Team:BostonU/Collaborations/NEGEM

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Wellesley

NEGEM

Collaborations

An important aspect of synthetic biology is the collaboration and exchange of ideas and techniques. An exchange of ideas between colleagues can lead to important advancements and progress in the field. Since this meetup is among iGEM teams, we not only looked to better the field but to also better the iGEM community. This summer we hosted two conferences at BU between teams in the New England area in order to promote collaboration and provide vital feedback on each other's’ projects and presentations.

NEGEM

Several teams attended our two NEGEM (New England iGEM Meetup) conferences, including Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, MIT, WPI, UMass-Dartmouth, and Northeastern. We were also able to host all of the teams’ advisors and representatives from iGEM HQ, who gave everyone a lot of important feedback.

At the first NEGEM meetup on June 19th, the 8 iGEM teams in attendance were encouraged to share their project ideas and give insight and suggestions for each project. Everyone had a 20 minute presentation outlining their goals and plans for the summer. It was exciting to hear about the different projects that teams came up with, and how much they wanted to accomplish over the summer! Our team got some great feedback from everyone through questions and comments brought up by our NEGEM peers, and this prompted us to think more deeply about the motivation and feasible use of our project idea.

After all teams presented, team members from different colleges grouped together in smaller groups to speak further about different iGEM aspects - getting more specific feedback about their projects, learning about how to tackle the wiki, and identifying potential collaborations with other teams. It was through this meetup that we were able to meet the Wellesley iGEM team and eventually test (link to wellesley) their prototype. Most importantly, this NEGEM meetup gave us (and other teams) a chance to bond with the other synthetic biologists taking part in iGEM this summer. We made a lot of new friends!

At the second NEGEM meetup on September 12th, 7 iGEM teams visited BU again to share a 20 minute presentation of their summer work. We tried to make this a formal process - setting a timer so that teams could practice for the jamboree, and even having the instructors and iGEM HQ rep pretend to be judges and ask difficult questions. It was amazing to see just how much each team had accomplished over just a couple of months. Each team got a lot of specific feedback from the audience to really make their presentations stronger for the jamboree, not only in terms of content but also presentation style.

After all teams presented, team members from different colleges again grouped together to get feedback on team wikis and finalized any lab collaboration efforts. We really appreciated getting great advice from our fellow iGEM teams, and hope that other teams benefitted from the experience as well.