Team:Dalhousie Halifax NS/Attributions
We had a very successful year which would not have been possible without the support of so many dedicated people. We would like to take the chance to thank these people here for all of their help. It really means a lot to us.
2018 Team and Project
The recruitment for the 2018 team flowed continuously from the 2017 project building interest in possible members through presentations and in class informational sessions. Applications for members were due by January 31st and interviews were held during the month of February. March held general meetings to inform new members about iGEM as a whole as well as the 2017 project. During this month team members researched and proposed project ideas that were brainstormed in small groups until the team decided on a project. Originally the project was based in using transposon sequencing, which we later had to shift to a biosynthetic pyoverdine pathway, however the focus was always on improving aluminum toxicity measurement procedures. At the beginning of April our team consisted of 15 undergraduate students, 4 graduate mentors and 2 faculty advisors. Team leads were nominated in June for Wet Lab, Dry Lab, Human Practices, Fundraising and Interlab teams. May and June had the teams developing goals, running training workshops and outlining our sponsorship package. We also assigned individuals to keep our social media pages update over the course of our project. Team members were kept busy during our planning and training months and continuing over the course of the summer by participating in our science communication PLOSibilities blog. June also had the wet lab and dry lab team members looking at gene block design for the biosynthetic pathway genes of our project. From July until October members were heavily involved in our cloning procedures testing multiple gene blocks with lots of troubleshooting getting creative with different ways we could characterize our biobrick.
Faculty Support of the Project
Wet Lab Support
Cloning: Thanks to all members of our wet lab team for the many hours dedicated to cloning, transforming and verifications. Landon Getz for constant advice, trouble shooting, procedural designs, attending meetings, running training session and providing support to each and every team member. Taylor Caddell and Matt Curry for trouble shooting and guiding other team members in protocols. Organizing wet lab schedule and keeping team members updated with changes and new procedures. Dalhousie’s Thomas Lab for materials and lots of LB media.
Dry Lab Support
Human Practices and Outreach Support
Francis Routledge kept the team in check for deadlines and guided the team throughout the summer. Team lead Catherine Robertson led by example and was the human practices team’s main communications officer. Members Include, Francis Routledge, Catherine Robertson, Andrea Tomko, Vicky Haines, Matthew Curry, Jenna Liang
General:Emma Finalyson-Trick provided mentorship to the human practices team in May and June. She helped us get started as to what activities we wanted to do during the summer and most importantly, created our blog “Think of the PLoSibilities” in collaboration with PLoS journals. Emma continues to edit and review submitted summaries.
Outreach:Jacob Russell photographed the team.
Maya Potter from Dalhousie SuperNova Camps included us in their programming. br>
Michelle Sampson***br>
DMRF event***
Alderney Landing***
Nova Scotia Health Authority Tour br>
Emily Hicks of FREDSense agreed to an interview and provided us with advice on biosensor interference and running a start-up biosensor company. Dr. Jean Shovellor of the University of British Columbia agreed to an interview and gave us insight into international science communication and communicating results with the public. Jennifer Allott agreed to an interview and advised our team on field kit design of water tests. Dr. Jennifer Stamp of Dalhousie University agreed to an interview and gave us advice on our website design approach and scientific communication. Dr. Paola Marignani of Dalhousie University agreed to an interview and gave us advice on team management and her professional opinion on integrated science. Sarah MacLeod of Bluenose Coastal Action Foundation agreed to an interview and gave us priceless advice on water test design and costs and future direction of our project. Dr. Tom Clair of Dalhousie University agreed to an interview and confirmed the acid rain problem in Nova Scotia.
Science Communication:Science communication an all summer with blog posts coming out weekly as well as many different interviews being conducted with experts in the field. In September our team participated in promoting iGEM awareness and our past and present projects by visiting two of our local markets and setting up information booths. Our Human Practices team organized these science outreach events over the course of the summer.
Fundraising Support
Dalhousie University Office of Advancement and Grace Lee helped us create a successful crowdfunding campaign. Mairin Hogan amd Elmira Farrashzadeh spearheaded our crowdfunding campaign.
Web Design Support
Matthew Curry spent hours making and coding the website and many graphic designs. Jocelyn MacDonald helped code and troubleshoot the website along whith Hannah Leblanc and designed the bioinformatics wiki pages. Francis Routledge designed some wiki pages and graphic designs. Taylor Caddell wrote many sections of the website.
