Team:UPCH Peru/Criteria
Criteria
Bronze medal
#Bronze 1-Deliverables
We accomplished all the deliverables for the iGEM competition this year, you could see them here!
#1 WIKI: You are already here :)
#2 Poster: Visit our poster here !
#3 Promotion video: Watch it now!
#4 Project Promotion Video: Watch it now!
#5 Judging Form. Click here to know more!
#Bronze 2-Attributions
Visit Attributions for more information!
#Bronze 3-Project Description
Visit Description for more information!
#Bronze 4-Contribution
Visit Contribution for more information!
Silver medal
#Silver 1-Engineering success
For our project, we addressed many problems related to our genetic design and the growth of our bacteria. In regard to our design, we researched and selected AFP of plant and insect origin as our antifreeze agent. Moreover, because of the views we received in our human practices activities, we had to adapt AFP production in a cold and low tech environment. In order to do that we made 7 new parts and put them in the Registry for AFP recombinant production in Pseudoalteromonas nigirfaciens.
In relation to our bacteria, selected for its efficient metabolism at low temperatures we selected Pseudoalteromonas nigrifaciens view. But this decision came with a challenge connected to the media in which our bacteria could be grown for our future experiments with AFP production. We decided not to opt for a commercially available media because we imagined a system that is viable in a low-tech environment for in-house production as our goal. To address this challenge, we researched and elaborated our own media.
Silver #2 Collaboration
During the iGEM season we have had interactions with many teams from around the world. Among these interactions, there were some that we valued as collaborations because of the shared work involved. One of them involved sustainable development goals with groups that shared our goal to address agricultural problems. Another one consisted of meetings hosted by us where a fellow iGEM team could talk with a Peruvian researcher that worked on the same disease as them.
Silver #3 Human practices
When we designed our project, we had in mind that the problem we wanted to address had a socio-environmental dimension, and it was urgent to approach the stakeholders to understand the complexity of this issue. The climatic conditions of the Andes presented challenges to a vulnerable and neglected group in the Peruvian society: small-scale farmers.
Because of this, we made contact with two agricultural communities of the Andean region of Peru to explain how biotechnology could be a valuable tool to approach their problems. We made this through interviews and surveys, so we could gather data that was useful for future proposed implementation.
Furthermore, we presented our project to representatives of public organisms that deal with agricultural innovation and climate research, to understand the outlook of biotechnology as a tool to address the issue of frosts.
Silver #4 Proposed implementation
We had a defined user for the product of our project: small-scale farmers, and we decided that the way we wanted our product to be used is by spraying the AFPs in a solution to the leaves. We bear in mind the legal and social limits of introducing GMO into the environment in our country, so we always envisioned to release only the protein product. With our proposed implementations comes many challenges regarding the stability of the protein during a whole season of frost, and about how our product could reach efficiently the interior tissues of the leaves.
Gold medal
Gold #5 Partnership
Throughout the iGEM season we have made many meaningful collaborations with our fellow Peruvian high school friend from FDR iGEM. Our interactions for Science Communication efforts were substantial for producing quality content.
Gold #6 Science Communication
We have made great accomplishments related to Science Communication of SynBio, in particular to students in secondary education. The virtualization of school activities in our country gave us the opportunity to design material according to the national curriculum in basic education for a Peruvian government platform called “Aprendo en Casa”. Furthermore, we have hosted a synchronous activity for students from high schools of many regions with feedback afterwards with teachers from their schools.
Our country has Science & Technology as a minor subject in the public discussion, and we made these activities with the goal that more presence of science initiatives in educational environments could make people aware of the importance of scientific innovation to address national problems.
