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Nice to meet you! |
Hi, we hope that you are enjoying the summer holidays! In our case, we are still diligently working in our office and lab. That being said, here is a small peek at what we were up to in June. |
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Integrated human practices | How do we include stakeholder’s values, become aware of societal needs and include safety in our design? Often scientists and engineers have other ideas about values and safety than society. This is why we collaborate with all our stakeholders to gain insights considering these aspects. Additionally, we strive towards close collaboration with experts in the field of antibiotic resistance and health to understand the real pains in the fight against this issue. Collaborations have been initiated with governmental agencies to meet the guidelines and regulations of the iGEM project. To determine what is user-friendly, we are working together with farmers, veterinarians and diagnostic centres. The input of these stakeholders is used to optimize and redesign our diagnostic tool. |
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Drylab
| The wetlab is supported by a smaller, but just as enthusiastic drylab! The priority of the drylab is to answer any questions that arise in the wetlab by means of modelling and simulations. Here, our experiments are designed and subsequently optimized prior to their realisation. In order to improve understanding and collaboration between both parties, members of the drylab are being encouraged to contribute in the laboratory as well.
The drylab has been working on establishing predictive models with regards to the Cas13a protein. For example, we are interested in the characterization of the properties of Cas13a. Unlike the properties of Cas9, these have not been fully determined yet for Cas13a. |
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Wetlab | The project has been divided into 4 different modules; Cas13a, vesicles, tardigrade proteins and final design. The final design is focussing on the development of an user-friendly diagnostic tool. This module tries to develop a DNA-isolation method that can easily be used in the field. The other modules were occupied with the assembly and transformation of the plasmids. Furthermore, exciting results were obtained regarding a visible and straight-forward read-out that can be easily interpreted.
This month, we are performing the characterization of the plasmids and we aim to purify our first proteins and let our bacteria start generating vesicles. |
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TEDxDelft talk online
As mentioned in our previous newsletter, Kelly delivered a talk about “synthetic biology in our everyday life” for TedxDelft. For the people who missed the video on facebook, feel free to watch it here. |
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International festival of technology
We helped out at the microbe market at the International Festival of Technology from the 7th until the 9th of June. Here visitors were informed about iGEM and our project. Furthermore, we visualized the blueprint of life by making colourful double helix keychains. |
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Alumni event
In honour of TU Delft’s 175th anniversary, we attended the alumni event on the 9th of June. Our team member Jasper had the privilege to present our project in front of the TU Delft alumni. The public was so enthusiastic about our project that we got even more motivated to realize it. |
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Science day
Our team was also present at the yearly Science Day event, organised by the Applied Sciences Faculty of TU Delft. We learned a lot about how collaborations can emerge in the most unexpected way. In addition we had the opportunity to show our project to the staff of the faculty for the first time. |
Benelux meet-up
iGem Wageningen hosted a Benelux meet-up, with presentations of all attending iGEM teams and experts. It was exciting to hear what the other teams were up to and it gave us the energy to continue surpassing ourselves in our project. |
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On the 7th and 8th of July, an amazing number of 33 teams and in total 211 people attended our European iGEM meet-up! Supervisors and team members from the UK, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria and of course the Netherlands gathered in Delft to get to know and learn from each other. Special appreciation and thanks to the speakers: Cees Dekker, Denis Murphy, Dirk Stemerding and the iGEM ambassador: Camélia Bencherif. Furthermore, we invited all our sponsors and partners and were delighted to see them engage in the discussions. The speakers took us on a journey through synthetic biology followed by an engaging poster session that gave everyone the opportunity to see other teams’ projects. In the afternoon, we had an enjoyable barbecue with an abuzz atmosphere filled with conversations and discussions. To conclude a great day, we had a nice “borrel” in several different bars in Delft. On the second day, some attendees accompanied us for either a boat tour through Delft or the Pannenkoekenboot in Rotterdam, bringing the meet-up to a close. We were happy to welcome so many teams here in Delft and hope to see them all again in Boston this November! |
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Department of Biotechnology
The Department of Biotechnology will sponsor iGEM TU Delft again this year! This section of the university engages in internationally-leading, groundbreaking research and education programmes in industrial and environmental biotechnology. The Department of Biotechnology covers the fields of biocatalysis, bioprocess engineering, cell systems engineering, environmental biotechnology, industrial microbiology, and biotechnology and society, combining fundamental research, engineering, and design. These fields are all directed towards biotechnological process innovations. |
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Erasmus University Medical Center
The Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) is proud to sponsor iGEM TU Delft this year! The Erasmus MC, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is the largest and one of the most authoritative scientific University Medical Centers in Europe. It is committed to a healthy population and excellence in healthcare by means of research and education. Through joint educational programmes, such as Nanobiology with TU Delft, they encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and thinking outside the box to better understand the complexity of life and solve medical problems of today for the benefit of tomorrow’s healthcare. |
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Merck
TMerck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to develop technologies that improve and enhance life—from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. The life science business‘ purpose is to solve the toughest problems in the industry by collaborating with the global scientific community. With a broad portfolio of more than 300,000 products for protein research, cell biology and chemical-based and biopharmaceuticals, the business covers the bioprocessing value chain. |
