Team:Virginia/Awards
Index:
Awards
Bronze Medal Requirements
Deliverables
1. Wiki - You're on it! The Wiki will be updated with results from the competition after the Wiki Thaw on November 25th. Thanks for visiting!2. Poster - Our poster can be found on the Poster Page
3. Presentation Video - This video is still forthcoming
4. Project Promotion Video - Find this video on the Main Page
5. Judging Form - The form is completed and available for Judges to view as of October 28th.
Attributions
The Attributions Page gives credit for all contributions to Manifold. Thank you to everyone who made this project possible!Project Description
To learn more about our project, please visit the Project Description Page.Contribution
We are proud to present iGEM's Resource Hub on our Contributions Page. This Hub will soon be available on the iGEM site to share the resources we found with as many future teams as possible.Silver Medal Requirements
Engineering Success
Check out our Engineering Page to see how we followed the engineering design cycle to develop the best version of Manifold by taking into account input from our models, realizing we need to recycle malonyl-coA, designing and re-designing our scaffolds, and planning new ways to test the efficacy of our device.Collaboration
The Collaborations Page talks about our close work with the Univeristy of Chicago iGEM Team as well as a far-reaching, informative project we call the Resource Hub.Human Practices
Read about the many brilliant experts who gave input on our project, as well as the deliverables those interactions inspired, on the Human Practices Page.Proposed Implementation
How will Manifold even work in the real world? What applications of the device are possible in the future? What will the positive impact of Manifold have on the field of synbio and the world of pharmaceuticals? All of your questions are answered on the Implementation Page.Gold Medal Requirements
Integrated Human Practices
From pondering ethics to building models to continually improving design, Human Practices was deeply incorporated into every aspect of Manifold. Take a look at our Human Practices Page for a more in-depth description of all the ways IHP impacted our project.Project Modeling
We developed a complex network based on 7 main models and a mountain of literature behind them, all of which is detailed on our Modeling Page.Excellence in Another Area: Entrepreneurship
Starting with the creation of a stand-alone Entrepreneurship committee, we dove into market research, consultations with experts, and planning the future of Manifold. All available on the Entrepreneurship Page.Special Awards
Best Integrated Human Practices
IHP efforts this year have resulted in three diverse deliverables. We collaborated with other teams to create a Resource Hub, currently available here, which will soon be available on the iGEM Foundation site, and will share websites, software, databases, and other ways to assist teams working online. We also reached out to dozens of researchers, bioethicists, and industry leaders to discuss what place social movements have in science, had internal group discussions about how societal influence may cause bias and how to be aware of that bias, and our conclusions as a team were compiled into our Code of Ethical Conduct. We put special consideration into making this document adaptable for other teams and inclusive to the ethical beliefs of different societies, pursuing iGEM’s overall goal of international collaboration. Lastly, speaking with experts helped refine the design of our device, which is now patent-pending as a foundational advance in metabolic engineering.
Best Model
Without summer access to lab space, a large emphasis of the project was put on experimental planning and computational/mathematical modeling. We built out an extensive modeling pipeline to best inform DNA scaffold design and metabolic flux through the BMC. We developed a promoter model based on our cell kinetics models and evidence from literature to optimize our 14 parts to be used in experimental design. We also successfully investigated the spatial constraints presented by substrate molecules on BMC pore diffusion. Literature-based insight that malonyl-CoA was a limiting factor in the resveratrol metabolic pathway led us to model the diffusion of various substrates through the pore both spatially through PyMol, and metabolically using a custom-built pore-diffusion Matlab model. These models were pivotal in redefining our BMC substrate, and introducing a second scaffold to our inner BMC architecture.
Best Supporting Entrepreneurship
Starting with extensive industry and market research, we were able to calculate the theoretical improvement our device would provide to resveratrol manufacturers. We also reached out to patent lawyers to discuss the importance of preventing prior art disclosure, and attended Cville BioHub meetings to look at future steps for our team. It was clear we needed a provisional patent, so in August, we successfully filed one. We were then able to review our device plans with experts from around the world who work with the same technology. We also talked to the CEO of one of the largest resveratrol distributors in North America, who confirmed the need for a cheaper, sustainable alternative. Finally, we talked to George McArthur, founder of Virginia iGEM and biotech expert, who pointed us to a company that helps startups test their devices in large-scale bioreactors and monitor the results in real time.
