For the first meetups, IGEM Bordeaux went to Paris. Arriving Thursday night we spend a great night with our friends before going on Friday attend the meetup organized by the great team of igem pasteur! The Friday morning we arrived in front of the base camp, no i should say the fortress of the team pastor. We were escorting in front of a great breakfast to give us the strength we needed to pass all these teams and present our project. This breakfast was also an opportunity to go spy the other teams to give us more stress, in case we would not be enough stress in front of the pomp of the places where we were. After a morning of presentation, we were able to fill our bellies with a feast worthy of kings. And exchange a maximum of advice around a round table that was not really round. In the afternoon we had the chance learn from the knowledge of different teachers and researchers of the Pasteur Institute. Thanks to this moment animate by the school of the pitch of Paris we learned better to express ourselves in front of an audience and thus to be clearer in our exchange.
This led us to meet again the next day to visit the city with other courageous teams such as igem Toulouse and igem marseille, and to undertake the long and endless quest for the little chapel aka "the secret chapel" that we have end up finding after having suffered losses (igem marseille). Here some memories It was definitely a wonderful human experience !
For the second week of August, iGEM Bordeaux went to the Mediterranean meet-up organized by iGEM Aix-Marseille Université. The first day of the meet-up was quite hard for our team as some of us arrived in a bus at 5am. However, it was with a great pleasure to begin this meet-up. After the breakfast, the host team starts the presentation. After that we had the chance to present our project. It was interesting to have so many questions about our organism, Caernorhabditis elegans. Most of the people didn’t know this organism or how it can be useful, for genetic study. After us, it was a girl from iGEM technion team to present. Their project was interesting as the goal is to cure different and maybe all the allergies.
During the lunch break, we had the occasion to discuss about our experience and how each team works. We also shared some advices and some anecdote about our respective team. After this break, we have been able to enjoy the sun and the beautiful city that is Marseille. The day ended by an occasion to learn more about each other and sympathize. It was a great pleasure to meet all these people. The second day begins with the presentation of iGEM Valencia team about their project, Chatterplant. It was really interesting to discuss about the possibility of using the roofs for plantation. After a break, we begin the poster session and it was again an occasion to share some advice about the design and organization of the poster.This meet-up was an excellent occasion to meet people and have different opinions on our project. It is a great idea that allows us to create relationships that could useful for work opportunities or could become friendship.
IGEM is an international competition involving teams from all around the world. In this spirit, we got in contact with a team which is far away from us. We collaborated with TNCR_Korea team to get some feedbacks on our respective wiki and to fill some surveys. Their project is about making gluten digestable for everyone. You can visit their wiki HERE.