On December 27, 2023, after the 2023 iGEM competition results were announced, our team communicated with Professor Zhu , an iGEM judge from the National University of Defense Technology.
The NMU-China team first introduced the project for the year 2023. Professor Zhur affirmed our efforts on the project and pointed out that the activities we conducted in the direction of HP, model, etc. were on the right track and in line with what iGEM requires and advocates. Zhu Teacher said, "The iGEM judging panel prefers to hear a complete story, rather than just the results of scientific research."
At the same time, Zhu Teacher mentioned that having a comprehensive team that includes experimental, modeling, website building, human practice, and artistic members is very important. Each team member should take on their own role in the team and push the project forward. He also suggested that we could be more proactive in contacting relevant stakeholders in our HP practice and generate more connections with various industries in society.
When we looked for information, we learned that the research team of Dr. Hao Fei at Northwestern Polytechnical University succeeded in obtaining a kind of cyanobacteria that can secrete sugar out of the cell. Since we could not contact the author, we first contacted the NPU-CHINA team, which was very active and enthusiastic to help us, and then contacted the author of the article.So we got in touch with Dr. Hao Fei. Dr. Hao Fei generously donated the corresponding cyanobacteria to us, which promoted the progress of our project. We also introduced our project to Dr. Hao Fei and got some very important advice.
In China, the promotion of synthetic biology is not widely spread, and some universities have few opportunities to understand and carry out activities related to synthetic biology. In order to improve this situation, our team recruited two students from Qingdao Medical University and Wenzhou Medical University to participate in our project. Synthetic biology is not widely recognized in their respective universities. In fact, both students made useful contributions to our project.
In this way, we hope to plant a seed in other universities, so that more college students have the opportunity to deeply understand and practice the frontier of synthetic biology, improve the broader audience's awareness of the importance and progress of synthetic biology, and further promote the rapid development of synthetic biology.
During the course of the experiment, we formed a deep friendship with the Shanghaitech-China iGEM team. After summarizing several luminescence mechanisms, we plan to use Lux gene clusters to achieve engineered bacterial bioluminescence. We constructed a prokaryotic expression vector containing LuxCDABE, but the experimental results were not satisfactory. In order to optimize the gene circuit, we conducted a lot of literature research and reviewed past iGEM teams, and finally found that the 2023 Shanghaitech-China team also used Lux gene clusters. Before we planned to design the plasmid, we got in touch with Shanghaitech-China and obtained the pet28a-LuxCDABEFG plasmid as a gift from Shanghaitech-China, which played a crucial role in promoting the verification of the luminous module of our project.We are deeply grateful for their support!
At the same time, the Shanghaitech-China team invited us to try out their synthetic biology-themed card game -- “Germ Battle”.After playing this unique game, we proposed some remarks and got their approval.
NMU-China iGEM team went to Shenzhen on 7-10 August 2024 to participate in the 3rd Synbio Challenges (SC), a platform for national synthetic biology teams to showcase, communicate and collaborate. In this conference, our team participated in the offline carnival of the Innovation Competition, Protein Design Competition, and Bacterial Gaming Competition, shared our project LuminAid, accepted the questions and challenges from the judges, and rethought the potentials and shortcomings of our project. At the same time, we listened to the project reports and progress of synthetic biology teams from other universities across the country, and gained a lot of insights. Hearing them share the difficulties of their projects, we felt the same and gained a lot of motivation to continue to move forward.
At the SC, we demonstrated our Luminaid Bioluminescent Rescue Positioning System, which received positive feedback from the judges. Outside the venue, we also exchanged projects and communicated with synthetic biology teams from many different schools, especially we established a good partnership with AFMU-China igem team afterwards. At the same time, we actively contacted various experts in various fields at the conference to introduce our project, and got a lot of pertinent suggestions from their professional perspectives, after which we all improved our projects accordingly. After the competition, we also received detailed questions or comments from the judges and experts in the finals from the Synbio Challenges organising committee, which gave us a lot of benefits and thanked the organising committee for their dedication.
We would like to mention in particular the humour of our host Mr. Yi, the sincerity and concern of our chairman Mr. Zhang Xian'en, the seriousness and meticulousness of the jury members, and the strong support of Shenzhen Guangming District, where we felt the unprecedented enthusiasm. I would like to quote one of the contestants on the public website: "The night I stayed up in June has echoed in August, and the two-day carnival was really wonderful! Synbio Challenges is a story about youthful ambition, dreams and love. In any case, the team's two-month effort was worthwhile. We really learnt that love can cross mountains and oceans, and we have to defy all odds while our minds are hot! Thank you all for your hard work! Wish us: Always be brave." Thank you to the organising committee for inviting us, everything is the best, and we wish Synbio Challenges more and more success.
We have established a good partnership with the AFMU-China iGEM team. By sharing the progress of the project on a regular basis, we have discussed the possible directions of the project and how to make it better applied. We also shared our experimental experiences and discussed some details of the experimental operation. The two teams helped each other and gained a deep friendship.
Our team participated in the first-ever iGEM Space village meet-up, where we interacted with other teams and learnt about the responses of different iGEM teams to the extremes of the space environment, as well as the broad prospects of synthetic biology in space exploration. Among them, our Luminaid Algae-Bacteria System was recognised by the judges for its approach to address space issues while focusing on Earth. During the free exchange session, the chairman Lucus Boldrini's ideas on logistics gave us insights that we used to improve our products in the following session. In addition, with this valuable opportunity to meet-up, we contacted the Tianjin iGEM and NNU-China teams, who also participated in the Universe track, to collaborate on policy analysis and stakeholder communication.
The NMU-CHINA and Tianjin teams exchanged questions about data security. Tianjin shared ways to avoid or reduce the use of confidential data, or it could use some answers from news interviews. NMU-CHINA proposes to focus its research on geochemistry to ensure data security. This exchange allowed both teams to learn new strategies and better advance the project.
During the exchange with the NNU-CHINA iGEM team, the NMU-CHINA team discussed how to effectively implement the integrated humanistic practices of stakeholders in the space track. NNU-CHINA has been generous in sharing their valuable experience, including multi-channel contacts with Chinese space agencies and private space companies. Despite some difficulties, they managed to overcome them and got useful data from a private aerospace company. They also suggested that NMU-CHINA could try to establish links with international space agencies, such as ESA or NASA.
In response to the concerns raised by NMU-CHINA, such as limited contact channels, the project design is more theoretical and difficult to productize, the NNU-CHINA team has approved and stressed that more attention should be paid to understanding the practical needs of the application when looking for stakeholders. The two sides agreed that despite the challenges, the gap between theory and practice can be gradually narrowed through integrating resources, in-depth communication and continuous optimization of project design.
In July, we provided the BNDS-China team with the plasmid PpchA-pchA-PLEE1-EGFP. After that, the two teams conducted in-depth exchanges on experimental techniques and projects for many times. Based on the results and practices of the NMU-China team's "Gut Sweeper" project in 2023, we provided the BNDS-China team with guidance on IBD and gut microbiota. At the same time, we learned from the BNDS-China team and discussed how to apply molecular docking technology to verify the affinity between the regulatory protein ScrR and the targeted promoter, in order to further confirm the feasibility of our killing circuit, and we would like to express our gratitude to them here. On the safety part, we agreed on the need for broader safety efforts to manage any risks in the project. Both teams drew inspiration and suggestions from the cooperation. The two teams solved some technical problems respectively, and injected new vitality and direction for the respective projects. BNDS-China team is the most cooperative team with NMU-China team this year. We are very grateful for the attention and support of BNDS-China team to NMU-China team, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude here again.
CHINA-FUZHOU is a very vigorous team, all the players are lively and friendly, and the communication with them was relaxed and pleasant. The two teams introduced their respective projects for this year. We raised questions about how CHINA-FUZHOU enhanced the astaxanthin content in leaves and fruits of longan, and they answered our puzzles after some discussion. We are curious whether CHINA-FUZHOU has considered the toxic effects of loading and expressing genetic circuits on the chassis cells. After pondering, CHINA-FUZHOU indicated that carotenoids, one of the products expressed, can enter the plant's own metabolic pathway, which provides us with a new perspective for consideration.