Difference between revisions of "Team:Tec-Monterrey/Collaborations"

Skype meetings were often a little too early for us and a little too late for them, but collaborations with ICT-Mumbai ended up being very successful! We helped the mathematical modelling team with their oscillating circuit, especially concerning the correctness and scope of the equations they had used in their system, since it was their first time working with MATLAB. From their code, we were able to find a small correction in their model, called a “basal transcription level” that is commonly referred to as leakage, that could help turn their code from a purely qualitative description of the biological system into a quantitative one that could further allow them to make predictions and test experimental data. This additional consideration comes from the fact that RNA transcription actually never reaches zero, which could have lead to potential discrepancies between the modeling and experimental results.

Collaborations with iGEM Tec-Chihuahua Team were full of difficult challenges, but hard work and effort from both parts gave good results. Our team helped Chihuahua with the nanoparticles that they will use in their project. They sent us their protocols, and we conducted additional research by contacting experts on the field. This lead to us proposing a new protocol to Chihuahua Team, which they accepted, involving the transformation and chemical encapsulation with chitosan to improve the efficiency output of the reaction, as well as the preservation of the nanocapsules.

For our collaboration with iGEM Düsseldorf Team, our mathematical model members had to arduously work for weeks. We had to come up with an appropriate set of differential equations and MATLAB/Python code that could accurately describe their complex Trinity system, which involves three codependent entities growing in the same medium. Although we got stuck a few times with some technical aspects of the coding simulation, our results and ideas proved to be very useful to their team, leading to the determination of the correct ratio of nutrients needed in order for their organisms to grow into a stable system.

One of our team members helped iGEM team IIT Madras with their Language Project, which involved making educational Synthetic Biology videos in our native language. As part of the collaboration, we received a script in English from IIT Madras and proceeded to translate it completely into Spanish. After that, an audio file was recorded and thus concluded our brief collaboration!

We held a Q&A session with iGEM Madrid-OLM Team, concerning important Wiki aspects, where our main developers cleared some doubts about font usage, iGEM skins, and templates. Overall, it was a very productive session, and some general tips of web development that were shared between our teams greatly helped us improve each of our Wikis.

After some friendly messaging with the Makerere University team, we decided to video chat so we could present our different projects and give each their helpful tips. Because they were first timers in the iGEM competition, we were glad to share our knowledge and past experiences.

One major aspect of our human practices is related to the amount of pollutants found in the water, and this team went out of its way to help us get a broader understanding of the problem. After a small meeting through Skype, they agreed to send us water samples from all over France so we could analyze them. We also (what we did for them).

As another campus of our school system, we were very interested to see what they were up to. We had a video chat with them on the summer to talk about our projects and give each other feedback.

As a fellow Mexican team, we were excited to contact team TecMonterrey GDL. We shared experiences and our progress with each other’s projects. Their feedback was really useful for us and we also gave them some tips for the competition in general.

When one of our team member was in California, he had the chance to meet the Stanford team, talk to them, present the advances we had so far and give and receive opinions and advices.

After setting up a date for a Skype meeting, we got to talk to the Munich team and exchange important information about the projects and the competition in general. They decided to support us by sending us analysis of water samples in their homeland and we gave them some tips for the improvement of their project.

This summer, one of our members was in Boston and while he was there, he contacted the Harvard team. They had a very productive meeting to talk about the competition, our projects and what can each other do to improve.

One stop of one of our team member’s trip to Cambridge was the MIT. He got to talk to the MIT team to share our projects, ideas and experiences. We learned a lot about each other through this encounter.

As one of our team members was in Boston, he obviously got to check Boston University and this lead him to meet BostonU iGEM. Their project was really interesting and we got feedback from our project too.

Our team got in contact with Tartu TUIT team and after a few days we had a Skype meeting to get to know each other’s projects and progress. They sent us a poll regarding their sunscreen related project so we could share it here. This allowed them to get a broader look of international opinions rather than just local. They gave us feedback and a few useful tips to improve our project

We came across the University of Oxford team’s project in social networks and we thought it would be cool to contact them. We set up a Skype meeting and talked about our projects and progress so far. Through this meeting, we exchanged tips and feedback that was helpful throughout the project.

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