Team:UFSCar-Brasil/fundraising.html
Policy & Practices
How UFSCar-Brasil managed to raise funds
Fundraising
We introduce to you i&GEM bacterias!! The official mascots of the team who helped collect donations and give visibility to our team throughout the SBPC event.
The scientific event: the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (Sociedade Brasileira para o avanço da ciência – SBPC), the largest in Latin America, took place between July 12th-18th of 2015, in the Federal University of São Carlos’ campus with the main theme "Light, Science and Action", a reference to the international year of light, and inclueded more than 10 thousand people daily roaming around the event’s activities.
It was in this context that we gave life to our mascots, which walked through the event’s facilities provoking curiousity not only the children, but also in the adults who struggled to figure out the meaning of the costumes. By the way, many of them figured it out! However, others guessed things like carrots and cacti...
Build your own bacteria costume!
Materials
● 1 Semi-sphere Styrofoam (25 cm diameter);
● 10 EVA foam sheet (You chose the color!);
● 1 large tube of glue type "superbonder” (Superglue);
● Styrofoam glue;
● EVA glue;
● Hank of wool (flashy colors);
● 2 meters of Velcro;
● Scissors;
● Utility knife;
● Iron;
● Sheets of paper.
Two sheets of EVA are used to make the "head" of the bacteria. They should be ironed (With a sheet of paper between the EVA sheet and the iron, to prevent it from melting) to become more malleable when shaping to the curvature of the ball. Before placing the sheets of EVA over the ball, apply the glue Styrofoam / EVA. Let it dry for a few hours. After that, glue more two EVA foam sheet on the edge of the sphere and give it time to stick. The body of the bacteria is made with 5 EVA foam sheets glued with instant glue. In the opening of the costume, where the person gets into,, glue the Velcro. Glue the velcro to the shoulder strap and attach it. It’s important to glue the straps of EVA where you glued the Velcro, to prevent tearing. The woolen yarn must be placed on the costume with a big needle, and the gaps for the eyes cut with scissors.
How UFSCar-Brasil managed to raise funds
Participate in iGEM demand structure, organization and support. From the assembly of the teams to the registration and participation in the Giant Jamboree, obtaining financial resources is one of the factors that enables the success of a project. Our team made great efforts over the year in the search for sponsors and donors for our project. Below we show different forms of fundraising.
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.
The objective being to increase the perceptions of the application of synthetic biology, we prepared the lecture "Resuscitation of ancestral genes - Applications of syntethic biology", where we explained molecular evolution, techniques involved in ancestral genes discovery, motivation behind that kind of research and how synthetic organism manipulation machinery is used like a tool for new research and discoveries in that area.
Furthermore, the development and application of synthetic biology biosecurity aspects were also addressed in a lecture "Biosecurity and Syntethic Biology: risks and challenges", and the modelling tool was emphasized in the lectures ", “Less is more – Coco Chanel” and “Mathematics – A biological tool”.
In addition to characteristics of synthetic DNA manipulation techniques, we also sought to explain our own project, which was in development, in the lecture “2015 project” and “BUG-SHOO: From lab to society – Results and Perspectives”. In the lecture “iGEM: The competition”, we Included an overview about its history, participating countries in the competition, the Brazilian participation, the objectives and covered areas, tips to start a new project, teams related to iGEM and also all the requests to reach every medal.
To highlight the human practices aspect and the significance of social and educational application required by the competition, we presented the lecture "Improving the education and human practices with Syntethic Biology", which exposed how synthetic biology, the iGEM competition and science itself are linked to societal problems.
SBPC Jovem
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Our amazing sponsors!
Our amazing sponsors!
