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We have exchanged and cooperated with many other iGEM teams and shared our experiences in conducting iGEM projects. We have participated in many joint conferences as well as the China Regional iGEMer Exchange.
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Part I: iGEM Shandong Synergy (iGSS)
We noticed that there is no official iGEM team meeting in North China, so we first tried to hold iGEM team meetings in Qingdao and Shandong, and we hope to expand the meeting to Northeast China in the future, and to attract more and more students from colleges and universities in the North of China to learn about the iGEM event and to join in this synthetic biology event. We initiated the iGEM Shandong Synergy (iGSS) in conjunction with OUC-Haide. iGEM teams in Shandong met on May 12, 2024 for an exchange of ideas, showing each other the design of the project as well as the work of the Human practice, and after exchanging ideas we discussed potential problems and provided suggestions to optimize the experimental work. At the same time the head of OUC-Haide shared with us the experience of participating in iGEM so that we can better prepare for the iGEM competition.
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Fig 1. iGSS members
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Part II: Exchanges on modeling with OUC-Haide,njtech-china, cau-china
This exchange was mainly about the various technical tools currently available in the modeling section. After this exchange we realized that the simulation of cellular metabolic flow is crucial in the field of synthetic biology. However, the traditional methods have many drawbacks, such as complexity of solution, unknown parameters of reaction kinetics, and size limitation of the model. We agreed that the flow balance analysis (FBA) method used by Cobra has advantages in solving larger metabolic networks. At the same time, we also recognized the shortcomings of Cobra in terms of its inability to simulate changes in metabolic flow over time and its difficulty in expressing the nonlinear relationships of metabolic flow in the real world with a linear solution.
At the same time we exchanged ideas about other techniques for modeling projects. For example, OUC-Haide introduced how to utilize molecular docking technology to achieve the design of connecting regions between proteins.
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Fig 2. Communicate with other teams about modeling
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Part III: Participation in the 11th CCIC(Conference of China iGEMer Community)
On July 11th, 2024, we participated in the 11th China Regional iGEMer Networking Conference, where we presented our project and won the Outstanding Project Presentation Award, and at the same time, we met many other teams, and we contacted a total of 7 microplastics-related teams to have a discussion, which also paved the way for the subsequent cooperation. Participating in such a community of iGEMers in China is very beneficial to our project.
1 Project Presentation
At the conference, our team presented our project to the judges and other teams, and received unanimous approval from the judges, and eventually won the Outstanding Project Presentation Award.
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Fig 3.SDU-China members at the CCIC
Fig 4. Outstanding Project Presentation Award
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2. Joint meeting on microplastics
Our team joined with six other iGEM teams to focus on microplastics, discussing each team’s project and possible subsequent collaborations in a Focus group format.
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Fig 5. SDU-China hosts the Focus group
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3. Poster free presentation
We promoted our poster to other participating iGEMers, introduced the experimental methodology as well as the modeling part of our project, and also exchanged experiences about Human Practices.
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Fig 6. Presentation to other iGEMers
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Part IV: “Bio-luminescence, Torch into Sun” Science Blog and Science Tweets from Universities
After in-depth communication with other teams at CCIC. our team met online with the NNU-CHINA team on August 6, 2024 to discuss conducting a science blogging campaign.
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Fig 7. Online discussion with NNU-China
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Later on, we have joined hands with NJTECH-CHINA-A, OUC-Haide, and HUBU-China team to launch a biological science popularization podcast. It aims to introduce the public to the mysteries of biology and the applications of contemporary synthetic biology.
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Fig 8. Science Blog
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On August 28, 2024 we conducted a college linkage science tweet with three teams, including the iGEM team UESTC-China.
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Fig 9. Joint Science Tweets
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Part V: iG20 SDG meetup
On September 6, 2024, we participated in the iG20 SDG Meetup organized by iGBA to learn from each other on the theme of Global Sustainable Development Goals.
During the iG20 SDG Meetup, through close cooperation and in-depth communication with other teams, we were not only able to learn from each other and help each other, but also able to work together across the boundaries of teams, schools, and even regional cultures, and contribute to the realization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This is not only the inheritance of the iGEM spirit, but also the interpretation of global youth responsibility and commitment.
With the theme of the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to promote the realization of sustainable consumption and production patterns globally, we hope to solve the world’s plastic crisis to a certain extent through our project.
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Fig 10.SDG meetup
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