Our team came together in April 2017. We first went through a period of extensive research and brainstorming, determined to find a novel solution to a real-world issue. Once we settled on our project in June, we focused on preparing a detailed plan of the work during summer. We designed our parts, circuits and experiments, distributed tasks, managed our team and our lab. Since July, we have been spending long hours in the lab, trying to get CATE ready for the Jamboree.

All of this would have never been possible without the tremendous support and guidance of our advisors, supervisors and experts. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the completion and success of CATE!

Advisors

Our advisors gave feedback to our experiment designs, identified bugs in our codes and were always there to answer any questions we had – even during their vacation! They checked in regularly to make sure we were on track and reassured us when something was not working in the expected way. Daniel and Claude were part of the 2014 iGEM team of ETH Zürich, which is why they were not surprised about our many moments of despair.

• Daniel Gerngross

  Daniel helped us with the initial setup of the lab, double-checked our experimental designs and introduced us to the Ligase Cycling Reaction (LCR) technique. He helped us out with the plate reader experiments, somehow managed to like every single one of our social media posts and took awesome team profile pictures!

• Christoph Stelzer

  Christoph provided us with mammalian cell lines and a lot of advice in experiment design. He was always ready to run over to our lab in case we needed something.

• Claude Lormeau

  Claude was our specialist in computational biology and helped to define the strategy for our models. She was always around to discuss results and optimize the procedure. With her extensive experience she contributed to the successful implementation of the models and connecting the outcomes to the experimental work. She also wisely kept telling us start working on the Wiki as soon as possible, yet we still managed to put it off until last minute. Sorry, Claude.

... and thanks to the advisors for arranging the delicious 3-course dinner on the night of Wiki Freeze.

Supervisors

In addition to providing a dedicated iGEM laboratory at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel, the professors helped us with general decisions by asking critical questions and pointing out difficulties. During our weekly meetings, they kept the overview of our project and supported us in choosing a direction for the project. With their knowledge, they drew our attention to future issues that might appear, so that we could prevent them or adapt early to difficult situations.

• Prof. Dr. Sven Panke

  experiments design, scientific data presentation, advice for project goals and approaches

• Prof. Dr. Jörg Stelling

  modelling

• Prof. Dr. Yaakov Benenson

  workflow design and models

Experts

Along our journey, we were met with tremendous support beyond our lab. We had the great opportunity to meet several amazing people who were more than happy to share their knowledge, skills and equipment with us. We'd like to thank:

• Dr. Christian Britschgi, oncologist at Zentrum für Hämatologie und Onkologie, University Hospital Zürich

  For sharing his experience and extensive knowledge on traditional and experimental cancer treatments.

• Prof. Dr. Ana Borovečki, M.D., specialist in bioethics and clinical pharmacology and toxicology at the Department of Social Medicine and Organization of Healthcare, Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb

  For giving us valuable insights from a perspective of a clinical pharmacologist and toxicologist and an expert in medical ethics, for encouraging us to focus our efforts on human safety aspects of our project, efficacy and transparency when declaring results and defining achievements and limitations of preclinical studies and finally, for getting us in contact with other experts in bioethics.

• Dr. Simon Ittig, CEO and co-founder of T3 Pharmaceuticals

  For the inspiring interview and insights to startup reality of bacterial cancer therapy.

• Prof. Dr. Darko Polšek, head of the Anthropology Study Group at the School of Human and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

  For using his expertise to put our project in the context of bioethics and point out ethical issues and controversies we might face as we develop our project.

• Dr. Sacha Rothschild, oncologist at the Department of Oncology, Universitätsspital Basel

  For sharing his opinion on our project and helping us realize the advantages but also potential problems of our design.

• Prof. Dr. Markus Rudin, Dr. Aileen Schröter and Dr. Mark-Aurel Augath, from the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at ETH Zürich

  For all the advice on MRI and for organizing our MRI experiments. To Dr. Augath especially, for his patience and will to help us during all those long hours needed to make our experiments work.

• Beat Werner, medical physicist at Zentrum für MR-Forschung, Kinderspital Zürich

  For sharing his expertise on focused ultrasound and for setting us in contact with Prof. Dr. Rudin which made our MRI experiments possible.

Lab, Technique and general Support

• Benenson and Panke Lab

  Thank you for lending us your LB when we ran out of it or ours got contaminated, allowing us to use your equipment and letting us bother you in general!

• Irene Wüthrich

  Irene advised us on the use of protein E and provided us the gene and its sequence for further amplifications and cloning experiments.

• Margaux Dastor

  Margaux shared her extensive knowledge about mammalian cell cultures with us and helped us with the cell handling when in doubt.

• BSSE Shop

  Thank you for assisting us with our purchases, sending out our parts and printing our poster.

Outreach

• Student Project House

  For having us at the ETH Zurich Student Idea Pitch and the inspiring comments and questions.

• iGEM TU Delft Team

  For hosting us at the amazing European iGEM Meetup where we had the opportunity connect with fellow iGEMers, organize collaborations, listen to interesting talks from experts and enjoy beautiful Delft and Amsterdam.