Team:Tec-Monterrey/Collaborations

Collaborations and Meetings

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ICT-Mumbai

Collaboration

Skype meetings were often a little too early for us and a little too late for them, but collaborations with ICT-Mumbai ended up being very successful! We helped the mathematical modelling team with their oscillating circuit, especially concerning the correctness and scope of the equations they had used in their system, since it was their first time working with MATLAB. From their code, we were able to find a small correction in their model, called a “basal transcription level” that is commonly referred to as leakage, that could help turn their code from a purely qualitative description of the biological system into a quantitative one that could further allow them to make predictions and test experimental data. This additional consideration comes from the fact that RNA transcription actually never reaches zero, which could have lead to potential discrepancies between the modeling and experimental results.

Figure 1: Skype meeting with ICT-Mumbai

Tec-Chihuahua

Collaboration

Collaborations with iGEM Tec-Chihuahua Team were full of difficult challenges, but hard work and effort from both parts gave good results. Our team helped Chihuahua with the nanoparticles that they will use in their project. They sent us their protocols, and we conducted additional research by contacting experts on the field. This lead to us proposing a new protocol to Chihuahua Team, which they accepted, involving the transformation and chemical encapsulation with chitosan to improve the efficiency output of the reaction, as well as the preservation of the nanocapsules.

Figure 2: Skype meeting with Tec-Chihuahua

Düsseldorf

Collaboration

For our collaboration with iGEM Düsseldorf Team, our mathematical model members came up with an appropriate system of differential equations, MATLAB code, and Python code that accurately described the complex Trinity system, which involves three codependent entities growing in the same medium. Although we got stuck a few times with grasping conceptually the functioning of the system, and some technical aspects of the python simulation, our results and ideas proved to be very useful to their team, leading to the determination of the correct ratio of nutrients needed in order for their organisms to grow into a stable system.

Figure 3: Skype meeting with Düsseldorf

IIT-Madras

Collaboration

One of our team members helped iGEM team IIT Madras with their Language Project, which involved making educational Synthetic Biology videos in our native language. As part of the collaboration, we received a script in English from IIT Madras and proceeded to translate it completely into Spanish. After that, an audio file was recorded and thus concluded our brief collaboration!

Madrid-OLM

Collaboration

Thanks to their advancements in software and computational modeling of protein structures, Madrid-OLM team was able to produce adn give us 3 models and animations of proteins used in our project: Cas1, Cas2, and RT EC86. With this collaboration, we were able to get more information, and understand our project even at a molecular level. We held a Q&A session with iGEM Madrid-OLM Team, concerning important Wiki aspects, where our main developer cleared some doubts about font usage, iGEM skins, and templates. Overall, it was a very productive session, and some general tips of web development that were shared between our teams greatly helped us improve each of our Wikis.

Cas 1

Cas 2

RT EC86

Makerere University

Meeting

After some friendly messaging with the Makerere University team, we decided to video chat so we could present our different projects and give each their helpful tips. Because they were first timers in the iGEM competition, we were glad to share our knowledge and past experiences.

Figure 10: Skype meeting with Makerere University

Aix-Marseille

Collaboration

One major aspect of our human practices is related to the amount of pollutants found in the water, and this team went out of its way to help us get a broader understanding of the problem. After a small meeting through Skype, they agreed to send us water samples from all over France so we could analyze them. They also asked us to share a survey regarding GMO's and we happily agreed.

Figure 5: Skype meeting with Aix-Marseille

TecCEM

Meeting

As another campus of our school system, we were very interested to see what they were up to. We had a video chat with them on the summer to talk about our projects and give each other feedback.

Figure 20: Skype meeting with TecCEM

TecMonterrey GDL

Meeting

As a fellow Mexican team, we were excited to contact team TecMonterrey GDL. We shared experiences and our progress with each other’s projects. Their feedback was really useful for us and we also gave them some tips for the competition in general.

Figure 6: Skype meeting with TecMonterrey GDL

Stanford

Meeting

When one of our team member was in California, he had the chance to meet the Stanford team, talk to them, present the advances we had so far and give and receive opinions and advices.

Figure 19: Andres meets Stanford team

Munich

Collaboration

After setting up a date for a Skype meeting, we got to talk to the Munich team and exchange important information about the projects and the competition in general. They decided to support us by sending us analysis of water samples in their homeland and we gave them some tips for the improvement of their project.

Figure 7: Skype meeting with Munich

Harvard

Meeting

This summer, one of our members was in Boston and while he was there, he contacted the Harvard team. They had a very productive meeting to talk about the competition, our projects and what can each other do to improve.

Figure 18: Andres meets Harvard team

MIT

Meeting

Figure 8: Andres meets the MIT team

Figure 9: Juan meets the MIT team

One stop of two of our team members' trip to Cambridge was the MIT. They got to talk to the MIT team to share our projects, ideas and experiences. We learned a lot about each other through this encounter, especially in the area of computational simulation in biology applications.

BostonU

Meeting

As one of our team members was in Boston, he got to check Boston University and this lead him to meet BostonU iGEM. Their project was really interesting and we learned about each others' projects and ideas. We interchanged comments that served us as feedback.

Figure 17: Juan meets team BostonU

Tarta TUIT

Collaboration

Our team got in contact with Tartu TUIT team and after a few days we had a Skype meeting to get to know each other’s projects and progress. They sent us a poll regarding their sunscreen related project so we could share it here. This allowed them to get a broader look of international opinions rather than just local. They gave us feedback and a few useful tips to improve our project

Figure 4: Skype meeting with Tarta TUIT

Oxford

Meeting

We came across the University of Oxford team’s project in social networks and we thought it would be cool to contact them. We set up a Skype meeting and talked about our projects and progress so far. Through this meeting, we exchanged tips and feedback that was helpful throughout the project.

Figure 16: Skype meeting with Oxford

Macquarie Australia

Meeting

We made first contact through Instagram and from there we organized a Skype meeting. We had a really good time chatting, getting to know each others projects. They sent us some interlab data so we could compare it with ours.

Figure 15: Skype meeting with Macquarie Australia

UNSW Australia

Meeting

Our team was just getting through a heavy lab day when it was time to chat with the UNSW team. Because of the time difference, it was kind of late in a México but that didn’t stop us from having a great time video chatting about our projects and giving each other advice.

Figure 14: Skype meeting with UNSW

NYU Abu Dhabi

Meeting

We were impressed by the diversity of this team since their team is mostly composed by international students but we were more impressed by their project. We had a lot of fun sharing the progress that we had so far and talking about experiences that might help each other.

Figure 13: Skype meeting with NYU Abu Dhabi

NCKU Tainan

Meeting

After talking a little bit through Instagram, we arranged a video chat meeting. We had to get up a little early for this one, but it was worth it. We talked about our projects and proposed how they could interact with each other towards the solution of a global problem, the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere. Our system could act as a signal by being coupled with their pH sensing promoter or it could also identify heavy metals that may appear in their process.

Figure 12: Skype meeting with NCKU Tainan

BGU Israel

Collaboration

We contacted BGU through Instagram since we saw they were posting some impressive things. We arranged a video chat and we were even more impressed by a video explaining their project. It was one of the coolest videos we’ve ever seen, and their project was really ambitious. We talked to them about our project and they offered to analyze water from different sites of Israel.

Figure 11: Skype meeting with BGU Israel

Meetups

SoCal MeetUp 2018

Figure 21: SoCal MeetUp 2018

Because two of our team members lived near California, they had the opportunity to attend the SoCal MeetUp in their summer break. In this meetup, we had the chance to present our project and we focused on the Human Practices and Public and Educational Engagement. We received some useful tips from the other teams and we are really grateful for all their help and welcomeness. The teams that took part of this event were:
-UC San Diego
-UC Davis
-ULaVerne Collab
-Tec-Monterrey

Latin American MeetUp

Figure 22: Latin American MeetUp

This July, our team member Adrián had the opportunity to attend the Latin American MeetUp hosted by team TecCEM. There, he had a chance to meet the Mexican teams personally and there was presence of the other teams in Latin America through social networks. We are really grateful to TecCEM for inviting us and hosting this meetup. We learned a lot from this experience, through the presentation Adrián gaveand the feedback we exchanged with the other teams. As Latin American teams, we have had similar experiences and we could and did learn a lot from each other. The teams that participated in the meetup were:
-TecCEM
-Tec-Chihuahua
-Tec-Monterrey
-TecMonterrey-GDL
-UChile Biotec
-Ecuador
-USP-EEL-Brazil
-USP-Brazil

Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium

Figure 23: TecMonterrey team at Rice University

On September, our school shared the information of the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium or GCURS and as soon as we saw it, we decided to apply for a place in this prestigious event. Some faculty members of Rice University generously supported us and gave us the chance to present our project in the Symposium along the Rice University iGEM team. We learned a lot from this experience. It was a sort of a pre-Jamboree for us. The feedback that we received was extremely useful for the final steps of our project.

Characterization with Team Tec-Chihuahua

Figure 24: First personal meeting with TecChihuahua

In collaboration with team Tec-Chihuahua, we attempted to characterize a nitrate promoter, which we wanted to use in our project. They agreed to help us but we wanted to take the collaboration a little bit further. One of our team members traveled to Chihuahua and assisted with the characterization. Team Chihuahua was extremely welcoming and they gladly helped us in any way they could.

Personal Meeting with Team TecMonterrey GDL

Figure 25: Liz explaining our mathematical model to TecMonterrey GDL

During the summer break, one of our team members arranged a personal meeting with team TecMonterrey GDL. This was a very productive meeting, since our team member got to explain the mathematical model to team GDL. This allowed us to exchange feedback because they also explained their project. The comments allowed us to improve our mathematical model in ways we were not thinking of.

American Teams Reunion

Figure 26: Personal meetings with American teams

As two of our team members were participating on a research stay in MIT, they had the initiative to reach out to nearby and not so nearby American iGEM teams. They contacted the MIT, BostonU and Harvard teams, which were in the vicinity. One of our teammates traveled to California to visit the Stanford team. From this personal meetings, we learned a different work methodology, and we received several tips from these more experienced teams. We got to present our project and receive extremely valuable feedback.

Team:Tec-Monterrey/Collaborations

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