Team:Ecuador/Collaborations
Collaborations have been one of the greatest parts of
iGEM, it was amazing to meet lovers of the science from all over the world,
share whit them and make contacts. It was wonderful to hear all the ideas of
their projects and share our idea too.
As newbies, we asked many questions and all the teams
were always willing to answer, thank you very much. We shared whit teams from
Mexico, Estonia, España, Chile and we participated in
the MeetUp Latinametica.
Below are the different iGEM teams that have collaborated with us.
The iGEM team from Tartu Estonia, is working in the
production of mycosporine-like amino acids, UV
radiation protection compounds, in yeast using the genes from two different
cyanobacterial species. This compounds work not only as sunscreen but also are
able to protect skin from photoaging, have the anti-inflammatory effect and
antioxidant activity and even could be considered as anti-cancer agents.
As Ecuador is located on the equatorial line or
parallel 0 °, is subjected to extremely high UV radiation indices, especially
in the Andean area. In our country, there are constant campaigns to prevent
skin cancer and protection against intense radiation.
In the meetings with the iGEM team from Tartu we
talked about the importance of your project and how it would benefit tropical
countries like ours. We also comment on experiences on how the sunscreens
contain chemical compounds which are extremely toxic to the oceans and the
environment.
SynBio has never been easier, UPV Valencia is working in
"Printeria", a fully equipped
bioengineering device, literally a mini lab that opens the door to a world of
affordable applications for the general public. Printeria
is able to automate the process of printing genetic circuits in bacteria and is
as easy to operate as a common printer. It uses a system of digital
microfluidics that creates small droplets that can be mixed and moved through
predefined electrode trajectories. This box lab is combined with Golden Gate
technology, sensors and low-cost electronics and an easy-to-use software
application.
Just like that the user is able to assemble parts
of DNA domesticated in a one-step reaction and can control all biotechnological
steps, from the assembly of parts and transformation to cell culture, with high
precision.
The initial idea was to try the production of the
fusion proteins and bacterial cellulose in Printeria.
Can you imagen that hospital would produce his own bandages when they need it? But
both teams have problems with the size of the parts, so we change plans and
decided to evaluate the opinion of researchers, medicians
and artist.
Spain: https://youtu.be/ITVeAXSsO5k
Ecuador: https://youtu.be/LDC6Ud6j1JY
Also, the iGEM team Valencia UPV provided us with an E. coli strain
called BL21(DE3), thank you very much.
Also, we do videocalls
to share ideas and feedback about our projects.
The
past July, we had the chance to attend online at the Latin American Meetup hosted by team TecCEM. There we heard about the other
Latin American's projects, sharing experiences and learning from each
other. We got the opportunity to present
our project and received good questions from experts that had helped us to be
prepared for the Giant Jamboree and gives us experience. The eight teams that
participated in the meetup were: TecCEM,
Tec-Chihuahua, Tec-Monterrey, TecMonterrey-GDL , UChile_Biotec, Ecuador,
USP-EEL-Brazil, USP-Brazil.
The
feedback provided by the specialists was crucial for the proper development of
the projects, and beyond the scientific issues, we were able to get to know
each other, get along and create bonds of collaboration and support between the
teams.
Dancing
in the lab is something that we all have done some time! This collaboration is
a prove. We participated in the creation of a music video with the songs: Labs
like you and Moves like iGEM. Collaboration organized by TecCEM,
was one of the most fun and we spent an incredible time recording the video.
Below
is a list of all the teams that participated:
1.
iGEM IISER Bhopa
2.
IGEM AFCM
3.
IGEM UNESP BRAZIL
4.
IGEM WASHINGTON
5.
IGEM Tust China
6.
iGEM team Bielefeld-CeBiTec
7.
IISc-Bangalore iGEM Team
8.
IGEM BRAZIL USP
9.
IGEM DUSSELDORF
10.
IGEM GRONINGEN
11.
IGEM DALHOUSIE
12.
IGEM LEIDEN
13.
Team UFLORIDA
14.
Tarta TUIT_IGEM
15.
Toulouse INSA UPS
16.
IGEM MICHIGAN STATE
17.
Team UCHILE_Biotec
18. ECUADOR
19. IGEM BRAZIL USP EEL
20. Tec-Guadalajara
21.
Tec-Chihuahua
22.
UCSC IGEM
23.
TecCEM
24.
iTESLA-SoundBio Team
25.
Tacoma RainMakers Team
It
was a great experience to have had a video conference with the Tec-Monterrey
team who welcomed us to IGEM because they were the first team we contacted.
We
participated in the collaboration organized by the UChile_Biotec team that consisted in the creation of the Latin America magazine. The most
delicious collaboration, we exposed some delicious typical dishes of our
country such as the guaguas de pan, arroz de leche and fritada. We thank the UChile_Biotec team for giving us the opportunity to be part
of LATAM:
Surveys, Supporting development in iGEM.
iGEM
is a competition that brings together lovers of technology from all over the
world, passionate about the development of science and a way to know points of
view and opinions of all of them, are the surveys. Through social networks such
as Instagram, Faceook and Youtube
we have contacted several teams that have asked for our opinion and below are
some of the surveys conducted during IGEM 2018 by the Ecuador team:
Team iGEM Thessaloniki
Team Bielefeld-CeBiTec,
Germany.
Team Lund, Sweden.
Team
Botchan Lab Tokyo japon
Team Macquaire
We thank all the teams involved in these collaborations
for giving us advice, for sharing their time with us, supporting our project
and making this experience more amusing. See you in Boston.