Team:VIT Vellore/Attributions
Where would you like to go?
While the VIT iGEM team was largely responsible for almost all aspects of the project from the very beginning i.e, coming up with the project concept, writing a proposal for iBEC, working on optimizing protocols for all experiments performed, ordering supplies and recording observations, the project wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the help and support we got from our University, Investigators and Advisors and all other mentors and guides.A detailed list of all their help is put up below.
At the Vellore Institute of Technology
Firstly, we would like to express our gratitude to the Chancellor, Dr. G. Viswanathan, the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Anand A. Samuel and the Vice President (Vellore campus), Mr. G V Selvam for giving us the opportunity to participate and work for iGEM and attend the Giant Jamboree at Boston.
iGEM Lab
Dr. Siva Ramamoorthy
Head of Department, BiotechnologySchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
As our Primary Investigator (PI), Siva sir was a constant source of support and positive motivation. Helping us analyse our results and troubleshoot the problems we faced were one of the key roles played by him.
Dr. Dwaipayan Sen
Associate ProfessorCentre for Biomaterials, Cellular and Molecular Theranostics, VIT
Our Secondary Investigator has also been our cheerleader. Cheering us on through every hurdle we faced and every triumph we went through. Helped us with our inter-lab study.
Dr. Debasish Mishra
Associate ProfessorSchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
An advisor to the team, he helped us get through one of the major ruts we were in. He was the reason, the team realised that the PhoBox assembly we had initially planned wouldn’t work and switched to the current model.
Ms. Vijay Elakkya
Doctoral student in Molecular BiologyHelped us make checklists to ensure completion of all experiments on time.
Mr. Velu
Lab TechnicianHelped us obtain all essential chemicals and reagents we needed for timely completion of experiments.
Pondicherry University
Ashwin Thacharodi
Junior Research Fellow in a DBT projectHelped us in the calibration of devices for interlab experiments.
Ms. Divya Sathiaseelan
Doctoral Student in MicrobiologyHelped us in the calibration of devices for interlab experiments.
Integrated Human Practices
Dr. Buvaneshwari G.
Senior ProfessorSchool of Advanced Sciences, VIT
Gave us the idea of testing out the CO2 equilibrium before proceeding with other experiments.
Dr. Joseph Selvin
Professor, Department of Microbiology, Pondicherry UniversityResearcher, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai
Advised us to integrate a mechanism that can regulate the pH at regular intervals.
Dr. Sanjay Kumar
Scientist at CSCR, Christian Medical College, VelloreGave us the idea to incorporate a kill-switch as a control mechanism.
Mr. David Ishee
Biohacker, Midgard Kennels, Mississippi, USAGave us insight into CRISPR technology.
Dr. A. Senthil Kumar
Professor & Division ChairEnvironmental & Analytical Chemistry Division, VIT
Helped us validate our Hypothesis.
V.s. Saravanan
Asst. ProfessorDepartment of Microbiology , Mūvattupula, India
Helped us validate our Hypothesis.
Jabez Osborne
Assistant professor (Senior) School of Biosciences and Technology VIT, VelloreSuggested that we analyse the stressful conditions that the organism will face in the proposed environment.
Professor M.A. Vijayalakshmi
The Director of Molecular Interactions and Separations Technology Labs at LIM Tech. S, UTC, France Center for Bioseparation Technology, VITSuggested to us that depending on the area we’re focusing on the living conditions of the organism will also vary.
Dr. Sridharan TB
Professor School of Biosciences and Technology, VITHe suggested the incorporation of our system in seaweeds and phytoplankton to achieve faster growth. He also mentioned the prevalence of organisms is zone specific.
Dr. Everette Jacob Remington N
Associate Professor of School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VITMember of Institutional Biosafety Committee and Stem cell Research Committee
His insights on safety regulations related to GMOs gave us a clearer picture on why regulation of our organism’s mechanism is of high importance. His suggestions led us to think of incorporating our RecA-LexA system.
Dr. Sudandira Doss C
Associate ProfessorSchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
In our discussion, he proposed that we perform scale up studies and understand how much of inoculum to release into our desired environment.
Dr. Mrudula Pulimi
Chemical Engineer by professionAssociate Professor, Centre for Nanobiotechnology, VIT
Helped us with the mathematical modelling.
Ms. Tamanna Sharma
Founder & Director, Earthling First Private LimitedShe suggested that before any actual release of any of our engineered organism into the natural oceanic waters, we need to simulate how our organism would respond to such environments and this should be done by taking oceanic waters were taken as a sample for simulation.
Dr. Punyasloke Bhadury
Professor, IISER KolkataHe proposed a parallel mechanism that can work complementary to our existing system, of using Carbonic Anhydrase.
All Professors and research scholars who participated in our video and shared their views on Genetically Modified Organisms and the safety regulations involved in the production and use of these organisms:
- Dr. Sathya Swaroop N.R, Professor at School of Advanced Sciences, VIT
- Professor Pundlik Rambhau Bhagat School of Advanced Sciences, VIT
- Srinivas Sakthivel, Research Associate, VIT - Dr. Gayathri M. Assistant Professor (Senior) School of Biosciences and Technology
- Mansi Gandhi PhD Research Scholar, Department of Chemistry, School of Advanced Sciences, VIT
- Dr. R. Vijayaraghavan Professor, School of Advanced Sciences, VIT
- Dr. Everette Jacob Remington N Associate Professor, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
Human Practices Support
Our heartfelt gratitude also extends to:
- All scientists at the National Institute of Ocean Technology who welcomed us to their conference and gave us the opportunity to pitch our ideas.
- The NGO Bhumi who appreciated the work we did with the clean-up and also gave us another platform to bring awareness to the public.
- VIT Community radio for letting us go on air to speak about our project and synthetic biology.
- Maharishi International Residential School, Chennai for allowing us to speak to the kids there.
- The Public Relations Office, VIT for helping our project idea reach the people all over the country by getting an article published in the Millenium Post.
- And lastly, all iGEM teams we’ve been able to do a collaboration with. This wouldn’t have been as successful a project had you guys not been a part of it too. iGEM NYUAD, iGEM IISc, iGEM IISER Mohali, iGEM IISER Kolkata, iGEM REC, iGEM IIT Madras, iGEM REC and iGEM ICT Mumbai.
Wiki Support
-All credits go to our wiki designer, Gautham Ganesh.
- We would like to thank our artist Ms. Karthavya Sunil for her incredible designs used on our website.
- We would also be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the beautiful illustrations provided to us by Dr. J. Balaji.
For sheer positive motivation and some side-line cheering
The families of all team members who’ve helped us out and kept us cheery throughout the journey, this wouldn’t have been possible without you guys. We love you all. And that folks, is the secret to a super awesome iGEM team.