Team:Pasteur Paris/Collaborations
COLLABORATIONS
We want to thank all our collaborators for sharing their iGEM experience with us and trusting us for this year's competition. We had an amazing time discussing, working and collaborating with all of you.
Collaborations with other iGEM Teams
iGEM WPI Worcester – Biofilm assay protocol
Because we both worked on biofilms disruption, we exchanged with iGEM WPI Worcester on our methods. They develop antifreeze proteins that have anti-biofilm properties, when on our side, we also integrated into our interface a strategy to disrupt biofilm formation. To test the effect of our proteins on biofilms, we both performed biofilm assay on microtiter plates, and decided to exchange our protocols of biofilm culture and quantification in order to compare them.
iGEM Sorbonne U Paris – Interlab
We also collaborated with the french IGEM team Sorbonne U Paris. They graciously offered us some E. coli DH5α for the Interlab study. We also helped them when they started their experiments for the Interlab by responding to some of their interrogations.
iGEM UNSW Australia – Law
We collaborated with iGEM UNSW Australia who was looking to produce a discussion about patenting for science at a global scale. They contacted us to see our interpretation of EU law since they have a training in Australian law. Our legal team, composed of 2 Master students in Intellectual Property law skyped with their team to share on problematics surrounding patent law, such as reconciling new biological inventions with the law, the issues with diagnostic technology, the European legal system concerning patent law, the organization of courts in France, etc.
iGEM Düsseldorf – Postcards
iGEM is not only about experiments and labwork, but also about bringing the topic of “synthetic biology” closer to the public, and iGEM Düsseldorf perfectly understood that. Each year, a bunch of iGEM teams is joining this project by promoting synthetic biology using self-designed postcards. We designed a postcard which shows our project’s logo on the front (Cf. Figure 1), and a small information text on the back.
Hi mysterious team, Have you ever thought about bionic prostheses and nerve control? This year, we want to improve the living conditions of amputees by giving them the opportunity to connect their limb to a functional machine! To do so, we are developing an interface between nerves and prosthesis thanks to synthetic biology. Hope your project is going well! See you at the Giant Jamboree in October! iGEM Pasteur 2018 team
iGEM US_AFRL_CarrollHS – Mike the Microbe
Talking about fun experience, we collaborated with iGEM US EFRL CarrollHS with their project Mike the Microbe! Mike loves to travel the world and loves sciences! He worked with us in the lab and kept company to our bacteria, especially during the night, when we left our cultures all alone in the dark (Cf. Figure 2)
iGEM IIT-Madras – Language project
We helped iGEM IIT-Madras with their educational Synthetic Biology video (Cf. Figure 3) by translating it into French. By doing so, we’re hoping that their video will go viral in the French YouTube community, allowing the spreading of their video and maybe, the sparkle of new vocations among the viewers.
iGEM TecMonterrey_GDL - #ScienceEverywhere
We participated in the project of iGEM TecMonterrey Campus Guadalajara in their project #ScienceEverywhere that aims to show the diversity between all iGEM teams. For this, we designed a sign saying how far from Boston we are, and took a photo of it in front of the old French subway named after the Institut Pasteur (Cf. Figure 4), which was funded by Louis Pasteur and inaugurated on November 14th 1888 by the president at the time, Sadi Carnot. For over a century now, the Institut Pasteur has been at the forefront of the battle against infectious diseases.
SURVEYS
We also collaborated with iGEM IIT Kampur by answering their survey on Water Pollution, iGEM Unebraska Lincoln with their survey on Invasive Species, iGEM TecCEM with their survey on Burns, iGEM Bordeaux with their survey on deforestation, iGEM Team Bielefeld-CeBiTec with their survey on Dual Use Research, iGEM Sorbonne U Paris on sustainable environments, iGEM Bordeaux with their survey on bacteriophages, iGEM ICT Mumbai with their survey on their software BBricklt and iGEM UCopenhagen with their survey on Public Engagement of iGEM Teams.
Meet-Up
iGEM Pasteur Paris 4th Annual Parisian Meet-up
For the 4th time since the creation of the iGEM Pasteur team, we hosted the annual Parisian Meet-up (Cf. Figure 5). Despite its name, all iGEM teams from France (Aix-Marseille Université, Bordeaux, Evry Paris-Saclay, GO Paris-Saclay, Grenoble-Alpes, Montpellier, Paris Bettencourt, Sorbonne U Paris and Toulouse-INSA-UPS) participated.
Every team presented their project in 20 minutes followed by questions and comments from the judges and the audience. The essence of the meet-up was to get feedback and constructive criticism on the projects from the judges. In the judging committee, we had:
- Dr. Pascale Dupuis-Williams, researcher at the INSERM (Medical Research Institute in France) and Professor of Cellular Biology at the ESPCI (Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, de la ville de Paris).
- Jonathan Keller, lawyer and legal consultant in charge of intellectual property and Open Science at La Paillasse.
- Dr. Deshmukh Gopaul, researcher in Biochemistry at the Institut Pasteur and head Design for Biology Center - Education Department.
After a homemade lunch, very appreciated by the French teams, we organized round tables about bioethics, and how regulations may be a restraint to innovation. We had the great pleasure to welcome:
- Dr. Pascal Boireau, on micro-organisms ranked for bioterrorism, OGM and dual research
- Mr. Didier Coeurnelle, on the ethics of experiments linked to the end of life
- Mrs. Valérie Dépadt, on medically assisted procreation
- Mr. Térence Ericson, on Artificial Intelligence and genetic modification
- Dr. Deshmukh Gopaul, on ethical problems raised by the projects of the iGEM French teams
- Mr. Alexei Grinbaum, on the responsibility of the researchers and use of stories to think about ethical questions
- Mrs. Joanna Trouchaud, on the use of animal models in research
- Mr. Will Wright, the European Ambassador of iGEM was our special guest. He presented and talked to the teams on the experience of iGEM and After iGEM.
To illustrate this day, we had the pleasure to host Naïs Coq, a science and event illustration artist. You can find all her drawings on our Twitter account under #parisianmeetup #iGEM2018 #drawiGEM. After a Ph.D. in Physical fluid and a short Post-Doc, she decided to come back to her true passion, drawing, and started her career in illustration and scientific drawing. This day was a success and we are thanking every participating team for their presentation and awesomeness. (Cf. Figure 7)
iGEM Aix Marseille Université – Summer Mediterranean Meet-Up
Organized by the iGEM Aix Marseille Université team, the summer Mediterranean Meet-Up took place in the CNRS lab of Marseille, gathering 8 French teams and two Spanish teams. On Thursday, the event started with a 180-second presentation of each project, followed by questions by the Jury. Unfortunately, the weather changed the afternoon plans, instead of visiting Marseille under the hail, we got to know each other around card games. On Friday, we attended a round table on bioethics to question the risks of our project. We also had the chance to meet the Ambassador Thea Chrysostomou (Cf. Figure 8) and discuss with her about our project. In the afternoon, we presented our project to various researchers during the poster session. It was a very interesting and challenging task.
All in all, it was a great opportunity to meet new teams and to discuss with teams that came to our meet-up, about the improvement each team had made over the summer. We managed to discuss with other iGEMers and to share tips between teams in a friendly atmosphere.
iGEM UCLouvain – Biotech4Change (European Commission Biotech Event)
We participated to the Biotech4Change conference in the European Parliament in Brussels where biotech speakers were present (Cf. Figure 9). We met other iGEM teams and presented our project in 3 minutes under a TedX format! Then, international renowned researchers who launched their biotech start up spoke about their background and professional journeys.
