Difference between revisions of "Team:Georgia State/STEM"

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<div class="row center"><h3>Georgia Meetup</h3></div>
 
<p>Rehmat and Christina went to Emory University at the O Wayne Rollins Research Center to discuss project ideas and future collaborations with other Georgia teams who are participating in iGEM for this year. Each team discussed an overview idea of their project as well as what they have planned up until the Jamboree.</p>
 
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<p>The number of people who attended this event made it possible for us to really connect and foster a more “at home” setting where we could share some challenges we all faced. We each got to open up a little as we spoke about limitations of our labs and were able to get a full understanding of the inner working of each team’s lab. Although some of our discussions came from
 
  
as well as successful techniques that were related to managing an iGEM team/conducting our labs.
 
  
After attending this event, we all felt that it would be in all of our best interests to create a more permanent platform where we could all communicate, exchange ideas and do collaborations together, this would allow us to take part in larger efforts considering it would be a combined effort.
 
 
Spoke about limitations of our labs and truly got to understand the inner workings of each of our labs.
 
Talk more about how we have limited people, everyone has to do everything, no committees
 
Keeping iGEM going is just a matter of setting an example/model and being able to train the new members to see iGEM for all that it is.</p>
 
 
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Emory is having a similar issue that we dealt with last year. Their team consists mostly of seniors who will be graduating and will no longer be part of the iGEM team at Emory and they were having trouble finding a transition where the iGEM team at Emory will not end with their graduation, they want to keep it going. Whereas on our end at Georgia State, we were the recipients of this issue. The 2017 team had left, and the new team consisted of completely new members who had no idea what iGEM was, had no research experience, we simply had interest. We had to learn a lot of things via trial and error and had to learn to take things as they came without any expectations of what is to come. We discussed with them the ideas, concepts, and expectations we wished someone had left behind for us so we could carry on better. We both wanted to ditch the idea of the team starting from scratch every year. One can never fully understand all that is iGEM without having done it once before, but there are definitely expectations that can be discussed to help adhere to the mindset needed to do well in iGEM.</p></div>
 
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<div class="row center"><h3>China Sister School</h3></div>
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<div class="row"><p>It is no secret that iGEM has become increasingly popular over time. As a result, more and more students and faculty are interested in this wonderful experience/platform that brings students with a passion for research. One of our sister schools, Southwest Jiaotong University has become a part of this group that wants to get involved and start an iGEM team. Their headmaster, as well as two faculty members and students came to observe and ask questions about what iGEM is, how we conduct our lab/outreach and what our project idea is for this year. One of the faculty members actually lectures here at Georgia State and some of the students are actually here for the fall semester.</p></div>
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<div class="row"><p>Following our presentation, we had a “Q&A” session where students discussed their concerns as well as their own ideas on how to start their own iGEM team. The session concluded with us giving a few pointers on what the best way to go about that would be. We had a presentation that included all this information and shared each of our own experiences.After our presentation, several students expressed a serious interest in iGEM, citing the opportunity for hands on experience that comes with participation.</p></div>
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Revision as of 20:25, 15 October 2018

As part of our community outreach, and as a continuation from last years GSU iGEM ASL outreach, this year we hosted an event for a STEM camp specifically catered to local deaf and hard of hearing high school students. The students came from all over Georgia for a week long stay at GSU, with the main goal being exposure to various STEM related fields. iGEM GSU hosted one of their activities which spanned over the course of 2 days. The activity we decided on was DNA barcoding, which was both simple and representative of many of the techniques we use in lab.The 16 students paired off and each pair brought in a plant leaf of their choice. After teaching them the basics of DNA, they donned their lab coats and gloves and began the DNA extraction protocol. Despite being high school students, some as young as 14, they picked up lab techniques quickly, and by the end of day 1 the purified DNA was amplified in the thermocycler. Day 2 started early, the amplified DNA was loaded onto a gel and, after a brief fire drill interruption, the results were analyzed. Six out of eight teams got bands at about the right size, and those were sent off for sequencing. After sequencing, the results were compared to a DNA databank to determine the original plant species, and those final results were sent to the students.