Let's PLAy project - Bioproduction of PLA

Attributions

The Evry iGEM Team 2016 was created by students enrolled in the M2 Systems and Synthetic Biology (mSSB), during the very first months of lessons. By getting motivation and advices from ex-iGEMers, the team quickly started doing weekly Journal Clubs - to speak about science and share synthetic biology knowledge. Later, it expanded to third-year students in Life Sciences and Bioinformatics, and a student in Law. On January, the Brainstorming session started, organized solely by the students. In late March, and after several project discussions, the "Let's PLAy" idea was presented to researchers on the Institute of Systems & Synthetic Biology (iSSB) in Evry, and was finally chosen. From that point on, we kept designing the project and the real wet-lab work started at the beginning of July.

Ideas development, lab work, modeling and human practices have all been conceived and done by the team members, with the help of two advisors.

Project task distribution

Wet Lab

Cloning experiments for E. coli were performed by Charlotte, Delphine, Jonathan, Mounia, supervised by Cécile.
Cloning experiments for P. putida were performed by Robert and Vincent.
The Interlab study was done by Vincent supervised by Cécile.
BioBricks were constructed by Amir and supervised by Cécile. Toky and Jonathan participated on the design. Help on their characterization was received from iGEM Paris Bettencourt.
Carbon source selection for medium was performed by Mounia, Robert and Delphine.
Experiments for collaboration with Paris-Bettencourt were performed by Robert while being supervised by Cécile.
Growth experiments for collaboration with Imperial college were realized by Amir.
DIY bioreactor bioprocess design was carried out by Robert.

Human Practices

Human Practices were developed by Taman with the help of the team.
The survey was conceived by Taman, along with Yanis Khenniche (L3 Life Sciences) and Vincent, data were processed by Jean.
Online contacts to spread the survey were made by Toky, Mounia and Taman
The MOOC experiment was conceived by Taman, Vincent and Delphine. Video edition was performed by Jean, and content was also defined by Robert and Maria.
Controversy around PLA degradation was summed up by Maria.
Engagement was coordinated by Vincent and Delphine.
The European Experience was co-organized with IONIS iGEM team, and Taman, Maria, Alba, Jordan and Yanis were in charge of interteam communication.

Modeling

In silico plasmid design was done by Toky.
Flux Balance Analysis was performed by Amir, with the help of Toky and Maria.
Dynamic regulation system was conceived by Amir, who designed the circuit model with Clément Gureghian (L2 Engineering School). Maria designed the Kappa model, with the help of Toky.

Administration

Sponsor search was coordinated by Jordan and Chaima Gzara (M2 Bioinformatics), together with Cécile. Other members helped contacting them, as well as creating the crowdfunding campaign.
The acquisition of lab material was coordinated by Mounia, Charlotte and Cécile.
Treasury and funding administration was hold by Vincent and Toky, supervised by Cécile.
Team task management was coordinated by Maria, with the advice of Alba and Cécile.

Others

The logo, Wiki and documents were designed by Jean. Goodies were designed by Mounia and Charlotte.
Wiki content was created by all members of the team, and integrated by Jean and Maria.
Social networks were coordinated by Toky, Yanis and Cécile.
Initial project idea was given by Alba. Further developments were done by all members of the team.

External help

During the development of the project, there were several people external to the team who gave advice or helped as indicated:

During the brainstorming, other students were part of the team. Along the project design, Mauro Moreno (M2 mSSB), Manu Gimenez (M2 mSSB), Rebecca Sciauvaud (L3 Life Sciences) and Sarah Piet (L3 Life Sciences) contributed with their ideas. Zaahith Abdoulatif (L3 Life Sciences) defended our project in front of the subvention CROUS commission.
In the procedure of choosing adequate plasmids for P. putida, we had the advice of Victor de Lorenzo (PI, CNB-CSIC).
For the collaboration with Bettencourt and MS and HPLC experiment, we counted with the supervision and help of Ioana Popescu (Associate professor, UEVE). Abolis biotech also contributed on supervision of MS experiment.
For modeling the Dynamic regulation with Kappa, we had the collaboration of Adrien Blasso-Blandin (Postdoc, ENS Lyon - HMS).
For filling the wiki, we received advice from François Bucchini (Research assistant, iSSB).
For press communication, we were helped by Dominique Zeliszewski (CR1, CNRS).
To initiate the team, we had the advice of Tristan Cerisy (PhD student, CEA).
For engagement, we were facilitated to do presentations to high school students by Laurent Martorell and Céline Barreto, teachers of Langevin-Wallon high school.
For human practices, we had several helpers, referred in the Integrated Practices page. On the survey, collaborators were: Marie Beigelman,Nicolas Mandroux and Amélie Touzeau Duquesne. For the MOOC, we went to record at the Maison des Initiatives étudiantes. We were helped by Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, JerryClan Sénégal and a former student in Senegal. For banning plastics report, information was provided from BioFutura, Olivier Kerfant from Artaxerkes Sarl and Ms Sandra Guillomot, Head of Cabinet of Célia Blauel, deputy Mayor for sustainable development at Paris City council.

Host institutions

iSSB: All the experiment performance was possible thanks to the space given in iSSB and Absynth lab, managed by François Képès (iSSB director) and Joan Hérisson. We received instructions for lab safety and security from Dominique Zeliszewski (CR1, CNRS) and Noemie Brisemeur (iSSB). All the iSSB researchers were prone to help: PhD students, research internals, employees and professors. Several of them were ex-iGEMers who helpfully shared their experiences with our team. None of the research lines of iSSB were dedicated to polymer bioproduction.
Génopole: The major part of financial support came from Génopole biocluster, with the approval of Emmanuel Dequier.
Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne: We were allowed to use facilities of the university campus, directed by Patrick Curmi, and its related associations coordinated by Sylvain Fisson.

Finally, we would like to thank our team supervisors, Andrew Tolonen and Bruno Colombo; our cheering committee, leaded by comandante Shawez; the Ulule contributors; our classmates and our families, for all the support they provided during these months.

Team:Evry/Attributions