Team:ULaVerne Collab/Collaborations
Collaborations
SoCal Meetup 2018
We organized a meet up in July that Team UC San Diego, Team Tec-Monterrey, and Team UC Davis attended. At the meet up, each team presented their project progress and received feedback from the other teams. Through this meet up, we were able to provide opportunities to troubleshoot, exchange contact information for future potential collaborations, and discuss with the North America iGEM Ambassador, Amy Chen.
Team UC San Diego
Team UC San Diego presented their project on an easily accessible cancer detection test. The main input they wanted related to their team logo. Through this meet up, UCSD was able to share information with UCD due to the shared project focus on biosensors.
Team Tec-Monterrey
Team Team-Monterrey presented their project on a proposed bacteria database. Because the team representatives were more focused on the collaborative aspect of their project, the other teams were able to help them further understand the lab and research components. Team Tec-Monterrey was able to share their extensive lists of collaborations and the importance of their integrated practices. Team Tec-Monterrey collected water samples from various water sources in their region to test for chemicals, and educated people to spread awareness. After hearing about their integrated practices, we provided them with water samples from San Jose Creek Water Reclamation Plant. In turn, we based our Collaboration Post on this interaction to collect data on where our toxicant is prevalent globally. We were also inspired by their integrated practices to participate in a beach cleanup day where we shared our research with fellow volunteers.
Team UC Davis
Team UC Davis presented their project via Skype on physiological effects of toxins on Mammalian cells. Through this meet up, UCD was able to share information with UCSD due to the shared biosensor topic between their projects.
Team Stockholm
Team Stockholm reached out to our team due to our shared project goal to degrade toxicants in water. We arranged a Skype meeting to discuss protocols, findings, and to exchange data. Team Stockholm shared information regarding microplastics from Stockholm wastewater treatment plants and other water treatment plants in their region: although microplastics are a widespread issue, wastewater plants filter out approximately 99% of microplastics into sludge material. This is the same information we received from Bellanira Lynch, a Microbiologist from our local wastewater plant, San Jose Creek Water Reclamation Plant. They also shared information from Novozymes that suggested washing machines are a significant source of microplastics, which is the same conclusion we reached after researching microfibers. This discussion further validated the direction we are taking with our project. In return, we contacted San Jose Creek Water Reclamation Plant to collect data on antibiotics, specifically Sulfamethoxazole, to further Team Stockholm’s data on the prevalence of their toxicant.