Overview

In this module, we connect our project to the global synbio community through active communication and cooperation. We maintain close contact with other iGEM teams, research institutes and industry experts to share research results and experiences. We are also in active contact with government agencies to learn the policy restrictions and support for sugar substitutes and to ensure that our products comply with the relevant regulations. Through these communications and cooperation, we continue to optimize our project design to enhance the scientificity and feasibility of our project.

Communication

"Communication is the bridge between individuals and the key to effective competition."

iGEM Competition Exchange Meeting

On 27th February, we successfully held the iGEM Competition Exchange Meeting and invited Ms. Zhang Nan, Vice President of the iGEM Global Development, and teams from Southern University of Science and Technology, South China University of Technology, Beijing Normal University Zhuhai, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Southern Medical University and Guangdong Medical University to participate in the meeting. Meanwhile, teachers and students from Shenzhen Middle School, Basis-China and Link-Spider were also invited to participate in the exchange. The meeting featured in-depth discussions on topics such as challenges and explorations in synthetic biology, competition resources and team transformation, competition planning and team-building experiences. The exchange meeting not only answered the teams' questions about the iGEM competition but also gave us a deeper understanding of the competition and collected many valuable opinions.

8th iSCRM

This year, the 8th iGEM Southern China Regional Meeting (iSCRM) hosted by SZU-China was held on 18 May as scheduled. The event attracted 16 teams from various regions in South China, with nearly 200 participants, covering 8 villages including therapeutics, agriculture, oncology, etc. The number of participants was a record high. With the theme of "Get Ideas Ripple", the event aimed to encourage teams to present and share their innovative ideas, and to promote the exchange of ideas and creativity among teams. This year's Southern China Regional Meeting not only continued the booth exchange format of previous years, but also introduced the first time to pin collection, which increased the interactivity and fun. Each team elaborately designed a small game of collecting badges at their booths, which attracted participants to go to different booths for interaction and exchange.

11th CCiC

From 12 to 16 July, we attended the 11th CCiC (Conference of China iGEMer Community) in Suzhou. We not only had in-depth exchanges with iGEM teams from all over China, but also listened to the lectures of Prof. Zhang Weiwen and Dr. Bao Yuhan on "Biosafety in Synthetic Biology - Policy Theory and Industrialisation". Through the in-depth understanding of these cutting-edge researches, our team found a new breakthrough point in the Safety section of the project, and clarified the direction of the subsequent research. Meanwhile, the exchanges and discussions during the conference also brought new inspirations and ideas for our human practice activities, which strongly promoted the further development of the project. This CCiC meeting has strengthened our ties with iGEM teams across the country and laid a solid foundation for future cooperation.

2nd iGBA

From 1 to 3 August, SZU-China team members visited the Southern University of Science and Technology to participate in the 2nd iGEM Greater Bay Area Industry-Academia-Research Forum. We had a roundtable discussion with teams from HKUSTGZ and SZPU to think about how to make our EDU activities jump out of the traditional paradigm and have more positive interactions with society. We also brainstormed with BNUZH and HKUST teams on how to tell our iHP storyline, how to build an iHP framework, and how to explore various forms of iHP development. In addition, we have also established a partnership with Jilin University (JLU) to join their white paper project, and as a team in the Food & Nutrition village, we are exploring how to effectively consider safety issues in the project.

Asia-Pacific Mini Jamboree

In August, we went to Hong Kong University to attend the Asia-Pacific Mini Jamboree hosted by HKU and PolyU. We exchanged project designs with several teams and gained experience from the wiki workshop on phrasing and typography. In the mock judging session, we presented our project and received suggestions for improvement in the Q&A session. A professor from HKU suggested we modify the presentation and illustrations from a non-botanical researcher's point of view so that judges from different biological research fields could understand our project thoroughly. In addition, we also paid attention to many easily overlooked issues and learned valuable lessons on how to polish our presentation.

Cooperation

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

——Helen Keller

In addition to the above forum exchanges, we have also established close ties with a number of teams. We believe that healthy competition is built on friendly cooperation.

SMU-GDMU-China

On January 26th, the new team SMU-GDMU-China came to Shenzhen University to communicate with Mr. Chen Weizhao, the pi of SZU-China, about the experience of creating and leading the team. During this time, the students of the joint team also communicated with the old and new members of SZU-China, and the old members shared their experiences with the new members. This exchange also laid the foundation for the rich exchange and cooperation between the two teams.

UM-Macau and BNUZH-China

This exchange was a valuable opportunity. Students from the University of Macau and Bei Shi Zhu come to the SZU campus. Face-to-face interaction allowed us to share our brainstorming results, discuss the design of synthetic biology, and learn from each other's valuable experience in project design, experimental techniques, team management and innovative thinking.

CAU-China

The team leader from CAU-China came to SZU to visit us. We warmly received her and exchanged our experience in team management and collaboration.

HKUST-GZ

HKUST-GZ, a newly established team this year, contacted us and asked to borrow DNA reagents aeBlue. We actively reached out to lend our reagents to the team. As a result we established a friendly relationship.

AIS-China

AIS-China worked with us to discuss ways to optimize shRNA design for enhanced gene targeting, assessed the biosafety of gene editing mosquito releases, and considered the potential ecological risks of GMO releases and management measures. Advisors and members of our team patiently answered their questions through online meetings.

BASIS-China

The high school team BASIS-China have always had a good relationship with us. This year we co-organized an offline meeting and exchange our experience.

High School Team

The iGEM national team from Jia Shu Organization and the iGEM team from Shenzhen Shenmei Expatriate Children's School came to Shenzhen University together to do exchanges with SZU-China's iGEMers. On that day, each of the three teams shared their projects. During the demonstration and discussion, each team gained knowledge and made new friends.

JLU-China

We were invited by Jilin University to collaborate in writing The Biosecurity and Bioethics Whitepape, and after discussion, SZU-China was responsible for interpreting GM safety laws of food and nutrition village.

HUBU-China

We were invited by HUBU-China to discuss several safety issues online. Participating teams shared their considerations of safety in project design and human practices, and we exchanged ideas on how to get in touch with relevant experts and scholars, as well as our experiences in keeping in touch with different governmental departments. The experience gained from this meeting can guide us to carry out safety-related human practices more efficiently, and we also documented the inspiring project safety design for the reference of the project team members.

McMaster

iGEM McMaster invited us to make a sticker book together, and through this opportunity we met a group of foreign friends.