Overview
This year, we engaged in numerous collaborative events, exchanging in-depth insights with many iGEM teams and forging profound friendships. Our collaboration has subtly yet significantly influenced our project, sparking creative collisions with iGEMers in experimentation, human practices, modeling, and design. Establishing connections and working together is crucial; together, we built forests from blocks and weaved webs from threads.
Timeline
2024.6.9
We visited the laboratory and office space of SZU-China, exchanging experiences on funding and sponsorship. Since both of our projects are in the initial stages, we shared ideas about project design. We also exchanged cultural gifts, the "Synthetic Mystery" UNO cards designed by CAU-China this year were highly praised by SZU-China.
2024.6.29
We attended the 2024 Beijing iGEMer Communication Meeting hosted by Beijing Normal University.
During the meeting, we showcased our project vision and provided updates on our Human Practices and modeling efforts. We also listened intently to the presentations from teams including BNU-China, PekingHSC, BIT-China, BUCT-iGEM, UCAS-China, and Peking's tsinghua igem-2024. In the interactive discussion, we explored the innovative and exceptional elements of each project with each other. We openly discussed the challenges we faced in our experimental design, HP, and modeling, and received insightful advice from more seasoned teams. For example, our lead modeler sought guidance from tsinghua igem-2024 on tackling specific modeling challenges. A member of BNU-China's HP team suggested the alignment of our project with the SDI track, noting its potential contribution to sustainable development globally, which provided us with inspiration and a deeper understanding of the sustainable development potential of our project. Moreover, our visual design team was met with widespread acclaim, and our creative UNO card concept was highly praised by all attendees.
2024.7.11-2024.7.14
We attended the 11th China Conference of iGEMer Community (CCiC), organized by Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. CCiC, a nationwide conference gathering independently initiated by China's iGEM teams, is designed to offer a platform for resource sharing, fostering mutual learning and communication among both iGEM participants and young synthetic biology enthusiasts in China. Today, CCiC has grown into one of the most significant academic conferences for university students in the country.
This year's edition, themed "SynBio Nexus," drew nearly a thousand attendees, including 89 university teams and 35 high school teams. They all came together to showcase their iGEM projects and engage in in-depth exchanges with experts from academia or industry, sparking innovative ideas.
On July 12, CAU-China participated in the opening ceremony of CCiC and carried out project presentation, bringing the beautiful vision of "Tiny nodule factories at hand, Deep-sea oil now grows in land" to CCiC.
In the subsequent communication, the exquisite posters and creative whiteboards of the CAU-China team won high praise from participants and official media.
On the morning of July 14th, CAU-China, together with BNU-China, BIT-China, HKUST, NWU-CHINA, OUC-China, visited the Suzhou Industrial Park to learn about its development history and cutting-edge technologies. Here, we got a glimpse of the industrial chain of health care products related to the advanced Suzhou BioBAY.
In the closing ceremony and award ceremony on the afternoon of July 14, our team won the Excellent Project Award and the Excellent Project Exhibition Award, which is an affirmation of our hard work and innovative spirit.
During the whole CCiC activity, we had friendly and in-depth exchanges with many teams. We not only understood each other's projects, but also discussed the experimental process, modeling methods, HP ideas and so on.
2024.7.25
We attended the Self-Learning & Innovation Workshop organized by Nanjing ZQT-Nanjing. CAU-China participated in the iGEM Biomedical Sciences Research Course (IBSRC) series of courses, bringing the course - Regulatory Features of Synthetic Biology to participating high school students from all over China at 8 p.m. on July 25. The course took the form of online meeting and live streaming. We actively interacted with the participants in the class, answered their questions about the class content after class and felt the enthusiasm of high school students for synthetic biology and its regulatory characteristics.
2024.7-9
We had the pleasure of attending the cooperative exchange meeting for the hp&edu project, which was graciously hosted by the Basic Medical College of Jilin University, JLU-NBBMS. During the gathering, we engaged in discussions on an array of initiatives, such as the iBSRC Biomedical Science Communication Program, the Biosafety White Paper and Ethics Series and the Synthetic Biology Comic. Our team ultimately resolved to participate in the creation of the Bio-Field long strip comic.
In collaboration with JLU-NBBMS, HainanU-China, SUSTech Med, PekingHSC, XJTLU_iGEM, DKU-iGEM, and JLU-CP, we embarked on a project to present a serialized comic via WeChat's public account, which highlights the intricate relationship between synthetic biology and daily life.
2024.9.7
We participated in the "2024 iG20 SDG Meetup," an event coordinated by the iGEM Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Synthetic Biology Industry-Academia-Research Forum (iGBA) and jointly hosted by the iGEM teams from the University of Macau (UM-Macau), South China University of Technology (SCUT-China-S), Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai (BNUZH-China), and Northwest University (NWU-China-A). The conference featured distinguished guests such as Mr. Bao Yuhan as the liaison officer and Human Practices project coordinator of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Foundation (iGEM), and Isaac Nana Kofi from the Macau Greater China Association.
During the meeting, we presented our project's initiatives and contributions towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and listened intently to the reports from other teams. Mr. Bao's address at the conference was particularly impactful and enlightening. He highlighted the distinctiveness and significance of the SDGs and expressed his satisfaction that we were focusing on Goal 17, which may embody a more profound vision of unity. Mr. Bao also emphasized the philosophy underpinning the SDGs, which revolves around environmental, social, and economic development. This prompted us to reflect on the environmental, social and economic implications of each sub-goal we have chosen,and consider the impact we have made and the further actions we can take to create lasting effects in these three dimensions.
In conclusion, the conference facilitated profound exchanges with other teams dedicated to the SDGs and deepened our understanding of the core principles of sustainable development. It has provided us with valuable insights that guide our ongoing work towards the SDGs.
Conclusion
Throughout our collaboration with various student teams, our team has been committed to advancing innovation and applications of synthetic biology projects for a positive and lasting impact on communities. We have been delighted by the diverse thinking and brilliant actions of different teams and individual iGEMers. Through extensive cooperation, we have learned how to collaborate and share knowledge more effectively.
We've found that face-to-face communication with different team members is more effective in resolving seemingly minor details that are crucial to the project's direction. Additionally, we've gained valuable perspective on the overall project framework from an outsider's viewpoint. The wisdom and warmth of the iGEM community have been the most valuable aspects of our collaborative experience this year.