Team:BioIQS-Barcelona/Attributions

BIO IQS

Roger Compte

Roger developed the fundamental idea which this project is about, and consequently assessed the background and goals about the topic. Then, his biggest labor in the drylab was focused on the HLA-DQ sequences extraction design: primers and PCR strategy. Afterward, he performed the genomic DNA extraction and designed the PCR program to amplify it and reaching the basic parts. He also worked on the seting of constructs and methodologies to achieve a proper functional folded HLA protein. He also helped in social events and project promotion.

Júlia Quintanas

Júlia managed different tasks of the project promotion. She contacted with experts and other stakeholders in order to improve the project in terms of science-communication and ethics. She also worked in the launching of the team presentation video and the dissemination of the crowdfunding platform. Furthermore, she has participated in the organization and realization of different divulgation activities to raise awareness of celiac disease and its consequences. Regarding WetLab’'s part, she worked on the setting up of the PCR strategy to isolate the HLA genes from genomics DNA.

Victor Maull

Victor worked on the design of the sensor with Coral from a theoretical point of view. Moreover, he developed strong theoretical background to understand and predict the detection dynamics underlying the sensor. Consequently, the exploration through mathematical models and computer simulations was achieved. Furthermore, he lent a hand here and there, holistically speaking.

Marc Expòsit

Marc learned web development from scratch and created the wiki editing tutorial examples and videos. He presented the project in multiple events together with other team members. Marc loves science communication and programming, so he designed and carried out the DNA information storage workshop. In the WetLab, he performed the experiments to clone the basic parts in the pSB1C3 vector to register them as BioBricks. He also worked in editing the wiki and did his best to coordinate the team and the progress of the project.

Mireia Solà

Mireia collaborated in the marketing tasks during the initial stages of the iGEM competition, specially managing the social networks and looking for possible sponsors. When executing the strategy in the laboratory, Mireia helped performing the experiments as well as controlling the orders of the needed material and reactives for all tasks. Finally, as other team members, she helped in the poster's design for the Giant Jamboree. Without her, our Instagram wouldn't have been the same!

Xavi Carol

Xavi actively participated in different parts of the project. During the first stages, he was in charge of the crowdfunding campaign together with Julia and Coral. Besides, he established the scientific basis of the project. He was responsible for building bridges among the different members of the group as well as with the IQS University. On the other hand, he focused on the design of the gene extraction strategy, working hand in hand with Roger. He also was in charge to establish a potential collaboration with the UPF iGEM team, to assess whether the extraction strategy that they formerly designed was robust or not. He was essential for the design and launch of the wiki. Finally, he prepared several speeches in Bars and restaurants to clear up misunderstandings related to celiac disease, as well as the final presentation for the Giant Jamboree.

Jordi Chi

Jordi was actively involved in the experimental aspect of the project, from PCR primers and synthetic construct design to successfully clone one of the most promising constructs for our project purpose into the desired vector. He also performed the expression experiments of the cloned construct as well as most of the experimental work from the InterLab Study.

Eduard Martinez

Edu designed part of the experiments usingP. pastoris. Starting from primer design, to choosing the expressions vectors, protocols and the expression methodology. He performed computational analysis of post traduccionals modifications, disulphide bounds and HLA folding pattern. Finally, he performed the designed experiments on P. pastoris and helped in other wetlab parts of the project.

Coral García

Coral designed the gold nanoparticles based sensor, attending Victor occasionally with the development of the drylab modelling. She was also involved in the WetLab during the isolation of HLA from genomic DNA. She managed the crowdfunding web page and collaborated with Xavi and Júlia in different marketing tasks.

Mireia Jordà

Mireia Jordà was involved most of the time in isolating HLA from the genomic DNA and helped in other experimental lab tasks. She developed the scheduling for most of the divulgative events and their assistance, as well as their advertisement. She also participated in artwork, including the design of the poster and the banner and helped in the organization of social networks.

Aitor Vega

Aitor worked in the DryLab to assess the reproducibility of the PCR for all the celiac-associated alleles and to characterize the molecular interactions of the HLA-DQ-gliadin complex. He also occasionally helped in WetLab tasks and in the collection and documentation of celiac disease information. As other team members, he lent a hand during the last stages of Wiki implementation.

Marta Clariana

Marta contributed spreading the fundraising by different channels, promoting the project to as many people as possible with the help of the crowdfunding platform, in order to make our project visible to the public. She also collaborated in some aspects related to marketing, such as instagram, scientific divulgation, divulgation of celiac disease in bars and the DNA workshop.

Tatiana Carol

Tatiana was our web developer. She conducted all the tasks related to the design of the wiki. She is such a great artist. Besides, she invested much of her time to give us tips to boost our communication skills. Working hand in hand with her was priceless; thanks to her, we took our programming skills to a whole new level.

Project attributions

We would like to give our special thanks to all those who have contributed in the execution of this project in all areas. And the thanks go to:

PhD. Magda Faijes and PhD. Toni Planas. Believed in us and provided advice on our wetlab design (expression systems and protocols).
PhD. Xevi Biarnés. Assisted the team with the sequence treatment and multiple alignments (PCR standardization).
Noelia León. Created the awesome presentation video for the website and crowdfunding, furthermore designed the icons. Also helped us with marketing stuff.
Álvaro Platón. Created the amazing artwork for Giant Jamboree (banner).
Members of the UPF_CRG_Barcelona iGEM team. They ran our PCR protocols to corroborate its interlab eficacy.
PhD. Marjan De Mey. Provided advice about being in iGEM competition.
PhD. Carme Ferré. Provided more knowledge about celiac disease.
Marc Espina Cortes. His help in all communications tasks (wiki content and presentation for the Giant Jamboree) was indispensable.
Rosa Curt. Builded bridges between companies and our team.
Eduard Diviu for believing in our project.
Anna Quintanas. Provided a vision of our project from an ethical perspective.
Karen Wells. Gave her native american voice to the crowdfunding video.
Irene Cuxart. Provided culinary help in the gluten-free event at the University.
La iguana, Bacanal Café and Copasetic bars to let us perform the different project events in their establishments.

Project funders

We would also like to express our gratitude to all those who have contributed in our crowdfunding campaign.

And specifically, to our gold sponsors: