Team:UAlberta/Attributions

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Attributions

The UAlberta iGEM team would like to thank the people and organizations that made this project possible. Without their support, we would not be able to achieve all that we have this summer.

Below are acknowledgments of the attributions from those outside of our team. This list includes our supervisors, stakeholders, researchers external to our institution, and our sponsors that were integral to the success of our project. We would also like to extend a thank you to our friends, family, and significant others for their support throughout this entire project.

Campbell Lab:

  • Dr. Robert Campbell was our primary PI. He provided lab resources and copious advice on different facets of the project.
  • Dr. Yi (Eason) Shen served as an advisor, providing helpful discussions and suggestions regarding cloning work, experimental design, and troubleshooting.
  • Rochelin Dalangin trained team members in lab procedures, supervised students when carrying out experiments, helped design the constructs, designed and helped design synbio and bee lab experiments, performed and troubleshoot experiments, performed statistical analyses, and wrote content for both the Wiki and Parts Registry.

Sauvageau Lab:

  • Dr. Dominic Sauvageau was our secondary PI. He provided lab resources and advice regarding multiple aspects of the project.

Other Supervisors:

  • Courtney MacInnis was recruited as advisor after our project had been confirmed as she is an expert in all things bee related. She advised procedures for bee handling and testing, and also answered all bee related questions. Her willingness and excitement to teach us was inspiring and will always be appreciated.

Student Supervisors: This year we were lucky to have multiple returning students who served in advisory positions, but were unable to be active team members. We are thankful for their support and expertise.

  • David Herczeg helped with the construction of the wiki.
  • Heather Baker helped with recruitment and administration.
  • Monica Takla helped with recruitment and administration.
  • Teresa Nguyen-Pham helped with recruitment and administration.
  • Pia Maxine-Co with helping review Wiki content flor, grammar, and spelling

Student Contributors: These individuals were recruited to the iGEM main team but due to time constraints were unable to maintain a high level of involvement and instead served as contributors. We thank them for all their contributions

  • Sonya Soh
  • Kieran Maheden
  • Mark Farinas

External Attributions

Research & Lab Support: Because the large scope of our project, we needed to enlist the advice of those not immediately on our team. Moreover, we believed that the best way to make a comprehensive project was to contact the researchers who were already working to save the bees. The following researchers helped us in an advisory capacity by answering questions and by making suggestions to improve our project.

  • Shelly Hoover
  • Dr. Rassol Bahreini
  • Dr. Medhat Nasri
  • Dr. Christopher Cairo’s group

Beekeeping organizations: UAlberta iGEM 2018 felt it was important to get to know the community that we were helping with our project. Part of this was getting to know the beekeeping associations. They helped us by offering advice, experience, and contacts.

  • Alberta Beekeepers Association (with special thanks to Connie Phillips and Jules Ham)
  • Calgary Beekeeping Association

Beekeepers: We would particularly like to thank each and every one of the beekeepers who had extensive emails, as well as phone and Skype calls with us. We would also like to thank those beekeepers who welcomed us into their homes and introduced us to their families. Each and every one of these beekeepers gave fantastic input, provided invaluable insight and knowledge, and helped to propel our project forward. Our lab work, documentary, and many other aspects of the project would not have been possible without their contributions.

  • Liz Goldie: Special thanks for helping us find an issue to tackle, constantly answering all of our questions, putting us in contact with dozens of people and just generally showing us she cared about our project. We could not have done this without you!
  • Jason McKinnon: Special thanks for allowing us to collect bees from your family’s hive, use your beekeeping supplies, and for giving us updates on the hive’s status. Without your support, we would not have gotten as far as we did!
  • Randy Beaton
  • Jean-Francois
  • Connie Phillips
  • Jos Houbraken
  • Allen Dick
  • Jeremy Olthof
  • Elana Kempv
  • Don Gates
  • Paul Greidanus
  • Danny Paradis
  • Curtis Miedema
  • Jayme MacFayden
  • Malcolm Connell
  • Jean-F Cianci

Past iGEM work: In the spirit of the iGEM competition we built on the work of past iGEM teams when constructing our own project. We would like to acknowledge the work of past iGEM teams, and are truly grateful that we can be a part of the community where collaboration and building off of each others work is not only easy but encouraged.

Other stakeholders: In our attempt to contact as many stakeholders as possible and get their input in all aspects of our project we spoke to Ursula Da Runga, former CEO of Medivet. We are grateful for her participation in an interview as she provided expertise about Fumagilin, the treatment produced by Medivet, beekeeping, and Nosema.

The University of Alberta: the University of Alberta provided a number of resources that were instrumental for our team. The specific staff of the U of A that we would like to thank are below!

  • Chris Fetterly: This year the University of Alberta opened the Student Innovation Center. The director of the center, Chris Fetterly, allowed our team to use this space whenever we needed to and gave entrepreneurial inspiration to our team members.
  • Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour: the University of Alberta Associate Dean of Science for Diversity. We were lucky to have Dr.Armour’s help with the development of our inclusivity survey. She reviewed our questions and made suggestions on our survey.