Team:UESTC-China/achievement

team

ACHIEVEMENT

This year we meet all the requirements of medals standards, and we also expect to get six iGEM awards: Best Energy Project, Best Education & Public Engagement, Best Integrated Human Practices, Best Model, Best Software Tool and Best New Basic Part. In this section, we clearly show each entries up to the standards. Please judge.

Bronze Medal

☑ Registration and Giant Jamboree Attendance

We have registered for iGEM as UESTC-China on Feburary 8th, 2018 and been accepted on April 18th, 2018. We had a great summer and half of semester for our project. We have registered Giant Jamboree and planned for the travel.

☑ Competition Deliverables

We have made Team Wiki, poster and prepared a wonderful presentation. We have accomplished and submitted the Judging Form and Safety Form on time.

☑ Attributions

We have created a page on the team wiki with clear Attribution of each aspect of the project. Click here for more details about our Attributions.

☑ Characterization/Contribution

1. We have successfully completed the Fifth International InterLab Measurement Study. Also we have uploaded relevant documents of experiment results. Click here for more details about our Interlab.

2. We have improved the characterization of two existing BioBrick Parts:BBa_K118022 and BBa_K118023 and documented the characterization of these parts on the Main Page of that Part's Registry entry. Click here for more details about our parts.
Silver Medal

☑ Validated Part

We have successfully validated three new BioBrick Parts (BBa_K2617000, BBa_K2617006 and BBa_K2617010 )worked as expected through experiment. And We have submitted 17 samples of new Parts to the Registry and Documented the experimental characterization of these parts on the Main Page of that Part's Registry entry. Click here for more details about our parts.

☑ Collaboration

We have mentored 2 new registered team, the CDHSU-CHINA and UESTC-software, as well as receiving help from SCU-China and Jiangnan on InterLab and chassis organism for butanol fermentation. We also collaborated with NCKU-Tainan and came up with a great idea of combining our project and cooperated with BNU-China and NEFU_China to improve our work. Click here for more details about our Collaborations.

☑ Human Practices

We have thought carefully and creatively about whether our work is responsible and good for the world. We have documented on our team wiki how we have investigated these issues and engaged with our relevant communities, why we chose this approach, and what we have learned. Besides, our surveys followed scientifically valid methods which fulfilled this criteria. Click here for more details about our Human Practices.
Gold Medal

☑ Integrated Human Practices

We conducted a survey for both farmers and other citizens to get their views of the current treatment of straw and clean energy. We found that the phenomenon of burning straw still exists and utilization rate of it is particularly low. Besides, citizen's attitude toward clean energy is friendly but they are still not willing to use it. After understanding the basic situation of straw treatment and clean energy, we have communicated with professionals from Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to understand the current research progress in this field so as to improve our design. We got more information about obstacle in current research of reusing straw, as well as analysis of advantages and improvement in our project. After those above, we consulted biologist in our project to further optimize the pathway and experiment design in a more professional perspective. Click here for more details about our Human Practices.

☑ Improve a previous part

We have constructed a BBa_K2617017 parts as the improvement of BBa_J23100 . Click here for more details about our Improved Part.

☑ Model Your Project

We designed the experiment scientifically, and obtained the output equation of the product by using the experimental data. Then, we obtained the optimal fermentation conditions and maximum yield. And the validity of the optimal fermentation conditions was verified by experiments.

Molecular dynamics models of butanol and hydrogen production systems were also established. For the butanol production system, we find the reaction speed limiting step and the sensitive parameters. For the hydrogen production system, it is theoretically proved that the hydrogen production of the constructed Escherichia coli is relatively high.

☑ Demonstration of Your Work

We have proved that the straw can be degraded by using of our energy conversion system. Besides, butanol and hydrogen has also been detected successfully. Click here for more details about our Demonstrate.
Special Awards

☑Best Energy Project

UESTC-China is focusing on where energy is coming from and where it is going. Straw is our energy source in our project. It is produced in high quantity every year all over the world, but in low usage rate because of its complex structure. We used Xyn10D-Fae1A to efficiently degrade straw without pretreatment. Meanwhile, by taking into account that fossil fuel will be exhausted sooner or later and clean energy will become the trend of the future, thus, our system was designed aiming at the production of hydrogen and butanol. After about five months’hard work, we successfully constructed an energy conversion system which could degrade straw into butanol and hydrogen. Click here for more details about our Demonstrate.

☑ Best Education & Public Engagement

To establish a bond which connect synthetic biology and public, we devoted ourselves vigorously to public education. We hosted “Gene Go”, a giant public education event which drove the public participation in synthetic biology. We promote iGEM in a more innovative way, such as DIY classroom and stage play adapted from our project. We also open up “iGEM Classroom” for teenagers which contains experiment practice and iGEM classes both online and offline. It impressed them deeply and even embraved them forming their own iGEM team. Furthermore, we created a series of edutainment product such as Crazy Lab (a MOBA game), Gene Card Online, Plasmid Rubik and E.mocoli (online emoticon) to bring more fun in education. Above all, what we created was not only an edutainment product, but also a carrier of iGEM and synthetic biology which output influence no matter where it is.Click here for more details about our Education & Public Engagement.

☑ Best Model

Our team should be in consideration for this award for embodying the value of continuous interplay between theory and experiment.

1. In order to find the best fermentation conditions, we designed the experiment and used the experimental data to produce butanol function. The optimal fermentation conditions and maximum yield were obtained for the optimal solution of the function. Then we experimented it again under the best fermentation conditions, and the results showed that the yield was obviously increased. This reflects the guidance of the model to the experiment and experimental support to the model.

2. We established a molecular dynamics model for biochemical reactions. For the butanol production system, we find the reaction speed limiting step and the sensitive parameters. For the hydrogen production system, we have theoretically proved that the hydrogen production of the constructed Escherichia coli is relatively high. This theoretically demonstrates the feasibility of the project.Click here for more details about our Modeling.

☑ Best Integrated Human Practices

We conduct a survey for both farmers and citizens to get a view of current treatment of straw and clean energy. We found that phenomenon of burning straw still exist and utilization rate of it is particularly low. Besides, citizen’s attitude toward clean energy is friendly but they are still not willing to use. After mastering the basic situation of straw treatment and clean energy, we have communicate with Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to understand the current research progress in this field so as to improve our design. We get more information about obstacle in current research of reusing straw, as well as analysis of advantages and improvement in our project. After those above, we consult biologist of our project for further optimization in pathway and experiment in a more professional perspective.Click here for more details about our Human Practices.

☑Best Software Tool

Gene Card Online is an online board game developed by Team UESTC-China, realizing the organic combination of synthetic biology and board game. The most basic elements of synthetic biology are clearly delivered to people under the condition of victory, which is the combination of restriction enzyme, DNA ligase, vector, target gene, bacteria and PCR, and they can understand what synthetic biology is in the process of enjoying the game. This fills the blank of Software Tool about promoting synthetic biology. Putting a board game online can further expand the impact of the our project to drive the development of the project itself. It can be transmitted any place at any time in the world that has access to Internet. It can not only help iGEMer around the world to promote iGEM activities, but also help the contributors of synthetic biology to popularize synthetic biology more vividly.Click here for more details about our Software Tool.

☑ Best New Basic Part

Xyn10D-Fae1A is a new bifunctional enzyme, which has the activity of ferulic esterase and xylanase and could directly degrade straw without pretreatment. In detail, Feruloyl esterase can hydrolyze ferulic acid ester groups, which are responsible for attaching in complex cellular cell wall structures. Xylanase can hydrolyze plant cell wall component xylan. It can cut the β-1,4 glycosidic bond between the xylose residues in the xylan backbone.Click here for more details about our New Basic Part.