1) Meetup with Botchan_Lab_Tokyo

　On March 10th, we invited Team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo to Kyoto and exchanged opinions about each other's projects and how to proceed with iGEM activities. We specifically discussed the organizational framework of iGEM, fund-raising, human Practices and collaboration activities.

　By taking advantage of their large number of members, Botchan_Lab_Tokyo established several departments for a division of work. They have a department specialized in a collaboration which is a strategy our team had not considered. This was a good example for efficient management of team organization.

We also talked about the financial support strategies of each team, such as how we started cloud funding, and they explained to us how they were raising money.

　Interestingly, Botchan_Lab_Tokyo has only participated in iGEM twice so they were not sure how to meet all the standard iGEM criteria. Therefore, from our past experience attending iGEM competitions, we taught them how to interpret the criteria and design their project. For example, they were conducting science experiments for junior high and high school students so as to meet the criteria of “Education & Public Engagement” but they did not incorporate synthetic biology concepts, nor their specific project. We advised them that their Public Engagement will improve by taking in more lectures and doing practical work with DNA.

　Finally, as they were having trouble looking for opportunities for collaboration, we told them about the existence of the “Meetup” page and suggested attending the Asia Conference. It was exciting to interact with other Japanese teams through our iGEM activities.

Thank you, Botchan_Lab_Tokyo!!!

↑Go to the Wiki Collaboration page of Team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo↑

2) Mentoring from Team Aachen

　 The Aachen 2017 team was trying to collect Na + efficiently as a previous project, but because there was no assay method or detailed data on the Wiki, we contact them and repeatedly asked for advice via e-mail.
　The Aachen 2017 team was trying to collect Na + efficiently in their previous project, but because there was no assay method or detailed data on the Wiki, we contacted them and asked for advice via e-mail.

　We were worried about how to measure the amount of Na + uptake of yeast, so team Aachen suggested their assay method. Their method was to cultivate yeast in a salt-containing medium and measure 1 or 2 ml of the separated supernatant after several hours in the culture.

　Unfortunately, their method requires expensive equipment so we couldn't use the method directly but referred to it for the last assay. Furthermore, according to their modeling, they advised that the peak of Na + absorption by yeast is 6 hours, and advised to divide measurements by the culture OD in order to measure uptake between different yeast strains. Their mentoring was truly encouraging and helpful. Thanks to their help, we were able to launch an improved project.

Thank you, Team Aachen!!!

↑Go to the Wiki Collaboration page of Team Aachen↑

3) 6th Asia Pasific conference

We went to Taiwan and attended the 6th Asia Conference. We were very inspired by the presentations and posters from teams all over Asia. Also, it was good practice for us our own presentation and poster. At the conference, other iGEMers gave us valuable advice on our projects which was very helpful. After the conference, we have continued to exchanged opinions through SNS.

4) Meetup with Gifu

We met up with Ryo Niwa, Leader of Team Gifu, who came to visit us in Kyoto. We discussed the current situation of Japanese iGEM teams and shared detailed progress of our projects. We discussed how to meet the criteria and gave advice to each other. In addition, we informed him about how we secured lab space and how we are conducting experiments. Ryo also advised us that an important point to make an iGEM project successful is to take in adequate food and sleep. There are very few teams in Japan, but we encouraged each other to do our best. It was a very unique and meaningful meetup.

Thank you, Team Gifu!!!

↑Go to the Wiki Collaboration page of Team Gifu↑

5) Providing Wiki Creation Assisting Software: KELN to other Teams

Based on last year's feedback, we improved our KELN software which automatically changes experiment notes to HTML-language and distributed it to Team Gifu and Team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo. The following is their feedback:

From Team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo
• ・It was easy to use even for people who are not computer-savy. So we could divide the work among many people.
• ・It was easy to customize the "KELN" software because the edit display is simple.
• ・Our experiment sample numbers was so many that we couldn’t write all sample data into a single cell.
• ・If we can use copy and paste in the software, we will complete the wiki more smoothly.
From Team Gifu
• ・ Without any special knowledge ,KELN can be used to get HTML code from a lab notebook, so we recommend this software to all iGEM teams!

We are very happy that KELN was helpful for you. All iGEMers can download KELN from here! All iGEMers can download KELN from here!