Team:NCKU Tainan/Criteria
Bronze
Competition Deliverables
Attributions
Project Description
Contribution
(1)We have created a wiki page, and show it online.
(2)We have designed our Poster, and put it on wiki.
(3)We have upload our Presentation video on time.
(4)We have put our project promotion video on wiki.
(5)We have submitted the Judging form and safety forms before the deadline.
We have received lots of help from professors and other people during the development of our project. As such, we have an Attributions page for whom that has helped us along our iGEM journey.
Our project aims to develop a synthetic biology method to reduce eyes pressure caused by glaucoma. To learn more, do look at our project inspiration and description which are listed on the Description page.
To reduce eye pressure, we devised a method to release NO by using an existing iGEM part. For more info, please refer to our Parts page which we have completed before the deadline.
Silver
Engineering Success
Collaboration
Human Practices
Proposed Implementation
This year, we tackled and solved many problems in our growth switch design by following the official's engineering design cycle. For example, we changed the blue light-sensitive system into a heat activation system because the bacteria grew poorly in the previous system. And we also changed the FRT mechanism due to the wrong design checked by DNA sequencing. From the first version of the design to the final one, after met and overcame many difficulties, at last, we successfully built the growth switch as a new part. Also, we showed that it could work as expected, which is proven by gene deletion experiment. For more details, please look at Engineering success page.
Despite the pandemic, there's nothing that can stop iGEM teams worldwide from working together. Instead, it pushes the limit of what collaboration can be in an iGEM competition. We collaborated with many teams so that we were able to create and achieve numerous meaningful results like I’ve Gotta PhD and contact lens recycling. For more details, please look at Collaboration page.
This year, we engaged with potential users and stakeholders to understand their needs and incorporate them into our project. To make our project successful in the real world, we examined the impact and feasibility of developing, scaling, and commercializing our project. In addition, we also launched several outreach projects such as I’ve gotta PhD, synthetic biology in five levels video, in order to raise the awareness of both glaucoma and synthetic biology. For more details, please look at Human practice page.
In addition to conducting experiment, we participated in IHP, entrepreneurship, education, and inclusivity activity to implement our project. For more details, please look at Implementation page.
Gold
Integrated Human Practices
Improvement of an Existing Part
Project Modeling
Proof of Concept
Partnership
Science Communication
Excellence in Another Area
Eye kNOw is a pair of contact lenses tailored for glaucoma patients to slow down the progression of glaucoma. To ensure our product can benefit them, we not only visited experts in different fields but launched a survey to understand the general public's needs. Through these interactions, we explored other important aspects that might be ignored to enhance our product development. We first met with the ophthalmologist to ensure our product could meet the patient's needs and contacted the optical corporation to refine our contact lens fabrication techniques and further mass-production. We also improved our plan for marketing and promotion based on advice from a biotech company. Through the discussion with engineering professors, we further optimized Eye Screen and established a more comprehensive system targeted for glaucoma. Through integrated practice, we are able to develop our idea into a potential product. For more details, please look at Human practice page.
CsgD is a master regulator of biofilm production, and CsgA is a major subunit of the curli fimbriae. To obtain maximum biofilm production results and improve the biofilm binding affinity, we add csgA and pLac to the previous biobrick design. By doing so, the amount of biofilm produced could be increased, and the experiment results also supported our hypothesis. To check more details about our improve part, please look at Improvement page.
To simulate the whole working process of Eye kNOw, we developed three models. First, for the volumetric change of Eye kNOw caused by IOP elevation, we built a contact lens deformation model. Next, to explore how NO can reach the target site, we created a NO diffusion model. Finally, by combining the results of modeling, digital image correlation observation, and wet team experimental data, we established a model to calculate the effectiveness of Eye kNOw. For more details, please look at Model page.
In order to verify that our contact lenses are effective and can be used in the treatment of glaucoma in the future, we uses step-by-step experiments to proof our concept. All steps have proved that the mechanisms of contact lens can perform as we expected. For more details, please look at Proof of Concept page.
With iGEM CSMU Taiwan, we create an event - I’ve Gotta PhD, to establish a solid channel that can help other teams that collaborate with us to share their knowledge to the world. By this means, we have successfully achieved our goals to convey correct information from the public. For more details, please look at Partnership page.
Since glaucoma is known as a silent killer of vision, we aim to educate people of all ages. Therefore, we hold a series of educational events using various approaches to reach out and engage with many different community members to understand more about synthetic biology and glaucoma. For more details, please look at Education page.
We knew that in society, there are many barriers to access synthetic biology. Hence, to solve this problem, we made an inclusive outreach to society regardless of age and knowledge. From the conventional education method to the children, adolescents, and elderly, to explaining synthetic biology in 5 levels of understanding. Because we believe everyone could understand synthetic biology. For more details, please look at Inclusivity page.
