Collaborations

During the European meeting in Munich we met 4 members of IGEM Groningen. We got along well and after discussing we invited them to come in Bordeaux. They came for 4 days in our hometown with the objective to collaborate and exchange on our respective knowledges. They brought us their skills in chemistry under the form of a workshop during which they explained us some specific points linked to our projects. They had read our protocols and gave us some feedbacks on the feasibility of them. They had also prepared and documented on some other protocols of HPLC that we next have been using during our lab work.

In exchange we led a debate about ethic in a context of synthetic biology. They had prepared some ethical questions to discuss. We also had prepared a presentation about consciousness reflection to apply to our IGEM projects. Beside the working hours we had time to show them Bordeaux and its surroundings. We took them on a personalized city tour of Bordeaux. The next day we brought them to the Pyla Dune, a famous touristic attraction since it is the biggest sand dune of Europe. At the end of the 4 days we had spent and shared a really good time with them. We are grateful and happy of this collaboration.

We met the team of IGEM Sorbonne during the French meetup in Paris in July. We talked and exchanged a lot about our respective projects. They were linked on some points, therefore they offered to attend a conference organized by themselves. This conference took place on the 26th of September, in Paris, and was entitled « What synthetic biology will bring to the future’ IGEM Paris Saclay was also part of it. Each of us invited a researcher to talk about his studies all linked with projects including synthetic biology to face challenges of the future. As we could not travel to Paris to attend the conference, IGEM Sorbonne broadcasted it via Facebook where we could listen and participate to the debate which ensued. Thank you IGEM Sorbonne for giving us this opportunity!

The collaboration with IGEM Toulouse was aimed to test some lab products. Their project involves the production of cellulose, which we would later use for our lab experiments. Hence, after producing cellulose in their premises they brought it in Bordeaux. This exchange was meaningful in a sense that it has permitted them to test their bacterial cellulose production. In the other side, for us, it was the opportunity to try different source of glucose to produce the HMF molecule. Once again, we took profit of this meeting to spend good times all together in Bordeaux.