From 2012.igem.org

First steps

• Team assembly
  We began assembling our team in January and are holding weekly meetings since then. Most of the people didn't know about iGEM so we presented it in various scientific lectures and told all our friends about it. At the initial meeting we presented the iGEM competition and a few previous iGEM projects. In our following weekly meetings we learned more about iGEM (time schedule, formalities, registration, team composition, finances) and compiled lists of project ideas.

• Finding support and advisors
  We presented our team to the head of department Prof. Nordheim (Department of Molecular Biology) where we readily found support and enthusiasm. Then we went on to talk to specific specialist faculty members with whom we held multiple conferences dedicated to project idea discussion and elaboration.

• Looking for a place to work
  After compiling our team, we still had to find an appropriate place to work on our project. To do so, we needed relevant lab equipment like pipettes, PCR, centrifuges, deep freezers etc. Prof. Dr. Ralf-Peter Jansen, head of his research group that engages for example in research of mRNA and RNA-binding proteins in yeast, offered us a well-appointed laboratory at [http://www.ifib.uni-tuebingen.de/institut.html Interfakultäres Institut für Biochemie] with all the machines and chemicals we required.

• Development of the lab script
  For the majority of us, iGEM means the most extensive project in research ever tackled. So we had to prepare a labor script that comprises all necessary steps described as detailed as possible. Furthermore we had to stay within the time schedule in order that we do not spend too much time on certain steps.