Project Monitoring

Our iGEM team has a lot of team members and as most of you probably know, team work is not always easy. That’s why we decided to have a project monitoring team. It means that we have people supporting us during working processes and help us to optimize specific routines. Our team organized team building events, workshops about scientific skills which are useful for our scientific career and furthermore. Our project monitors are students who are working in different biological research fields but are also trained to support interdisciplinary teams and have experiences with different team projects. Project monitoring exonerates the team coordination and helps to re-focus again in stressful situations, helps to mediate in conflicts and try to improve our qualities as a team.

The Start: Kick-Off

In January 2017, the iGEM team started to meet every tuesday and brainstorming about the 2017 project slowly processed. We did some literature research, found a project, discussed it in our meetings and finally decided to carry this project out. The very first team event was the kickoff event. We got to know each other better, introduced ourselves to the team and talked about our ideas and visions for this iGEM year. The team structure was developed and discussed, some team rules were specified and we had a barbecue and a pub quiz.

Workshops

In order to teach everyone about cloning, the BioBrick system, other molecular biology basics and some basic HTML were taught to the new students in various workshops. Several computer programs were introduced, such as SnapGene or SciFinder. Presentation trainings, pitch workshops, leading skills for group leaders were trained as well as workshops about scientific writing were held, to improve certain soft skills. Additionally we had weekly Journalclubs.

Kleinwalsertal weekend

In June, we decided to have a seminar in the Kleinwalsertal (Austrian mountains). We climbed a mountain, spent some nice evenings together and developed a first concept for the Human Practices work. This weekend improved our team spirit very much and was a good possibility to recharge our batteries from the lab work!

German iGEM Meet-Up in Dresden

In July, the annual German Meet-Up took place in Dresden. A delegation from our team joined the German Meet-Up which was organized by the iGEM team TU Dresden. We got to know the other German iGEM teams, presented our project and talked about collaborations like iGEM Goes Green.

European iGEM Meet-Up in Delft

Five iGEMers from Darmstadt went on the journey to Delft, Netherlands to participate in the iGEM European meet-up. Thanks to the engagement of the host team from TU Delft, the meet-up became an inspiring and motivating happening. Due to good organisation, scientific talks, exchange with other iGEMers all across Europe and also fun time was well balanced.

Starting from the typical accomodation recommendations (campgrounds) and the social programs (pannekoekenboat - look it up, it's fantastic) or a canal-tour on a boat, not only were we meeting up to discuss science, we also got an introduction to culture in the netherlands and got a chance to meet the Dutch people themselves. We tried our best to not only represent our team, but also our local region, by bringing some typical apple wine (Äppler, or Appelwein or Ebbelwoi) and enjoying it with our fellow iGEMers, and making a fool of ourselves by swimming and jumping into one of the abundant canals (it was raining and really cold, but when in the Netherlands - do as weird tourists from Germany do!).
Through the event, we got feedback on our poster presentation style (too german) as well as contacts to teams which are working on similiar topics and interesting discussions. Especially, the opportunity to speak out about the idea of clonecademy on Friday during the Synergene Talk, was a big opportunity for us.
We brought back lots of new ideas and insights, new cooperation ideas (and cheese, we brought cheese and waffles). We would like to thank the TU Delft team and the whole university for hosting this regional Jamboree, and for organizing such an enjoyable and thoughtful get-together of many iGEM teams.

Team-Building Event

In August we had another team-building event. Our project coordination and project management team organized a "Panzerknacker" event. We finished the day with a nice barbecue and grew even closer together!

Interdisciplinary exchange

Taken together, we all learned a lot this year. Besides the work, we had a lot of fun, grew together as a team and also got to know many other iGEMers. We worked in the lab every day in the week, had some exhausting nights before wiki freeze and spent good times together. The iGEM year will be completed with our team visiting the Giant Jamboree, presenting our project and getting to know more young researchers We are really looking forward to the Jamboree, see you there!

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