Team:NJU-China/Team
Team
There are 3 PI & Instructors, 2 advisors and 11 undergraduate members consisting of Team NJU_China. Familiar with iGEM competition, this team has its unique experimental style thanks to much experience of past years. All of their members are determined to complete the complex project each year. This time, NJU_China, represented by 16 people with their full scientific enthusiasm and serious scientific attitude, presented a project of how to “Surf in the Neuron”. Here they are.
PI & Instructors
Qipeng Zhang：
His research focuses on the roles of microRNAs in nervous systems. He had identified and characterized the microRNA profiles of mouse forebrain synaptosome and their supernatants before and after depolarization stimulation, he found the synaptosome can secret microRNAs during depolarization and uptake microRNAs via endocytosis pathways. Now, he is interested in the microRNA, mRNA transportation in neurites. As the secondary PI of NJU_China, he designed the experiments and supervised the whole process. With much patience and devotion to the project, he taught us many things. And I believe that is why our project went well.
Xi Chen：
He is an amazing and inspiring teacher. Thanks to his encouragement, we are eager to put forward innovative ideas and voice our own opinions about the ongoing work. Besides, what impresses us most is that he helps us patiently whenever we have trouble with our projects. He offers so much support and help, from the construction of the whole experimental frame to the references we choose.
Yu Zhou：
Fourth-year doctoral student from Advanced Institution for Life Sciences of Nanjing University. He has been participated in iGEM competition since 2013. He is much devoted to the project and team. No matter what problems we encountered, whether they were experimental or iGEM questions, he would help us solve them. There is no doubt that his outstanding leadership ensured everything that needed to be done would get done.
Advisors
Members
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Chenxi Liang
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:The giant jamboree is a place where all the beautiful minds and people of synthetic biology converge. It is great to meet different people with the similar dream and to learn from others.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:I leader the team with our instructor and we recruited our members. I organize the project and communicate with other teams.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:I acted as a different character compared to last year, when I was a team member. It is good to overview the whole competition in a new way, and I found there are still many flaws of myself. Besides, it’s great to meet foreign people and make friends with them.
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Shuyi Chen
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:I believe iGEM competition is a good way not only to practise my lab skills, but also to learn and experience scientific thinking. What’s more, it’s a good opportunity for me to learn to cooperate with others and meet other competitors from all over the world.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·presentation of our project
·writing for wiki
·safety form
·participate in part of the experiment
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:Through the competion, I know more about methods and lab skills in research. And dealing with the results helps me with my analysing skills. Besides, I find that in the field of biology, math is playing an important role, which makes me make up my mind to learn it better. Also, the presentation practises my logical thinking.
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Chenguang Guan
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:Motivated by the interesting topic concerning molecular localization in the neurite, I participated in the IGEM competition. In addition, I take deep interests in Machine Learning and Bioinformation, and have a good command of relative theories and have strong programming skills, therefore, I am willing to make use of my professional skills to establish a mathematical model for the research.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Diffusion Pattern Recognition of targeted molecules in dendrites.
·Adapt the traditional Sholl Analysis method to describe the localization behavior of targeted molecules.
·Neurite similarities calculation and clustering through graph model based on Graph Edit Distance and Kernel tricks.
·Neurite recognition based on deep learning algorithm.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:This cross-disciplinary project is interesting and challenging. During the project, I was motivated by the fancy experiment results, and attained a good command of knowledge of Bioinformation and Group Theory. Furthermore, my research capacities including programming skills and communication ability have been improved.
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Shujian Hu
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:The IGEM competition is such a competition which includes both biological experiments and project packing, I think the IGEM competition is the perfect stage for me to show my biological knowledge and design ability. At the same time, the competition is a good opportunity to learn from professors and my colleagues. What’s more, I’d like to broaden my visions and experience living abroad by the competition.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·submitting the expense account for the project
·designing the wiki and the logo
·filling the animal use form
·participating in part of the experiment
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:Through the competition, I don’t only put my biological knowledge into practice but also experience the joy of design. What’s the most important, i learn many many operation techniques from professors and improve my teamwork skills during the competition.
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Kehuan Lin
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:I am convinced that synthetic biology is a socially beneficial technology as it has great potential to improve human life in all aspects, such as disease treatment, environmental management, livelihood improvement. Therefore, taking part in the iGEM is an opportunity to learn the technology of synthetic biology and make contributions to society.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Participating in the project experiments.
·Designing and organizing human practices.
·Writing for wiki.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:Attending trainings, I have learnt biosafety rules and essential experimental techniques in lab. Also, my sense of preciseness and critical thinking has been advanced during the process of project design. And my hands-on ability has been improved by experimental exercises. What’s more, I get a better understanding of the potential of synthetic biology for disease treatment during the whole competition.
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Yifan Li
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:I am really fascinated to synthetic biology because it is full of charm of logic. And iGEM competition gives me such a chance to get closer to the subject and the biological experiments personally. Besides, I believe there must be something I can get during the competition and also the world does.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Participating in the experiment part of the project
·Designing and organizing human practice activities
·writing for wiki
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:As my first truly completed experiment, iGEM project lets me understand what is scientific life like. During the project, I find that it is really different between what I have learned in class and what I have learned in laboratory. Meantime, as a team, the project could not be realized anything without our team spirit. For me, iGEM competition also trained me how to do team work.
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Yutong Pan
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:Because I really want to know how the knowledge I learned in class can be used in real scientific researches. Also, iGem competition gives me an opportunity to meet people all around the world and share ideas with them.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Construct the team’s Wiki.
·Interlab studies.
·Participate in the wet lab experiment.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3: I gain a lot of knowledge of synthetic biology and basic laboratory skills. For the first time, I took part in lab research and understand what scientific research life is. Also, the competition consists of many parts and need a team to complete them all. The project cannot be finished without the cooperation with teammates. In this process, I learn how to work in a team and communicate with teammates
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Yiming Quan
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:Different from traditional curriculum learning, IGEM gives me a chance to solve practical problems and apply professional knowledge through our own ideas. I also look forward to feeling the atmosphere of laboratory research and making friends with like-minded guys.Of course, Boston's journey and world-class communication are also very attractive to me.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·wet lab experiment
·presenting our project
·helping doing some communication and coordination work in the team
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:I gain knowledge in the many applications of synthetic biology as well as basic experiment operation, and more importantly, meticulous but innovative research ideas. In addition, in the process of teamwork, I have gained unexpected and precious friendship，which is worth remembering forever.
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Han Wang
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:Because I would very much like to put my skills learned from the classes into practice to see what I am able to accomplish and whether I am able to break through my limits, in which case the iGEM will give me the chance to set on a longer and further and freely selectable project in a group. All those benefits attract me so much that I am determined to devote all myself into the group, and to the iGEM competition.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Design of the logo and other materials.
·Extraction,construction of the plasmid and culture of the neuron.
·Making the work our group is doing more clear to others.
·Design of the web pages.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:What I have got from the competition varies. For instance, just the sense of achievement I got on seeing that a project has worked when I done my best is great enough for me. When it occurs, it will keep me alive and more concentrated on the work I am doing. It is also an estimable thing to see how other iGEM groups work in this collective competition. I am really learning quite a lot seeing how others overcome whatever problems they have met in their way to success.
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Xueyao Wang
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:I am interested in neuroscience and the therapy of many nerval diseases(which our project is about), and IGEM gives me a new and different way to solve this problem in way of synthetic biology. In addition, there are a lot more included in IGEM besides the project and the experiment.The designs of logo/wiki/banner etc. , human practice, cooperation with other team, all of these enrich my mind and help me make more connections with like-minded people. Working hard in lab and sharing my ideas with others make me excited.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Design of the poster, the team clothing and other materials. ·Participating in the experiment part of the project. ·Documenting the everyday experiment and results.
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:Through the competition, I practice and do experiment for teams and gain a lot of lab skills. Also, the analysis of everyday experiment improve my critical thinking. In addtion,my technique in design get improved and I get benefits from team work and cooperation.
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Yishu Yin
Q1:Why are you taking part in the iGEM competition?
A1:I think this competition offers me a good opportunity to get a glimpse of synthetic biology. And I am really interested in the form of the iGEM competition when we work together as a team and share our idea with people all over the world. I will definitely learn a lot from this experience.
Q2:Which parts of the project did you make most contribution to?
A2:·Presenting our project at the conferences
·Paperwork in our team
·Writing articles in wiki
Q3:What do you get from the competition?
A3:The most important thing I learned from this competition is team work, we need to know what we are doing in the group, we need to be responsible to our tasks, and we are confident of our project. Also, we learned to cope with different situations in this project, like giving presentations to hundreds of people and some other little emergency situations in the process.
