Awards
Bronze
Register and Attend:
- We have registered and will attend the Jamboree on 27th October 2016.
Deliverables:
- Our parts were sent off to iGEM HQ on the 11th of October 2016.
Attribution:
Part/Contribution
- We submitted and further characterised KillerRed (BBa_K1914002).
- We submitted KillerOrange phototoxic protein kill switch and provided extensive characterisation (BBa_K1914000).
- We designed a codon optimised Lysozyme C Biobrick which targets the enzyme to the periplasm where it is most effective.
(BBa_K1914004)
.
Silver
Validate part/validated contribution
- We created an education board game
(BioMech) developed, using feedback from two schools and two science fairs, with the
latest version sent off to schools across the country for further testing.
- We validated the effectiveness of our new part KillerOrange as a kill switch by conducting CFU experiments. The outcome
of which are found on our results section.
- We provided further characterisation of the leakiness of the T7 promoter for our
collaboration with Glasgow.
Collaboration
Collaborations page
- We performed a thermal conductivity experiment for the iGEM team from Newcastle University.
- Contributed to the iGEM.tech database for the iGEM team from Purdue.
- We aided Edinburgh iGEM through optimising methods of data mutation detection in BabbleBlocks.
Human Practices
- We performed research on
equality and diversity in science, using the University of Exeter as a case study.
- We have created and tested an
educational board game aimed at people between ages of 14-18, teaching the
fundamental principles of synthetic biology in an engaging way.
- We have engaged the public
with synthetic biology on multiple fronts:
- Desert Island...Science? podcast - interviewing academics, researchers
and public figures about synthetic biology, public engagement,
education and their research. This has been published on Youtube,
Soundcloud, our wiki and shared across social media.
- Interviews with prominent academics, like
Prof. Richard Dawkins and
Prof. Richard
Titball about their thoughts on public engagement and the importance of Biosafety,
respectively.
- We hosted a panel discussion on equality and diversity at the university creating a two
way conversation with the public on the topic.
- We designed a
synthetic biology module for second year Bioscience students.
- We hosted three separate work experience students, who gave direct input on how to
improve both lab and human practices aspects of our project.
- We attended the Westminster UK iGEM meet-up and communicated with various teams via skype
throughout the process.
Gold
All of the information below can be found on the
Integrated Human Practices page
- The effectiveness of kill switches was discussed with academics and individuals in industry to inform our experiments. We then tested what
was discussed and designed parts to address the major concerns.
- Integrated: Equality and Diversity -
- We took a different approach to Integrated Human Practices by integrating the Equality and Diversity work into itself - each interview influenced the next forming a
grounded analysis of the issue.
- Whilst not strictly Integrated, our board game; BioMech, embeds the principles of our lab work - biosafety and effective plasmid construction - into a fun
and engaging educational tool.
- Equally, we have provided a framework for the implementation of a Synthetic Biology Module at our University in order to provide a better understanding of the field to fill the gap in knowledge we found during our human practices. Assessment is in the style of the iGEM jamboree
Improve a previous part or project:
- We have further characterised KillerRed by testing it under a wider range of conditions and quantified the length of time for it to remain viable as a kill switch.
- We have improved Lysozyme C by adding a signal peptide targeting it to the periplasm where it is most effective.
Proof of concept
- We used a ministat array to test the longevity of kill switches and to simulate their real world application in an industrial chemostat setting.
Demonstrate your work:
- We are bringing the latest version of our board game
(BioMech) to the Jamboree, demonstrating its gameplay and highlighting how we implemented
feedback from schools and science fairs.
