TEDx KCL) to conduct a workshop for attendees to hone their presentation skills.

Consultations with KCL

Following the UK meet-up, we helped iGEM KCL on a consultation basis to troubleshoot their model and shared numerous tips in developing their model. We shared the mathematical approaches utilised by our dry lab teams and how they reached a range of conclusions. This was complemented by sharing some of the literature that our modelling team used, as well as video call to talk through both models, whilst also comparing and contrasting them. Concerns and constructive comments were exchanged in both directions, where we tried to talk about key topics within implementing biological systems in silico, including capturing biological trade-offs, multivariate optimisation, and looking at techniques proposed by literature to effectively capture steady state growth rates. Check out their models here.

Puzzle Book with iGEM MSP Maastricht

In September 2022, the MSP Maastricht iGEM team reached out to us to discuss the production of a puzzle book that would be used to spread awareness to the general public about synthetic biology, iGEM and our project. Each team would come up with 10 words that best described our project, which would be turned into a word search activity. The activity aimed to introduce specific words associated with our project in an engaging manner by presenting new information in a familiar format to audiences that may not have prior exposure to synthetic biology. You can view the completed puzzle book below:

Supporting teams around the world

Pyre is a huge supporter of GMO and is always on the lookout for teams working on educational content to spread awareness to influence public opinion. We actively participate in cross-team collaborations where able, and hope to expand our involvement with more international teams such as iGEM Münster’s JuniorJam Meetup.