The iGEM Team Duesseldorf, that was just founded this year, contacted us, because they were planning to work with yeast and were interested in a vector that we made RFC compatible last year (BBa_K1680014). We had not only this particular vector, but also some sisters of it, as well as some of the pTUM vectors that were generated by Team TU Munich in 2012, in our freezer and were happy to provide them.
By sheer coincidence, two of our members were travelling to Duesseldorf a week after Team Duesseldorf had contacted us, so we could even bring them our collected yeast vectors in person and make sure that they could immediately use them for their experiments.

Collaborations are not only useful in Lab environment when the use of specific tools and materials can be shared, but also in Human Practices ideas can be realized much quicker and easier when teams are collaborating. To reach more people about synthetic biology, the iGEM team Duesseldorf approached eight other German iGEM teams, including us, with the idea to design different kinds of postcards which cover specific topics of synthetic biology, especially those that have or may have an influence on our everyday life. This format was excellent for collaboration with many other teams as each team only had to design one postcard, but these postcards reach a much bigger audience as they are distributed among eight iGEM teams all over Germany.

The covered topics are very diverse, from the recombinant production of Insulin to transgenes. All postcards together show the range of possibilities in genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Our postcard covers the topic of gene editing (see below) and shows probable applications of genetic engineering today and in the future.

In summary, this collaboration achieves multiple goals of human practices. The series of postcards can educate a broad range of people with various topics of synthetic biology while showing at the same time the multiplicity of applications of genetic engineering in our everyday life.