1) Meetup with Botchan_Lab_Tokyo

We invited team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo to Kyoto, and exchanged opinions about project and how to proceed iGEM activities. We especially discussed about the organizational framework of iGEM, fund-raising, human Practice and collaboration activities.
Team Botchan_Lab_Tokyo established several departments by taking advantage of the large number of members, and was doing division of work. It was a feature not found in our team so it was it was a good example for efficient organization management.
また、互いの財政状況も教え合いました。私たちはどのようにクラウドファンディング先を見つけるかをBotchan_Lab_Tokyoに教え、Botchan_Lab_Tokyoからは彼らの支援を受け取るコツを教えてもらいました。
Also, Botchan_Lab_Tokyo has participated in iGEM for only twice so they were not sure how to meet the criteria. Therefore,we taught how to interpret critatria and design project from our past experience attending iGEM competition.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 extend to the level of synthetic biology nor their project. We advised them that it will become better by taking in more lectures and doing such a work like DNA work.
Also, as they were having trouble looking for opportunities for collaboration, so we taught about the existence of “Meetup” page and suggested attending the Asia Conference. It was exciting to interact with few Japanese teams through iGEM activity.

　　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 (###link###) was trying to collect Na + efficiently as a preliminary 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.
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 was too expensive to us but we used it for the last assay as a reference---?) Furthermore, they said that the peak of yeast absorbing Na is 6 hours according to their modeling and it is better to divide it by its OD after culturing 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.

3) 6th Asia Pasific conference

私たちは台湾へ行き、第6回アジアカンファレンスに出席しました。沢山のチームのプレゼンやポスターを見て刺激をうけた。また、自分たちもプレゼンとポスターを行い、いい練習になった。その過程で他のiGEMerたちが私たちのプロジェクトにアドバイスをくれてとても役に立った。また、カンファレンス後もSNSでやり取りをして意見交換をしました。 (写真)

4) Meetup with Gifu

京都に来たチームGifu代表Niwaさんとmeetupをしました。日本チームの現状や、各々の詳しいprogress of projectを話し合いました。クライテリアをどう満たしていくつもりかを確認し合い、お互いにアドバイスを送りあいました。また、実験場所をどう確保しているか、どう実験を進めているかを教え合い、互いに参考にしました。また、彼はiGEMプロジェクトを成功させる重要なポイントは十分な食事と睡眠だ、とアドバイスしてくれました。日本チームは数少ないが、頑張ろう、と私たちは励まし合いました。とてもユニークで有意義なmeetupでした、ありがとう、チームGifu (写真)

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

私たちは実験ノートを自動HTML化するソフトウェアKELNを、去年のfeedbackをもとに改良し、チームgifuとチームBotchan_Lab_Tokyoに配布しました。以下は彼らのFeedbackです。あなたたちの役にたててうれしいです。以下は彼らの今年のFeedbackです。

From Botchan_Lab_Tokyo
• ・It was easy to use even for the people who are not familiar with computer. So we could divide the work among many people.
• ・It was easy to customize the software "KELN" because the edit display was simple.
• ・Our experiment sample numbers was so many that we couldn’t write all sample deta into the cell.
• ・If we can use copy and paste on the software, we will complete the wiki more smoothly.