Team:Danzi Kesh 8/Collaborations
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collaborations
Helping others by collaborating
A very big part of iGEM is collaborating with and helping other teams. The amount of great iGEM projects through time shows how important it is to work together and use previous projects and ideas to make new projects. This is exactly why it is a gold medal requirement to help another iGEM team, and why we have talked to a lot to other iGEM teams about our own and their ideas. On this side of things we have chosen to help two other iGEM teams with their projects.
Since we are high school students we looked for the ability to help other teams, however, this ability was limited when facing university teams. We decided to share our knowledge we have accumulated with the teams about how to link the scientific idea with social needs.
Paris Team Name: Paris Bettencourt
The Skype conversation we had with the Team from Paris was very special. Both teams do not speak English as their mother tongue and this made the conversation extra special. Team members spoke about the way they got organized for working in the laboratory and described how they overcame challenges in the lab, between team members and so on. Team Paris generously offered their assistance concerning the modeling of the kit and even explained to us the general guidelines of building a mathematical model system.
In addition, Team Paris gave us a few tips on how to raise funds. Surprisingly , during the conversation we realized that we have a lot in common, both Teams are working in the food field and thus it is possible to turn to charity organizations dealing in agriculture to request funding the team. Our team explained how it is possible to implement the science field as a pure social goal that comes forward to help a specific population group.
Sydney Team Name: Sydney Australia
The Skype conversation with Team Sydney was done late at night due to time differences. Their team representative who contacted us through Skype was extremely nice and patient meeting 23 students. After introductions and sharing information about the projects, we explained the essence of our social activities. We asked the representative about the attitude towards celiac patients in the educational system in Australia in order to enrich our theoretical background. The conversation focused on the ability to connect between science and social needs, and the importance of this process. We also asked her opinion as a student concerning high school students participating in a world wide science competition, and whether it is worthwhile or not.
It was amazing to speak to a scientist on the other side of the world and to know that she herself appreciates and welcomes young students attempting to make a breakthrough with a science and social idea as one.
At the end of the Skype conversation with Paris and Sydney we succeeded in understanding more how prestigious the competition is, also for those who are already on their academic road, and how this challenge with all its difficulties progresses you as a human being and develops your ability to cope and overcome things individually and as a team.
Technion HS Team
The Technion is the first high school team we have managed to collaborate with. The meetup and hospitality at the Technion was very comfortable for us because the participants are almost the same age as us.
The meeting helped us understand how to prepare for a winning presentation. Both teams helped each other by giving feedback on how each team should present itself in the activity in the framework of the competition. We gave and received remarks on how to stand in front of an audience, the correct use of technical aids, and to summarize a deep and prolonged process.
At the end of this part of the day we worked together on how a good poster should look compared to one that is not as good. Both teams collaborated and gave feedback on the posters exhibited at the Technion.
After that, Technion students gave us the basics for writing a mathematical model and we offered assistance on the construction of the wiki site, and gave the student who regard after the Wiki some advises.
Mini IGEM Technion
This year four teams will be competing at the iGEM: One team representing Ben Gurion University, 2 teams representing
the Technion and us from Danciger Darca High School, Kiryat Shmona. All competitors met at the mini-iGEM at the Faculty of Biotechnology of food at the Technion. This was the reason for a meet-up with the teams from Israel. The conference was very important especially for calming emotions and excitement. The corridor chats enabled us to receive advice in many areas we were not sure about. All the senior students were very nice, tolerant and patient.
It was a very emotional day because all the teams presented their research, professional questions were asked and tips were given about the presentations and content.
For us it was a very significant day.
