Team:York UK/Team.html

From 2013.igem.org

Revision as of 18:53, 25 September 2013 by Gintarebucaite (Talk | contribs)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

iGEM York

iGEM York Team

Future in Your Eyes, future in York UNI team

The Team

The iGEM Team formed at the University of York started in January 2013. An introductory lecture to the concept of the competition was given by enthusiastic students and later team members – Andra Necula and Alexandro Rizzo. Over 60 students showed up for the first iGEM presentation, after the competition had been advertised widely. From these, about 40 came to the initial brainstorming meeting. Soon after, a couple of workshops were organised. During those workshops there was a further briefing on the details surrounding iGEM. However, the two main points of those were the brainstorming of project ideas and the subscription of new ‘recruits’ for the emerging York team. After choosing two ideas from a list of over 100, about 20 enthusiastic students decided to carry on with the project. During one of those early sessions the idea of a Microbial Fuel Cell was mentioned by final year students Evaldas Klumbys and Kobchai Duangrattanalert. Being a complex idea, it initially did not receive as much attention as other more “exciting” ideas like ‘Organic Lemon Grenades’ for example. One other idea– Bacterial Mouthwash– was taken up seriously by several future iGEMers and the forming team was split into two subunits for the first time and a competition of sorts was organised between the ideas. Eventually, the broad application of MFCs and the rather invasive character of Bacterial Mouthwash tilted the scales towards the former. University of York lecturers Dr. James Chong, Dr. Gavin Thomas and Prof. Maggie Smith were established as team supervisors. Our team benefited a lot from the help of other academics as well, namely Dr. James Edwards. It was now April - the long and grueling process of dry lab work and project design had begun! Team members had to read dozens of papers to get up to the level needed for such a complicated concept. We had regular briefing workshops where we would let our supervisors know how much progress we had made. Sponsorship requests were also sent during this time and an article in NOUSE, the University newspaper and website, was released with the aim of intriguing the potential iGEMers of next year. Twelve of us carried on to form the first iGEM team ever at the University of York. We are a good mix of biologists and biochemists, spanning from 1st to 4th year of studies, coming from Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The plan was for lab work to begin in July.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi in sem sodales, viverra nunc id, interdum tortor. Sed urna augue, dictum eget justo ut, dictum elementum massa. Nunc eu metus nunc. Aenean tempor sit amet quam accumsan vulputate. Curabitur nec tempus quam, quis fermentum leo. In laoreet venenatis arcu, sit amet elementum leo dignissim ut. Aenean id elementum nulla. Ut velit neque, lobortis id mollis quis, luctus sed tortor. Nam aliquam vitae orci et pharetra. Nunc ut metus in orci venenatis fermentum. Suspendisse placerat est purus, sagittis vehicula elit fermentum vitae. Aenean eleifend, odio sit amet semper dictum, dolor tortor feugiat nisl, ac ornare enim nisi sit amet purus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque sed turpis pretium, feugiat eros sit amet, consequat ligula.

The University of York

York is a city with a rich heritage; having been founded over two millennia ago, it was in turn a Roman, Viking and Norman city. The buildings in the city centre still preserve the beautiful Victorian style, particularly on Shambles, which has been chosen the most beautiful street in the world. York also holds the record for the most haunted place on Earth! The National Railway Museum contains a wide collection of trains, including the locomotive of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express. The University of York is a leading university in the United Kingdom, having been placed 2nd for Biosciences in the Guardian University Guide 2014 and constantly being ranked in the top 5 universities for Biological Sciences in British league tables. The Biology Department, which hosted our iGEM team, is proud to bring together some of the most prominent microbiologists in the country. The Staff here have a reputation of being very approachable and friendly. The undergraduate courses have a strong teaching component, which allows students to gain hands-on experience early on and become confident in the lab by the end of their degree. This year, the university is celebrating its 50th anniversary, a great moment for participating in iGEM for the first time.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi in sem sodales, viverra nunc id, interdum tortor. Sed urna augue, dictum eget justo ut, dictum elementum massa. Nunc eu metus nunc. Aenean tempor sit amet quam accumsan vulputate. Curabitur nec tempus quam, quis fermentum leo. In laoreet venenatis arcu, sit amet elementum leo dignissim ut. Aenean id elementum nulla. Ut velit neque, lobortis id mollis quis, luctus sed tortor. Nam aliquam vitae orci et pharetra. Nunc ut metus in orci venenatis fermentum. Suspendisse placerat est purus, sagittis vehicula elit fermentum vitae. Aenean eleifend, odio sit amet semper dictum, dolor tortor feugiat nisl, ac ornare enim nisi sit amet purus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque sed turpis pretium, feugiat eros sit amet, consequat ligula.