This year, we are very happy to collaboration with a collegiate iGEM team, CSMU_NCHU_Taiwan. We are both from Taichung City in Taiwan and the distance between us actually are very close, that is, not far from 5km.

In the meetup, CSMU_NCHU_Taiwan knew our project design and the problem to get from IDT the synthetic gene expression vector carrying glucose transporter genes of Salmonella. They advised that we can try to clone the gene from the bacteria and then assemble with the promoter. However, in safety issue, Salmonella is recognized as Biosafety Level 2 organism, they helped us to contact a lab PI, Dr. Cheng-Yang Huang, in Chung Shan Medical University who has handled the bacteria. Luckily, the genomic DNAs of Salmonella has been prepared for their previous research and kept some stored in the fridge. CSMU_NCHU_Taiwan amplified the gene fragments we want by PCR using our designed primers.

And in the other way, we did them a favor by subcloning BioBrick parts. We have good training in the skills of gene cloning learned from our instructor, Dr. Phil Chen. We have actually completed total at least 28 basic and composite BioBrick parts this year. And due to the limited remaining time of iGEM competition, CSMU_NCHU_Taiwan sought help from us to subclone parts from the synthetic genes made by IDT.