Welcome to Exeter iGEM's 2015 diary!

Following this diary will give you an insight into the progress of our project.

June

funny caption

Week One   1/6 - 7/6

Our first week was extremely busy as we all began to get to know each other as a team. We began work in the lab focusing on the Interlab study, in order to learn important lab techniques and also gain some all important iGEM credit. Beginning to understand transformation techniques, PCR and ligation was interesting to say the least, especially for the non-biologists among us.

As the week progressed the intensity of our research sessions increased. Any ideas were welcome no matter how far fetched or bizarre they seemed at the time. Naturally as we researched further the ideas were narrowed down, mostly as we discovered some were unviable for a number of reasons. We kept a focus on the time constraints of the project, the budget of the project and also facilities we have access to at the University. By the end of the week we had a handful of ideas that we split between our interdisciplinary team to research over the weekend.

Week Two   8/6 - 14/6

We started week 2 with a huge focus on the presentation we had to give on the Wednesday. Furthermore we worked out a timetable to re-do the Interlab study following some technical difficulties. We began engaging in some really good brain storming sessions and also started to get to know each other personally. A chair was broken in a hilarious manner – still funny now.

The presentation was a success and all ideas were received well with the academics. After feedback we decided to take forward three of the ideas to give a second presentation in week three. This became the focus of the rest of the week. Going into the weekend we went on a team social that was very fun. Once again over the weekend the focus was to further research the three ideas.

Week Three   15/6 - 21/6

Presentation preparation with Joe's weird face.

Week three has been the most intense week for us as a team so far. On Monday and Tuesday the presentation began to take shape. Deciding to split the group into three groups worked extremely well as each team focused on one idea and how best to present that idea. Furthermore we mixed the teams up. As some people were almost ‘attached’ to a certain idea due to the fact they had worked on it uniquely so far, we made sure everyone was working on the idea they had focussed the least on.

This was our final week of talks from certain groups and academics. Greenpeace came to talk to us and give us some important factors to consider for each idea. Wednesday arrived and we spent the morning running through the presentation before actually presenting it to a range of academics in the afternoon. Feedback was mostly positive and we were told all three ideas had great potential. We decided the deadline for choosing an idea was 5pm Thursday. Thursday was intense. Debate, debate and more debate led us to a vote with the winning idea prevailing nine against two. It was so encouraging that we were unanimous in choosing to go for a well-deserved pint in the Devon sunshine. As I write this the day is Friday and week three is coming to a close. Today is being spent working out the GAME PLAN for how to start making some serious headway with the chosen idea. People’s strengths, preferences and interests have led to creation of various sub-teams.

PS. We had more difficulty with the Interlab study.

Week Four   22/6 - 28/6

How is it week 4 already? This week saw the beginning of some hard-core modelling involving Brownian motion of both toehold switches and RNA using MATLAB. Many hours were spent toiling over getting the simulation just right, it seemed every time we thought we fixed it, something elsewhere would go wrong. Thankfully, by the end of the week we had a basic ‘working’ 3D model of Brownian motion, although it only worked using a few of each of the molecules (laptops don’t have much computing power surprisingly - time to look into accessing the university supercomputers!)

In the lab last week we spent our time working out what was causing MORE issues with the Interlab study. Our focus in the lab will hopefully soon turn towards our project but we refuse to be beaten by a lack of glowing E.coli.

July

Week Five   29/6 - 5/7

This week’s main focus was constructing the sequence of the toehold switch, which was challenging, but good progress was made concerning the ribosome binding site, loop region, trigger, linker and GFP sequences. Our wiki is now beginning to take shape nicely with new team member profiles being constructed in addition to some photos of the lab team in action. The collaboration aspect of our project was addressed as we contributed to an iGEM newsletter about the aims and focus of our project. At the end of the week our focus shifted slightly to creating a project name and logo, which saw the establishment of Ribonostics (riboswitch+diagnostics). On Wednesday, we headed to the pub for teambuilding round 2, which ended in a casual paper aeroplane competition dominated by the physicists.

Week Six   6/7 - 12/7

We have a first draft of our toehold switch! NUPACK has been the main agenda this week. Double and triple checking every part of our sequence means the sequence is nearly ready. Overall this week has been highly successful. At the beginning of the week, three of the outreach team headed into the Devon countryside to visit the head of a Veterinary practice. Hearing some first hand experiences of dealing with Bovine TB was extremely useful and we were also told of how our test would be implemented in the field. Taking this on board we made some considerations about the best direction to take the project from now on. Not to mention we made a very useful contact. As our project is extremely relevant in our local area we believe the ‘Beyond the Bench’ aspect of our project has huge potential. From the responses we have received so far it seems we are correct. Everyone is very engaged in what we are doing. We may be branching as far as New Zealand…Hopefully we have some exciting collaboration with fellow teams to come soon!

On Tuesday we headed out for a cheeky Nandos to celebrate Georgina’s birthday, followed by a few pints at a lovely old pub. Wednesday we decided to have an impromptu barbecue due to the nice weather. BBQ skills were questionable but everyone made it in on Thursday morning unharmed. Next week we have some important milestones we hope to reach.

Week Seven   13/7 - 19/7

Sponsors, collaboration, researching indicators, updating our supervisors and some serious Beyond the Bench work sums up week 7. This week we have been busy contacting various companies and organisations in order to make them aware of our project and also determine if they would be willing to send us equipment. Armed with nothing but a list of email addresses and a mass of doughnuts we went email crazy. Overall we had a great response! Hopefully next week we will be the proud owners of SHIELDskin Orange Nitrile gloves to protect us in the lab WHILST looking pretty damn good. Fingers crossed we may be able to borrow a fancy microplate reader too. Wednesday we gave a presentation to our supervisor team in order to update them on the progress of all aspects of the project.

On Thursday we had a meeting with Paul James our supervisor to discuss the sequences of DNA we have designed for our toehold switch. Everything seemed to be in order meaning we will be able to go ahead and order our DNA early next week. I’m sure the lab team who focused on designing our toehold switches will be grateful to have a break from using NUPACK and UGENE for a while. However the work never stops. Researching a wide range of indicators to incorporate into our toehold switch has taken a priority. Comparing the benefits of using a fluorescent protein compared with chromoproteins in both the lab and 'field' environment means a number of toeholds, all varying in indicator sequence, are currently being designed.

The Beyond the Bench side of our project is something we as a team believe has great potential. Getting to understand the extremely complex nature the UK and specifically the South West faces in order to eradicate Bovine TB is challenging and rewarding. Collaborating with vets, farmers, politicians and academics will hopefully allow us to make a significant impact with this project.

Campus was alive this week with the sound of graduation! Seeing staff, students, parents and academics all dressed smartly created an atmosphere so infectious that we as a team decided to head into town on Tuesday and celebrate also. Honestly the masses of free champagne had nothing to do with it. We had a great night and bumped into iGEM alumni on the dancefloor, they seemed approving of how we have taken to the challenge they laid down last year!

Week Eight   20/7 - 26/7

In preparation for the arrival of our highly awaited DNA, this week was focussed on designing protocols ready for the super exciting experiments we will be doing! Our resident lab team had to be careful not to miss any important details whilst also explaining to the non-lab members what they will be getting up to in the magical Mezzanine Lab. Collaboration within the team has been high this week as the modelling team came up with some important experimental data they need in order to make the model more accurate. We are confident this is something we can achieve.

On Tuesday we met with Phil Leighton, a highly experienced vet, to discuss our idea with him. Phil was highly receptive to the work we are doing and also had a number of important points that we as a team need to consider in order to make our test viable ‘in the field’. As a consequence of the meeting, on Thursday two members of the team travelled to a Cornish farm, accompanying Phil on a test he had to undertake on a handful of cattle. After we had made a fuss of the two Border Collies present we saw how the testing occurs first hand and also got the chance to talk to a farm worker in order to try and understand some of the frustrations TB causes for farmers. Our project aims, in the long term, to assist with the eradication of Bovine TB and therefore alleviate the problems it causes. The farm worker told us how TB testing is an extremely stressful event for the cattle, so much so that on this farm they have had cases of cows losing calves. Furthermore the process of herding and bringing them in is a highly time consuming activity. Hearing this first hand was extremely important for the development of our Beyond the Bench work.

Week 8 has also been the week when we have come up with the idea of creating an app to be used in conjunction with our simple Ribonostic test - watch this space.

August

September

Week Nine   27/7 - 2/8

Revolution! Week 9 has been an extremely important week for us as an iGEM team. On Tuesday we said goodbye to our beloved Emilia who leaves us to go and work for Shell in Houston for the next year - not bad going to be honest! We all went out for a team meal and then on to the cinema to see Inside Out. We all want to wish her the best of luck on the adventure ahead of her. She was very excited when we gave her a cuddly E.coli teddy to take with her. However Emilia leaving gave us a wake up call. Although we have made excellent progress up to now, in the last week or so we have been slipping behind - not ideal now we are also a member down. Therefore on Tuesday we had a team meeting to introduce some new rules to make sure we are all working for each other, working for the good of the team and also are aware of the work everyone else is doing. Introducing a team brief at the beginning of each day, a summary at the end of each week and a new deadline system means we will back up to speed in no time. Due to the technical difficulties we had with the Interlab study we decided to order DNA constructs to approach the task in a different way. This week our constructs have been arriving meaning this lab work will begin early next week. After some difficulties with our Toehold DNA it had to be reordered, meaning this DNA is still highly awaited for!

We skyped Manchester-Graz this week and discovered the extremely exciting project they are working on. Hopefully we will be able to find areas of our projects that overlap and will therefore allow us to collaborate. Hearing how they are approaching the Beyond the Bench aspect of their project was particularly useful as both our projects involve dealing with disease.