Journal: Our iGEM Story

Timeline

Team St Andrews:

December 2011

Team St Andrews forms, uniting nine students, seven world class researchers and four PhD advisors from disciplines as diverse as Computer Science and Physics, to Biology, Medicine and Chemistry.

January - March 2012

Applications for sponsorship are made to specifically chosen businesses and organisations with an interest in advancing the Life Sciences. Very quickly, "BioSilta", "GenScript", "Clontech", "Geneious", "Integrated DNA Technologies" and "Thermo Fisher" pledge their support and Team St Andrews grows...

10 March 2012

National Science and Engineering Week explodes in Fife with a regional "Science Discovery Day". Team St Andrews works to convey fundamental concepts in Genetic Engineering and Synthetic Biology to members of the public in new and exciting ways. The interactive "Codon Game", the 3 Dimensional visualisations of DNA and DNA polymerase 3 and display "E. Coli: under the Microscope" are all well received. Children and adults alike are fascinated when DNA is extracted from bananas, using everyday kitchen utensils, before their eyes.

April 2012

Brainstorming sessions are held as the team researches project ideas. Some promising titles include:

• "E. Coli and Omega 3: A Project to Feed the Minds of Our Generation"

• "Enzymatic Methane Conversion in Cows: a Sweet Smelling Approach to Reducing Climate Change"

• "Resurfacing Science, Resurfacing our Roads: Cell Factories and Metal Binding Proteins Recover Pavement Platinum"

• "Project Bio-logic-al: Optimizing Soil Composition by Method of Biological Computation"

27 April 2012

Team member Josi presents "Spider Mutants and Bioterrorism - an Overview of Synthetic Biology as an Emerging Scientific Discipline" to a “TEDx” audience of over eighty scientists and non - scientists akin. Josi views the field as "ground breaking" and by the end of her talk, members of her audience too admit surprise at the wealth of possibilities that this new research area makes available. There is excitement at the tantalizing proximity of reality of these ideas.

May 2012

Project ideas are discussed in greater detail and are filtered until only two research topics remain. Those preferred ideas are: the production of Omega 3 Fatty Acids by E. Coli Cells ("E. Coli and Omega 3: A Project to Feed the Minds of Our Generation") and the production of Metal – Binding Proteins ("Resurfacing Science, Resurfacing our Roads: Cell Factories and Metal Binding Proteins Recover Pavement Platinum").

4 June 2012

Full time work on Team St Andrews' iGEM Project finally begins! After an initial Group Meeting, two thirds of our student members continue in depth research into those project ideas generated previously; the rest begin work on Team St Andrews' Wiki.

5 June 2012

CLC bio expresses their enthusiasm to support Team St Andrews. Members of the group are provided with CLC bio Main Workbenches. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus mi felis, vehicula vel dignissim a, rutrum in sapien. Aliquam erat volutpat. Aliquam erat volutpat. Cras in metus id neque commodo porttitor. Nullam ante eros, ullamcorper quis dignissim mollis, egestas at massa. Duis a ligula risus, vel consectetur massa. Vestibulum tellus augue, tincidunt eu faucibus vel, iaculis ut urna. Aliquam lacinia tincidunt dapibus. Aenean tellus dolor, sagittis a aliquet ac, facilisis et ante. Praesent tempus metus at tortor facilisis sed dictum magna adipiscing. Curabitur tellus lectus, suscipit non commodo sed, rhoncus nec dolor. Fusce consectetur tellus in metus aliquam vehicula nec at est. Nullam aliquet imperdiet malesuada. Vivamus fringilla, sapien ac porta ornare, odio augue rutrum lacus, a tristique ligula libero at nisl. Etiam ac vestibulum diam. Phasellus mollis volutpat lorem, id ultrices diam imperdiet sit amet. In non viverra quam. Donec risus tellus, faucibus tincidunt volutpat eget, sodales tincidunt nulla. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam consequat nisi id eros fermentum dapibus. Nullam nec purus ut diam convallis consequat at nec dui. Phasellus sit amet velit quis tellus gravida molestie non vitae magna. Suspendisse potenti. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed a turpis odio. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum leo orci, porta at lobortis eget, sagittis vel tortor. Fusce condimentum, nulla eu hendrerit tempus, mi nisi auctor ligula, eu consequat dolor odio non diam. Sed tempus scelerisque libero, ut aliquam urna mollis feugiat. Maecenas lobortis suscipit tellus, vestibulum interdum lacus ultrices at. Nunc dolor lacus, pellentesque a pharetra a, bibendum quis velit. Donec eu laoreet nisi. Nam vestibulum velit vitae eros imperdiet cursus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam volutpat lobortis lorem, a imperdiet libero ullamcorper a. Nam pharetra accumsan lectus, quis tempus enim laoreet at. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Morbi mi eros, lobortis sit amet consequat varius, imperdiet sed elit. Duis commodo iaculis nisl a blandit. Aenean molestie arcu eget risus mollis semper. Vivamus tristique commodo faucibus. Vivamus libero mauris, commodo in blandit non, ultricies sed lectus. Proin id nunc nec nulla consectetur auctor sed ut tortor. Proin dictum mattis risus nec hendrerit. Quisque luctus ante vitae dui tincidunt id eleifend ipsum consequat. Vestibulum sem enim, dignissim nec rhoncus ut, vestibulum a magna. Duis non urna ac enim malesuada interdum eu vel ante. Maecenas dictum scelerisque mattis. Fusce nisl neque, lobortis in facilisis non, interdum non nunc. In porta, ipsum nec facilisis sodales, lacus nunc pretium orci, non mollis erat nisl sit amet urna. Nam dictum lobortis luctus. Aenean viverra, elit et ultricies convallis, nisl sapien imperdiet tortor, eu pharetra leo dui nec est. Aenean nec urna elementum arcu hendrerit pharetra. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Cras at dui sit amet nibh mattis iaculis sed in eros. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec consequat pulvinar tincidunt. Proin fringilla aliquet tortor, ac luctus nibh feugiat at.