Team:Calgary/Attributions
Attributions
Accomplishements
Over January to April of 2017, our team got together for the first time over weekly meetings. As the majority of our team had no synthetic biology or iGEM experience, we spent a lot of this time learning about what synthetic biology is and how it works, as well as the infrastructure of iGEM. Over this period, our mentors (composed of some 2016 iGEM team members) held presentations to explain the parts registry, what human practices entails, Wiki requirements, and general iGEM advice. At this point we also began looking into previous team's projects to get an idea of what is possible. A portion of this time was also dedicated to each team member acquiring research funding for the summer.
In mid March, we decided on pursuing PHB production from E. coli to be used in wastewater systems, and the rest is history. Despite taking a large portion of April off for exams, we were able to do some literature search about our proposed methods to get a better idea of what our project will entail. In May, we began working full time, splitting our work between the lab, literature research, as well as all the other iGEM requirements such as human practices, fundraising, public engagement and Wiki design.
This is a paragraph about what the team accomplished!
General Support
Dr. Mayi Arcellana-Panlilio: Our fearless leader, Dr. Mayi was our primary supervisor over the summer. She guided us in every step of the project, from idea development to final result. Our team would not be where we are without her!
Dr. Elke Monika Lohmeier-Vogel:
Dr. Andres Nygren:
Dr. Craig Jenne:
Dr. Fabiola Aparicio-Ting:
Brad Prince: Provided us with the cost analysis of PHB production, specifically, how much media is required to produce one kilogram of plastic, and how profit it could make. Offered general support on presentation and design, as well as the user interface of the 3D PHB Simulator.
Rachelle Varga:
David Feehan:
Bruce Ramsay & Polyferm:
Deirdre Lobb: Helped ensure that all of our lab work was performed according to safety standards, and assisted in getting the whole team certified with all safety courses. Also collaborated with our team to keep lab risk at a minimum by encouraging us to look towards alternative forms of human feces - this led us to finding the NASA recipe for syn poo.
Elena Fekete, Sid Goutam, Syed Jafri, David Nguyen, Nishi Patel, Nilesh Sharma, and Dan Ziemianowicz: All members of the 2016 UCalgary team. They helped with the initial brainstorming of our project, general advice, and gave us need-to-know iGEM tutorials. These included how to use the parts registry, how to set up the Wiki, fundraising suggestions, and possible contacts that we may find useful.
Synthesis & Secretion Support
Dr. Isabelle Barrette-Ng: Assisted with troubleshooting transformation experiments, and also gave advice for proper cloning protocols.
Dr. Sui-Lam Wong: Donated E. coli BL21(DE3) to use as our chassis.
Dr. Richard Moore Donated competent E. coli DH5𝛼 and his competency protocol to make our own competent cells.
Process Support
Dr. Nashaat Nassar:
Matthew Bamsey: Advised
Dr. Peter Dunfield:
Christine Sharp, Marc Strous and the Solar Biocells Lab: Let us use HPLC! Woo!
Wiki Support
Patrick Wu: Provided us with wiki support, especially regarding how to set up templates as well as some formatting and layout troubleshooting.Modelling Support
Dr. Justin MacCallum:
Dr. Jason de Koning:
Dr. Ian Lewis:
Human Practices Support
Chris Hadfield:
Derek Thomas:
Carol Nelson:
Pascal Lee:
Marko Markicevic: Provided us with detailed information about the regulation and testing performed during the wastewater treatment process, as well as the VFA concentrations. This information confirmed that using wastewater as a feedstock was feasible, but not the proper application for a pure culture of genetically engineered bacteria.
Minds in Motion: Gave us the platform to speak with Grades 4-6 and 7-9 campers about synthetic biology and expose them to some fun, hands on learning activities.
Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant: After touring the plant and consulting with their employees, we realized that a synthetic biology application into existing wastewater treatment plants was not feasible. We started looking towards alternative applications after our visit.
Biology Graduate Student Association and Beakerhead:
Telus Spark:
Team Involvement
Alexandra Ivanova: I organized summer camps.
Alina Kunitskaya: I talked about space.
Amy Chen: I came in late.
Atika Ibrahim: I played foosball.
Bilal Sher: I was the driver.
Helen Wang: As a part of the Synthesis group: helped to design and codon optimize constructs and placed orders for synthesis by Integrated DNA Technologies. Helped clone constructs into PET29B vectors for experiments. Provided considerable feedback on wiki design and edited content. In charge of finding and performing collaborations: compiled a contact list of all Canadian iGEM teams and scheduled meetings between the two teams on Skype, as well as in person. Lead the team to pioneer the Canadian iGEM Newsletter and secured a wet-lab collaboration with iGEM McMasterU. Performed the wet-lab experiments required for the collaboration. Helped deliver the talk at Sir Winston Churchill High School and the Minds in Motion workshops.
Jacob Grangier: I actually did work.
Kaitlin Schaaf: As part of the Secretion subgroup helped to codon-optimize and design the secretion parts, including the Phasin-HlyA Tag genetic construct. Cloned this into E. coli DH5ɑ and BL21(DE3) for Phasin-Hly A Tag quantification. Also carried out the ligation of Phasin-HlyA Tag into pSB1C3-PhaCAB to create a “super” plasmid that has both PHB-producing and PHB-secreting genes. This plasmid was used to carry out secretion assays. As part of the Human Practices subgroup, conducted research to identify barriers to synthetic biology and contributed to the iGEM video manual transcript. Participated in the Minds in Motion workshops, Beakerhead Petri Dish Picasso, and the Telus Spark Adults Only Night.
Lalit Bharadwaj: I played rugby.
Maliyat Aniqa Noor: I ate chips.
Michaela Olsakova: Helped design the wiki and programmed the responsive design from scratch. Created the 3D PHB Simulator program in Unreal Engine, and participated in outreach activities such as the Minds in Motion summer camp. Led the team in fundraising efforts, particularly the Space Slam fundraiser, and worked with the Human Practices team to organize tours to the wastewater treatment plants, and as well as interviews for various industry professionals.
Preetha Gopalakrishnan: As a part of the Synthesis group: helped to codon optimize constructs, helped clone constructs into PET29B vectors for experiments, helped run experiments to characterize constructs. Provided considerable feedback on wiki design and edited content. Led the team in human practices efforts: attended interviews with experts and provided background on the biological aspects of our project, organized some outreach events (such as TELUS Spark Adults Only Night showcase and the Master’s Academy talk), identified barriers to accessing synthetic biology, and spearheaded efforts to produce the iGEM Manual video series script.
Sam Wilton-Clark: I longboarded.
Tricia Lim: I made cool graphics.
