Team:William and Mary/Engagement
NOISE Parts
In deciding which parts to submit to the iGEM Registry we focused on three main aspects. First: ensuring our project is as reproducible and extensible as possible. To that end we have submitted all of new composite fluorescent protein parts that we constructed during the project. Measurement & Modeling We measured noise in fluorescence data for dual-integrated sets of CFP and YFP under three promoters: BBa_R0010, BBa_R0011, and BBa_R0051. We also developed an analytic model of the impact of plasmid copy number fluctuations on transcriptional noise, which revealed that intrinsic noise cannot be accurately measured from reporters on the pSB1X3 plasmid series. Human practices Our Human Practices effort was a multi-faceted outreach approach to science literacy, focusing specifically on spreading a basic understanding of synthetic biology to the general public. We collaborated with numerous organizations to host nine educational Synthetic Biology workshops for the public (from first graders to adults!) and to implement our educational 24-activity Synthetic Biology booklet into schools worldwide, to further sustain our efforts for years to come. Collaboration W&M iGEM met and exceeded iGEM's collaboration requirements by collaborating with other researchers in four main ways: creating a pen pal program to connect teams with similar projects, participating in the interlab measurement study, interviewing the general public to provide data to future teams about how to communicate synthetic biology, and collaborating on individual research projects with iGEM teams from University of Georgia, University of Maryland, and Cambridge. 2015 Jamboree Results Undergraduate Grand Prize Winner ReferencesCharacterization of promoter-driven transcriptional noise in E. coli
Second: Making genome integration as straightforward as possible for iGEM teams. In order to accomplish this goal we designed, tested, and validated a new integrator cassette that allows simple genome integration using 3A or Gibson Assembly.
Third: Increasing the number of tools available for promoter-mediated regulation in synthetic biology. We created and validated an E. coli codon optimized dCas9 variant and a suite of gRNAs to target the most commonly used promoters in iGEM. 
Best in Track: Measurement
Best Education & Public Engagement
Best Presentation
Nominee: Best Mathematical Model
Outreach Project: Donor Event Audience: General Public, Specialized Audience Goal: Educate on Synthetic Biology Product: Background information, an adapted experiment protocol, and instructions for how to set up the activity can all be found here. Objectives: 1. Represent The College of William & Mary to donors 2. Talk about the importance of funding science programs at The College 3. Do a Strawberry DNA Extraction based on protocol and background that was created for the activity 4. Use the activity as an example of what the team works on in the lab every day 5. Teach about molecular cloning in the context of synthetic biology Result Type: Qualitative Results: Participants said they learned more about synthetic biology and the iGEM laboratory Reach: 50 adult participants Assessment: This was a fun, simple, and cheap activity that could be easily done with any age level and anyone (participants don't need to have a deep understanding of biology). It did get a little messy, so the protocol was changed accordingly. It is also a good idea to be clear on what happens in each step of the process so that it can be explained to participants. At the end of the event, we also created a document for other iGEM teams that explained how to set up the activity, based on our experience. Overall a successful outreach activity.
Outreach Project: Donor Event Audience: General Public, Specialized Audience Goal: Educate on Synthetic Biology Product: Background information, an adapted experiment protocol, and instructions for how to set up the activity can all be found here. Objectives: 1. Represent The College of William & Mary to donors 2. Talk about the importance of funding science programs at The College 3. Do a Strawberry DNA Extraction based on protocol and background that was created for the activity 4. Use the activity as an example of what the team works on in the lab every day 5. Teach about molecular cloning in the context of synthetic biology Result Type: Qualitative Results: Participants said they learned more about synthetic biology and the iGEM laboratory Reach: 50 adult participants Assessment: This was a fun, simple, and cheap activity that could be easily done with any age level and anyone (participants don't need to have a deep understanding of biology). It did get a little messy, so the protocol was changed accordingly. It is also a good idea to be clear on what happens in each step of the process so that it can be explained to participants. At the end of the event, we also created a document for other iGEM teams that explained how to set up the activity, based on our experience. Overall a successful outreach activity.
