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Select a date to read respective meeting notes.
iGEM advisors meeting Present: Cara, Adi, Uros, Bob, Asha, Amanda, Will, Isaiah, Angela Advisors: Dr. Jim, Todd, Courtney Evans (Lab manager), Brad Evans (post-doc), Dr. Bhalerao Agenda: - Team formed in 2007, first competition in 2008 (four competitions) - Discussion: do we want to create a computational team? Involve open recruitment or connections. One of the teams at the finals had a computational team that created an evolutionary model of gene dynamics. (Prof. Bhalerao involved heavily in the computational side) o Bhalerao – it shouldn’t be done if it’s not 110% - The pep talk: Don’t lose commitment, you are chosen to represent Illinois. Don’t quit and do your job. o Bring it on! o Watch past presentations to realize the level of competition that we’re facing. They’re mind blowing. - 2 aspects to this experience: the synthetic biology (the idea, the research, the quality of the physical project), marketing (broad vision, best presentation, a sense of a dynamic vision is important, the judges like videos!) - Understanding synthetic biology: this is the big idea, understand it before anything else. Cut through the jargon. Take advantage of its flexibility. o When presenting to the judges, need to let them know that we’re doing synthetic biology, not nanobiology. - Meet with the advisors regularly to keep on track. Summary of Advisor’s labs: - Dr. Jin: Doing yeast and e. coli metabolic engineering. Engineer a pathway to create a phenotype of interest. All projects are about genetic manipulation and perturbation (also some environmental perturbation) in order to produce a phenotype faster, easier, cheaper. Will learn genetic manipulation, how to culture the cell in large scale and small scale (fermentation/bioreactors), mass spect to analyze the metabolic product. Also some computation in order to analyze results (but not a good idea to focus on in this time frame of 2-3 months). - Dr. Bhalerao: Pathogenic research. What happens to the stress response of the cell and the cell’s evolution in response to a metabolic engineering/gene circuit that you have put in the cell? Well it’s hard, so you look at evolution on the population scale. Can we control the evolution of the bug? If we so we can build better vaccines or harness these bugs for more work. (Example: can we control the evolution of pesticide resistant bugs?) Project: bacteriophage system. How does system change under different stresses? It’s complex to measure, so can we genetically modify these bacteria to visually tell us things? Will learn genetic manipulation, mathematical modeling, evolutionary genomics. - MMG (Brad Evans, Todd, Courtney): help contruct a series of vectors that will put tags onto the e.coli genome that will tease out their functions. How can we figure out what this protein does and how it does it? VERY iGem applicable. - Dr. Rao: similar to Dr. Jin, chemotaxis, as well.
iGEM Weekly Meeting – Sunday, February 19, 2012 Getting card access to IGB - Take 3 safety quizzes online (Angela will send out the link) - Take the certificate you get from this to the IGB gatehouse, first floor, and they will give you another certificate - Take this 2nd certificate to the iCard people and get your card access! - Do this asap! EOH - Will be going into the lab on next Saturday to keep up with the wet lab side of the e.chromi project (we are allowed to be in lab from Monday to Saturday) - 2nd project: coliroid. A red light system would need to be built so that we can illuminate the bacteria. (we already have the necessary e.coli strain). - Potential projects: making e.coli smell like bananas or wintergreen! Also, seeing strawberry/your own DNA. (these are all really good for kids) - The budget is $50. Making a nice printed poster is $80 through the IGB, so lets go simple (tri-fold, old posters, Adi’s computer presentation, hang up Asha’s dry erase board) Team Work Delegation - There are no longer any set positions. We are going to self-delegate tasks, but then we are also going to cross our own borders and help each other out. - Big idea! Everyone needs to work together, collaborate, and do their part. - We still do need a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer because we are an RSO. - The engineering council needs us to submit people for these positions. We’re going to choose these people, but we’re all going to collaborate. Isiah will send out the survey about this. - There is still the possibility to change positions if as time goes on we see that people have different strengths than originally thought. - Read the Pubmed “Leading a Successful iGEM Team” by Wayne Materi Presentations of Past Winning Teams - Adi’s article has been posted to the facebook page o E. coli were reengineered to be a chemical recording device. Once they were exposed to a certain stimuli, they would lengthen as a function of time. So the longer the e.coli were in length, the longer they had been exposed to the chemical stimuli. o Helpful in a biological context, also a nanorecorder for toxins or pollutants. o Possible project idea: rewire e.coli to detect any type of toxins for a specific environment. Another idea, not only does the e.coli change color when a toxin is detected, but it starts to break the toxin down. Research if past iGEM teams have done this. - First place: University of Washington o Used e.coli to produce alkanes, a major part of diesel fuel o Used a protease that digested gluten and made it able to digest more gluten (idea of taking pills with the protease in it so gluten intolerant people can take the pill) o Biobricks: magnetic e.coli, magnetism toolkit for future iGEM teams, submitted 65 biobricks! - Will talk about Imperial College London and JZU – China next week Project Ideas! - The above e.coli that detects and cleans up toxins - A harmless e.coli that goes in your body and detects trace amount of carcinogens or other toxins - Bioskins: gloves with e.coli on them that would change color letting you know what different types of chemicals are on your gloves or that there is too much dangerous chemical on your hands - Getting rid of carbon monoxide. Either in your home through a bacterial system, or putting it in factories to purify the exhaust air before it is released - Bacteria that make biofuels. Lets repurpose these to make them even more useful. Can we harness photosynthesis or put them in the smokestacks to purify the air? - Create a bacteria to keep invasive populations in check. (light sensitive so they undergo apoptosis during the day) - BUT – we need to research these ideas to make sure that we can actually execute these. - The iGEM categories: Best food or energy project, best environment project, best health or medicine project, best manufacturing project, best new application area, best foundational advance, best software tool, best information processing project, best human practices advance, best poster, best entrepreneurship - We REALLY want to register for both iGEM and the new entrepreneurial competition. Lab Assignments - Jin: Uros, Adi, Bob - Bhalerao: Isiah, Anthony - Brad: Cara - Rao: Divya, Asha
iGEM meeting minutes from 2/26/12 - We watched the first 13:00 min of this video about Imperial College of London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ushmgPM7HT8 o Please watch the rest of this video on your own- it’s very inspiring! o We are ahead of the schedule of ICL in their video; let’s not waste our time! - Angela suggests that we have two more meetings during the week in addition to Sunday for a total of 3 short meetings a week: o One to discuss team operation, one with advisers, one journal club meeting; each would be one hour in length o Multiple meetings would allow for more efficient use of team time and resources, we can solve problems from one meeting before the next meeting so we don’t have to wait a whole week to get answers - PLEASE FILL OUT THE “WHEN IS GOOD” SURVEY FROM UROS o this will select times for the two additional weekly meetings and give Courtney a time to come talk to us about safety - Safety Quizzes o Please complete your quizzes this week, we cannot work in the lab on EOH projects until everyone completes the quizzes o We are thinking of having a quiz party on Tuesday night this week to do all the online safety quizzes and have some food, check email/FB for a solid time o Please stop by the IGB Gatehouse 2nd floor Monday-Friday 8-5 (except the noon lunch hour) to get your IGB email address which is necessary for one of the safety quizzes - Journal Club o No article was discussed today o We are looking to get JC running during the week based on the results from the when is good survey- Anthony will lead first JC this week of 2/26 o Whoever will lead JC meeting of the week will create a small power point outlining the paper o Other iGemmers will read paper and come ready to listen and discuss - Adviser labs o Please email your adviser to introduce yourself so that we can get working in lab o Lab assignments: Dr. Jin Dr. Bhalerao Brad Dr. Rao Bob Isiah Cara Divya Uros Anthony Asha Adi - EOH o Equipment: projector, camera, computer IGB gatehouse, second floor, Melissa McKillip to obtain EOH presentation equipment o Presentation committee- Cara has the practice poster for EOH, we should discuss what other presentation materials we want to have at EOH o Lab: glowing bacteria (bright yellow/blue) as backup in case we all cannot get safety certified in time for EOH - Social outing suggestion: visit another team such as Northwestern, U Michigan, Wash U, Purdue to network and have fun - Discussed timeline for Spring and Summer o This semester learn lab techniques Journal Club- once a week to familiarize ourselves with the Syn Bio field so that we can create a stellar, cutting edge project o Summer 1st week: identify the final project 2-4 week: design the gene circuit - http://www.tinkercell.com/ will help you practice 5-12 week: lab troubleshooting o Overall- no specific time continue Journal Club Human Practices Wiki for the competition Have some FUN! - Announcements: o Publicity Director: open houses- once we do all of our work we would like to present it to as many ears as possible raise awareness of iGEM create flyers and brochures events that we need to prepare for: EOH, Undergrad Symposium, IGB fellow, Quad Day, Welcome events o Corporate Director: Talk with Melissa McKillip about funding sources: UIUC and industry If we get good funding, we can commercially synthesize some DNA sequences and save time! o Web Master: learn how to code iGEM Wiki now · Wiki is for the iGEM judges start Illinois iGEM website for meeting times, latest updates, and a place where the general public will come to look at our iGEM work- therefore it needs to be broad and understandable to the general public o Treasurer: needs to take RSO treasurer quiz - Uros presented the Imperial College of London websitehttp:// 2011.igem.org/Team:Imperial_College_London o take away points: liked the simplicity of their page they readily showed the implications of their project it was a global problem that had a wide area of impact they defined terms/provided links for definitions had lots of pictures and interactive features - Take a look at the Yale University project from 2011 that identified a very simple problem in a very simple way o this is an example of the beauty of simplicity o this Yale project was in the final for the regional jamboree and advanced to the international competition- don’t need to be intricate to win o we should take some hints from them!
iGEM Meeting Minutes 3/4/12 Announcements: Publicity - Divya - Everyone needs to sign up for an EOH shift on the google doc. Melissa and IGB have been contacted about equipment for a PowerPoint, posters, and 2 computers. An iGEM flyer is being made for EOH. - IGB fellows: a research symposium where 2 people will present a poster to IGB scientists. We will need people to cover shifts throughout the day. This is in a professional setting. Last year’s E. Chiver project will be presented. Social Chair - Cara - Everyone get excited for EOH! Social events will be planned after safety certification and EOH is done. A good idea is to do something before spring break. Corporate – Adi - Next week, a meeting with Courtney and Melissa will take place. Bob will accompany Adi to discuss getting funding for the website. Secretary - Asha - EOH posters will be worked on after this general meeting. Cara and Asha will be going to the first Engineering Council meeting this Wednesday evening. Lab Manager - Isiah - Lab work for EOH has been worked on by Angela. Last year’s project is still under consideration as to whether or not it will be included for EOH. - It is important for everyone to have access to IGB to come into the lab. Web Master - Bob - Bob has been looking at old wiki setups and has contacted David Chen from last year to help with this. - There will be the wiki page for project results and a different iGEM website for publicity and information. The judges only see the wiki. Another option is for the wiki to be hosted off of our own website. - Learning python would help with Tinker Cell. When we decide what we want to model, we can start looking at what we specifically need to learn of python. Treasurer - Anthony - Needs to receive the account number from the last year’s treasurer. Vice President – Uros - Everyone needs to complete the EOH training and print the safety inspection sheet in order to be ready for the Friday morning safety check. - Everyone also needs to meet with Courtney to complete the IGB safety training. President - Angela - Next advisor’s meeting is Tuesday, March 6, 3-4 PM at IGB. We will be discussing why last year’s team was not fully successful. - Next Sunday, Angela will go over the E. Chiver project from last year. And every Sunday someone will go over another project. - Next week’s article: “A sensing array of radically coupled genetic ‘biopixels’.” It will be presented by Uros. Discussion: 1) Safety quizzes and IGB keys a. Keys are not working after hours or during the weekend. This problem has been brought up to Courtney. b. This Tuesday Adi, Bob, Anthony, and Asha will meet with Courtney to complete their safety training. c. So far only Cara, Uros, and Isiah have an IGB key. d. Procedure: d.i. Take all three safety quizzes d.ii. Go to Courtney for 30min IGB specific safety presentation d.iii. Get the access paper signed by Courtney (can ask her for a copy) d.iv. Go to 1st floor of Gatehouse to the front desk, tell them you are iGEM and need access d.v. Pay the $8.50 and get a receipt d.vi. Take your receipt to the Union Bookstore on Wright, go to id center in back d.vii. Tell them you need access to IGB and give them the receipt from the Gatehouse (be prepared to take a new id picture!) d.viii. Finally make sure you go to your residence hall front desk and get your new icard re-activated d.ix. Make sure your new icard will give you after-hours access, maybe go to IGB front doors after 5pm and see if you can swipe into the front doors 2) New meeting Schedule a. General meeting: We will still meet every Sunday from 3-5. For the rest of the semester, the Chemistry Library will be our meeting place. b. Journal club: The journal club will meet every week after the general meeting. We have 5 papers that the advisors suggested we read. c. Advisor’s meeting: First advisors meeting will be this Tuesday, March 6th from 3-4 at the IGB. 3) Has everyone contacted their lab advisor? a. If not, do that asap! 4) EOH progress a. We will meet after this to familiarize ourselves with the presentation for EOH. b. Everyone needs to partner up with someone who knows the presentation, that way at EOH we are prepared. 5) Journal Club (Presented by Anthony) a. “Synthetic biology: advancing biological frontiers by building biological systems” b. PowerPoint is attached to the email of these minutes.
Agenda of Advisor Meeting 3/6/2012 Team Structure - President – Angela Chen - Vice President – Uros Kuzmanovic - Secretary – Asha Kirchhoff - Treasurer – Anthony Chau - Corporate Director – Adi Malik - Publicity Director – Divya Tankasala - Social Chair – Cara Schornak - Web master – Bob Chen - Lab Manager – Isiah Ramos - But it is everybody’s responsibility to contribute and direct themselves, as well as collaborate with all the others to make the project a success Team Operation - Meetings o Bi-weekly advisor’s meeting Tuesday from 3-4 PM o Weekly general meeting Keeping track on team operations Discussion on one past project o Weekly Journal club - Recent Activities o Participated in E-week events o Preparing for Engineering Open House In order to use this in the human practices part of our project, we will video tape people’s opinions on synthetic biology, video tape the exhibit, and count the number of people we interacted with A short edited video can then be used for the human practices part of our website Overall, the responsibilities of human practices falls to Divya, Cara, and Asha o Completed safety quizzes Make sure Courtney has a copy of your completed safety quizzes! This is absolutely necessary to do before you get your IGB card access. o Started Journal club on March 4 Important to critically examine the articles, not just read them. We have to sharpen our critical thinking. We also should read review articles for every paper. o Started project discussion – 2011 U of Washington and Imperial College London o Started Bootcamp in each lab Every week everyone should share what they are learning in bootcamp. This will lead to brainstorming. o Presented E. Chiver project in the 2012 Institute of Biological Engineering on March 2 Angela and Jaimie recreated the old presentation so that it was more suitable to a symposium. The presentation was filmed, so it will be sent to all of the advisors. Discussion - Bi-weekly meeting with advisors o What do we discuss in this meeting? Present our ideas for projects to the advisors so they can give us an indication of how we are progressing and if our plans are viable. o Introduction to Prof. Liu of Bioengineering as one of our advisors. - Team Operation o Would identifying a topic in the first week of summer be too late? o Brainstorming Rules: · No idea is bad. Especially for the first 2 weeks, there should be no filter. Everyone should have the chance to speak. · After a few weeks start editing the ideas. Check iGEM.org to make sure that no one has done our idea before. This is also another good resource to check and see what type of projects went well and why. o Dr. Bhalerao advises to skip looking at the past projects of UIUC iGEM or other iGEM teams. Courtney agrees that we will never be proficient in synthetic biology, so it’s important to just come up with good ideas (which is the hard part). Looking at past presentations and projects is what we should all do individually, not at the meeting. o Our project should be feasible, something we enjoy, and something really cool. Our presentation should also be able to market and capitalize our idea, as well as convince everyone that it is better and more exciting than anything else. o Look at our old past projects and see if we can finish any or do any better. - Team Collaboration o Is collaborating with the University of Michigan team, or others, feasible? Try to build bridges with as many teams as possible. That way we have as many options as possible. These contacts need to be made soon. Our collaboration can be pooling human practices, sharing data or technology, or even sharing a project. It is possible to actually collaborate on the same project, especially if one lab blind tests the other’s idea, or one team plans and the other executes. - iGEM registration o Registration is now open. Do we have an iGEM account? Yes. o Can we join iGEM – Entrepreneurship? A good idea, ultimately we do want our project to be applicable in real life. We need to acquire an additional advisor from the business school. Try Kathy Baylis in Agriculture/Consumer economics. She is a friend of Dr. Bhalerao’s and her husband is a professor in the business school. Dr. Bhalerao thinks we should pursue the economic models track. This has the same registration deadline as the normal iGEM competition, which is March 31. - Funding Sources o Where do we find funding sources? We start from scratch every year. The only one that is guaranteed is IGB. We should start early. Funding went well last year; we’re starting with $15,000. But we should knock on all doors. o Should the corporate director and president talk with the IGB director? Yes, make a formal appointment and have an impressive presentation. Dress down for it and make them give you money. Also, make a brochure for iGEM 2012 and then go and talk to all the heads of all the Colleges. We can print it on nice glossy paper for free at IGB. Our brochure should contain as specific as a project idea as possible. We want to let everyone know that we plan to deliver. Also market that we want to join the Entrepreneurship competition this year. Also, contact Peter Fox. He owns the land that is Research Park. Also contact Scott Pilkins, the director of Research Park. Illinois Ventures in particular is one we should talk to. Steven Slyger from Nanodisk at Research Park. o In May, we will all need to fill out a form for travel reimbursements ($700). - Server o Do we have a server for the iGEM website? We do, Dr. Bhalerao has it in his office. We would be able to secure $100 for a high quality website from Adi’s Chicago web developer contact. But we should make sure it has dynamic contact. It it’s just static, we shouldn’t spend the money, and we should just use a template. - 2011 iGEM project o Why didn’t we advance to the international competition? There was no data uploaded. It was a human error. A lot of people liked the idea, but there wasn’t enough data and characterization to show the judges. The idea was too complex, the execution was poor. The project never really came together, it had no final polish. This year the goal is to ADVANCE. o How should we manage time/human resources to complete a winning project? Towards the end of the project, everyone needs to continually be checking and double checking that everything is correct and has been submitted. We really don’t want to let our wiki go until the last minute. Ideally it should be created over a long amount of time. We also really want to focus on our presentation. We should memorize it, but then make it seem effortless. Things that stand out: great idea, great execution, and obvious team chemistry.