Team:Dundee/Team/Attributions

Dundee iGEM Team would like to thank everyone for their contributions small and large.
A number of groups and individuals aided us over the course of our project and we would like to express our thanks.

First and foremost, we are indebted to our advisors and supervisors for their roles in the project. Prof. Tracy Palmer, Prof. Frank Sargent and Dr Fordyce Davidson tirelessly supervised and guided the team, helping us to realise our goals. These supervisors organised the team, attained funding partnerships and gave the team an environment in which ideas were allowed to grow and flourish. The support and encouragement offered by these individuals was a catalyst for progress and we cannot thank them enough for this.

Our advisors (Richard Owen, Lucia Licandro, Ciaran Kelly and Grant Buchanan) were our primary source of advice in terms of our project timetable, sources of errors and for iGEM in general. Having taken part in iGEM in 2011, Richard and Lucia were able to relate to the team and provide critical feedback on the best uses of our time and what we should focus on. Ciaran Kelly, an advisor for the Dundee iGEM team in 2011, was able to provide much needed feedback from a more external perspective. Grant Buchanan aided the wet team in many respects from offering the use of reagents and providing guidance on their work to sharing anecdotes and wisdom.

Furthermore, we would like to thank the Division of Molecular Microbiology (MMB) at the University of Dundee. This division hosted this year’s iGEM team, providing lab and working space for the duration of the project along-side the use of research grade equipment for the project. The welcoming and approachable nature of the researchers within the division meant that the team felt at ease from day one. The considerable experience and knowledge of these researchers was an invaluable resource which the team came to depend upon and greatly appreciate. Not to mention the patience and understanding with which members of the department dealt with mistakes and errors on the part of the team.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to ALL of the members of the MMB for their support over the summer.

Special thanks to:

• Jacqueline Heilbronn
  The magical MMB lab manager with an extraordinary ability of being able to help with any problem you ever have. We cannot thank Jackie enough for her help.
• Professor Tricia Cohen
  Department of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT), UoD – For the supply of the PP1 antibody
• Prof. Carol MacKintosh, Tricia Cohen and James Hastie
  Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT), UoD - For the provision of the PP1-GST clone
• Liang Wang and Laoshen Li –Division of Mathematics PhD students, UoD
  Aided in the dry teams understanding of possible modelling techniques that could be used.
• Nick Dawes –Division of Mathematics, UoD
  Helped the dry team with installation of software that was required.
• Darryl Johnson
  Volunteered to come in and help us to record our visit by Rector Brian Cox.
• Cian McNabola –Duncan of Jordan College of Art and Design (DJCAD), UoD
  Volunteered to carry out some graphic design work in order to visualise possible mascot ideas.
• Avril Smart
  Graduate in Microbiology and iGEM 2012 alumnus
  Volunteered to draw a comic book story to help describe our project in a fun and interesting way.
• George Potts and team – Dundee City Council Senior Park Ranger
  For the time he spent with the team describing the issues that have arisen due to algal bloom outbreaks in the local water reservoirs. Furthermore, George directed us to sources of more information and attended our discussion on algal blooms, Clatto and synthetic biology.
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
  Exchanged information with us regarding the procedures used to deal with algal blooms and invited us to visit their testing facilities. We would like to specifically thank Jan Krokowski and Pauline Lang. Jan was our main contact at SEPA and aided us in organising our visit to their testing facilities. Pauline kindly volunteered to take photographs of the cyanobacteria from Clatto Country Park for use on our project.
• Joe Fitzpatrick
  Member of the Scottish Parliament for Dundee City West – Discussed current regulation with the team with regards to algal bloom outbreaks.
• Andrew Llanwarne
  Representative of Friends of the Earth (FOE) – Volunteered to come and express his opinions on synthetic biology and the handling of algal blooms in a discussion
• College of Life Sciences (CLS) Workshop
  Allowed the iGEM group to use equipment such as soldering irons for the building of the Moptopus device.
• Dr Laura Hobley and PhD student Lynne Cairns
  NSW lab in the MMB – Helped our team members with their work on B. subtilis
• College of Life Sciences Media Kitchen
  Supplied the team with media and chemicals that they required for the duration of the project.
• Mr Drews Photography
  Volunteered to take professional photos of our team members for use on the wiki (http://www.mrdrewphotography.co.uk/)
• Digital Janitors
  A group of students at Abertay University (Dundee) who volunteered to work on a game based on our project to involve the general public. The team consists of John Robb (Game Designer), Michael Cameron (Game Designer), Archie Yates (Game Designer), Amy Stevens (Computer Artist) and Lindsay Duthie (Computer Artist)
• Andrew Kelly
  High school student – Visited and took part in dry work during a placement within the Division of Mathematics at the University of Dundee
• Brian Cox
  Rector at the University of Dundee and renowned actor – Aided in publicising the team, its work while proving materials for the expression of the team’s ideas
• John Pratt
  Dundee City Council Parks Operations Manager – Attended our discussion representing the views of the Dundee City Council and then continued on to question the current guidelines laid out for the water bodies in Dundee.
• Dr Christine Edwards
  Senior Research Fellow, Cyanobacterial Toxins RGU – Attended the discussion and contributed to the talking points from a strong research background.
• Dr Chris Murray
  Lecturer in Comics Studies reviewed our ‘ToxiMop’ comic by Avril Smart.
• Dr Sarah Hussain
  For being a fabulous Publicity and Communications Officer
• Roddy Isles
  For helping us with taming the media
• Ann Marie Bottoms
  For helping us to arrange meetings with Brian Cox around his very busy time schedules
• Laurie Golden
  Volunteering to take pictures with Brian Cox
• Chris Mitchell
  Volunteering to take pictures with Brian Cox (www.mitchellphotos.co.uk )
• Liam Johnston
  Producer at man ALIVE studios - Volunteered his time and equipment to come into the University and professionally record the “Algal Blooms, Clatto and Synthetic Biology” discussion.

UoD: University of Dundee
Finally, we would like to thank the organisers of this year’s iGEM competition without whom we could not have had the incredible experience which has been our project.