Team:EPFL/Collaborations
Espress'EAU - Collaborations
iGEM Tec-Monterrey
Due to the economic situation imposed by the pandemic, the 2021 iGEM team of the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico had troubles finding financial support for their project. They were planning to use a cell-free system for which they were looking for two components. The EPFL iGEM team of 2019 worked with the same system and therefore they reached out to us. The plasmids they were looking for were still in stock in our lab. We shipped them to Mexico and hope that we could support a fellow iGEM team with this inexpensive solution.
Hosting of Swiss iGEM Meet-up
Together with the UNILausanne and UZurich teams, a meetup of the three swiss teams competing for iGEM 2020 was organized during summer. Due to the sanitary restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we had to wait until September to be able to get together, and we also had to adapt the format of this event. A few members from each of these teams organized a two-days meet-up in Lausanne that would allow us to present our projects and get to know each other.
The whole organization took into account the restrictions due to COVID. We wore masks the whole time in order to ensure everyone’s safety during these two days, but the safety measurements did not prevent us from having a good and enriching time with the other Swiss teams.
10th of September
The first day was all about getting to know each other and meeting new people. The UZurich team arrived and we all had lunch in a park, then we split in small groups with people from each school and had a tour of Lausanne. We got to show them a lot of nice places like the botanical garden, the shore of the Geneva Lake or the cathedral in the old town. Then, we all got together for a barbecue on the lake and had a lovely evening.
11th of September - Presentations
The next day, we met in a conference room in Lausanne that the UNILausanne team had booked for all of us. We presented our projects and the results we obtained so far, then had the chance to ask questions and give constructive feedback. It was the first time that our team had the chance to present our project in front of a small audience, which allowed us to understand how to explain better what was done and what needed to be clarified.
During the presentations, four former members from the EPFL iGEM teams 2018 and 2019 were present to support us. They gave a lot of feedback to each of the teams about the presentations. As they had already experienced a Giant Jamboree, their advice, both on the slides and the presentation or on the projects themselves, was very useful.
11th of September - Discussions
Then, we mixed the teams and had some discussions about iGEM in general and our future plans concerning the competition. As the deadline for the promotion video was approaching, we all shared our plans, and got inspired on how to make the best video possible. It was very interesting to debate our ideas as we had all planned for very different kinds of videos, some animated, some with live recordings.
Safety and ethics were also discussed, as the UNILausanne team was very focused on this aspect of their project. As we also thought that safety was a key part of our project, especially on the proposed implementation, we had the chance to exchange ideas on this subject and learn how other teams are managing this aspect.
Some of us also discussed the idea of freeze-drying yeast with the UZurich as they were also working on yeast and had the same idea.
It was also very motivating to finally get to share our project with someone in person, as due to the pandemic we did not have the chance to meet any iGEMers from this year's competition before.
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