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Revision as of 12:58, 19 October 2017
Benelux Meetup
On June 24th 2017, we organised the first ever ‘Benelux Meet-up’ (Referring to Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). On this day, all Belgian and Dutch iGEM teams and their supervisors gathered in Wageningen! The goal of this meetup was to get to know the other local iGEM teams better, polish presentation skills, get inspired by experts on the various aspects of synthetic biology and exchange thoughts on how to develop the projects further. For the last part of the day, project development, a ‘human practices workshop’ was included in the programme called ‘Change of Perspective’. Here iGEM subteams got to step out of their ‘developer’ point of view to an ‘end-user’ point of view. Many interesting insights were made by all teams participating in the workshop. We developed this workshop together with our advisor dr. Bob Mulder.
The Meetup started off with a walk-in lunch, where the teams could relax and get to know eachother while enjoying a nice sandwich and some fresh coffee. After everybody had arrived and took some more coffee, the official program could begin starting with presentations by each iGEM team.
The official program started off with short presentations of each team, followed by a discussion round. Thanks to the different backgrounds of all teams, many interesting questions were asked, providing the teams with useful feedback. Even though the projects were still at the early beginnings of development, it was very interesting and inspiring to hear all their ideas and goals. After this, it was time for another refreshing coffee break to discuss the presented projects some more.
Food for thought was provided after the break by our experts, dr. prof. Hyun Youk and dr. Rob Smith. Dr. prof. Youk gave us insight in some of the newest developments in the field of cell communication engineering, whereas dr. Smith educated us on reverse designing synthetic networks in silico.
Besides learning from experts in the fields of synthetic biology, we also got advice from experts in the iGEM area, namely Ana Sifuentes from iGEM Headquarters. Ana Sifuentes gave an update on the new developments in the world of iGEM. Additionally, we could ask her for advice on wiki or design ideas. Moreover, the 2014 iGEM Wageningen team was present.
Concluding the seminar, the 2014 Wageningen team shared their knowledge on 'How to iGEM', as they became first runner-up in the 2014 competition. The 2016 Wageningen team was also present during the break to share their experiences!
After the seminars and another round of coffee to keep everyone warmed up, it was time for the Human Practices workshop called 'Change of Perspective'. We developed this novel workshop together with our communication advisor, dr. Bob Mulder.
The goal of the workshop was for each iGEM team to get out of their expert point of view and discover what the needs or problems would be for the end-user of their project. The teams were to find out: What would it mean to use the technology in practice? 3-6 people of each iGEM team were coupled to a small group of another team. Next, one team got to shortly explain their project as 'developer'. The other team was to ask questions as 'end-user' about how the use of the technology and its influence on their lives or work. After 15 minutes, the roles were reversed. The experts and alumni iGEM teams were also invited to participate.
It was amazing to see how all teams got into this exercise! Some teams were really getting in their role as end-user, asking questions where the developers could anticipate in further in their project. Other teams got to think about whether their initial target group was actually the group that would need their technology most, and had to rethink what the aim is of their technology would be in the first place. For example, iGEM Utrecht initially came up with an interesting biosensor that could basically be applied in almost every field. However, after some questioning, they found out that the aspects of their technology would be best put into use when specifically for identification of diseases.
As participating team, we also got very interesting insights during this workshop. We learned for example that some main concerns might be robustness of the system in tropical areas, the ease of usage of the tool, assuring the authenticity of the product, and fair distribution of the product. We incorporated this advice in our ethics analysis and application design. All in all, this workshop was a succes for all teams!
The day was concluded with a BBQ at which the teams could discuss their applications further, but more importantly, relax and socialize. Plans for collaborations were made and ideas for next meetups were exchanged. Thanks to all experts, supervisors and teams who participated in this first Benelux Meetup!
Want to know more about the teams that attented this Benelux Meetup and how they incorporated their insights? Check out their wiki:
