Difference between revisions of "Team:UFSCar-Brasil/biobricks.html"
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<b>All the documents must be identified by iGEM Foundation. We also highlight the need for the signing by the ones responsible for importation.</b> | <b>All the documents must be identified by iGEM Foundation. We also highlight the need for the signing by the ones responsible for importation.</b> | ||
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| + | <p>On the links below, we present samples of the files that can come with the kit on the next years. The problems with biological material importation in our country are frequent, and there are law projects being created to make this process easier. In Political, we discuss more thoroughly how the Brazilian Congress intends to ease the importation of biological material, which spoils scientific researches all over the country.</p> | ||
Revision as of 17:44, 12 September 2015
The BioBricks Kit Problem
This year, our team faced problems due to the delay in the delivering of the BioBricks Kit. The arrival of the kit on the right time is essential for the wet lab activities to happen as planned, so the iGEM project can present the desired results. This kind of delay can be prejudicial for the iGEM teams' performance along with the bureaucratic difficulties already intrinsic to the importation of biological material, especially on Latin American countries. In 2014, the iGEM Tec-Monterrey team faced a similar hold-up that led to the creation of a law project to facilitate importation process.
In Brazil, the National Agency of Sanitary Vigilance (Anvisa – Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária) is the responsible for the regularization of products, equipments, food, drugs and cosmetics, among other national and international products. Created in 1999 (Law n° 9.782, January), Anvisa carries out sanitary supervision as well as the economical supervision of the Brazilian market. One of the functions performed by the agency is the sanitary inspection of products, seeking to know their origins, use and destiny of the imported goods. It's a highly bureaucratic process that demands a long time from the receivers, once it's necessary to fill forms, elaborate texts and even pay a sending tax (GRU – "Guia de Recolhimento da União"). In several cases, the bureaucracy coordinated by Anvisa keeps the products from arriving to its destination and sends the imported product back to its original country.
Our team's BioBricks kit, as well as other Brazilian teams' (USP-Brazil and UFMG-Brazil), were kept by Anvisa's sanitary inspection on May, what resulted in a three-week delay on the delivering time. We've highlighted that the shipping was tax-free, since we've been helped by the University's administrative sector. The team also sought information on the necessary papers for the liberation, as well as all the available information about the BioBricks. That being said, our team proposes to iGEM organization a way to facilitate the kit's inspection by providing some useful information and forms with the future kits. We've listed below the main information and forms to ease the bureaucratic procedures in Brazil:
- Uses and applications' declaration: specifying the origins, the importation’s motive, the contents and what the BioBricks will be used for. It's also necessary to inform the workplace where the products will be used, the University's name, laboratory and responsible chiefs/technicians.
- Responsibility term on the importation vinculum to scientific research: it's the most thorough file, which asks for information on scientific records and fabrication code, that wasn't available to the team.
- Non-Consent Term: lists the possible application and uses of the imported product.
- Payment confirmation of the BioBricks kit: this document is already given automatically along with the iGEM's joining payment.
All the documents must be identified by iGEM Foundation. We also highlight the need for the signing by the ones responsible for importation.On the links below, we present samples of the files that can come with the kit on the next years. The problems with biological material importation in our country are frequent, and there are law projects being created to make this process easier. In Political, we discuss more thoroughly how the Brazilian Congress intends to ease the importation of biological material, which spoils scientific researches all over the country.
Sponsors List
In January and February, the team's efforts were intended to raise the amount required to pay the Team registration. We prepared a list of 245 companies of various sizes and areas and made contact via email with these potential partners by sending a portfolio that explained our achievements in 2014 and our goals in 2015.
Among the contacts, we received few replies. Some companies have helped us with the supply of reactants and equipment. In some meetings, it became clear the impact that competition has in the world, as well as the grandeur of the iGEM projects. It was demonstrated by the interest of a company to get to know synthetic biology. Even so, the fact we did not have a prototype of the repellent difficult obtaining support.
The team tried to present the project to a large manufacturer of repellents, but there was no interest. Finally, a few weeks before the registration deadline of participants for the Giant Jamboree, Libbs pharmaceutical company offered us support, making it possible to send five of our students to Boston.
Donations
A significant portion of our resources came through online donations (known in Brazil as "Vakinha"). In addition, the team held a fundraising task force at UFSCar for months. Team members took turns in visiting various University departments asking for contributions to our piggy bank. This approach to people explained the competition, the importance of our participation and our project mobilized the community. Donations we got were essential to our registration for the competition, in addition to disclosing both iGEM and Synthetic Biology across the University.
We announced our support requests on our Facebook page. We received donations from different regions of Brazil, as well as from members of other iGEM teams. With the resources of online donations, we were able to buy primers and other inputs.
Our money box!
Selling chocolates
In Brazil, both brigadeiro as Easter eggs are traditional and extremely popular candies. Selling them mobilized the team and had some importance in fundraising.
We sold brigadeiros in the busiest places in the University: restaurant, snack bars, offices and library. We innovated the traditional candy with the creation of brigadeiro limonene, which had lemon flavor and referred to bug-shoo. The sale of brigadeiro was a success!
Do you want to sell brigadeiros for iGEM 2016? We’re sharing the traditional brigadeiro recipe below! Be creative and make candies referring to your iGEM projects.Besides the brigadeiros, we also sold Easter eggs in March and April. We announced the sale on Facebook and we had some orders. The team met to make chocolate eggs. We have not had much success in this attempt to get money, since most buyers were close friends and family.
And in August, we raffled a basket of chocolates. We sold about 180 numbers and raised a considerable sum.
Besides obtaining resources, the sale of chocolates has provided us with opportunities to talk to many people about our project and Synthetic Biology.
Institutional support
Our University has supported us with sufficient resources to pay for registration (2 team members) and an airline ticket (1 team member).
Our amazing sponsors!
Our amazing sponsors!
