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Although the Purdue iGEM Team is the face behind the standardized datasheet creation, this endeavor could not have been completed without the help of the 79 other iGEM teams with which we collaborated. This large-scale collaboration is unprecedented in the history of the iGEM competition. With a global collaboration of teams in 19 countries, we combined the knowledge and perspectives of numerous synthetic biologists with broad ranges of experience to create the most universal and appropriate datasheet.
There were many phases incorporated into this collaboration process, and teams participated in the collaboration to different extents. We initiated the collaboration process by gathering contact information for as many iGEM teams as possible. With that information, an initial survey was sent to individuals on each team to assess levels of interest and outline our general plan. This survey asked teams to address problems with the current Registry system and to establish which teams were interested in officially collaborating with the Purdue team.
A second survey was then sent out to those teams interested in collaborating, asking each team which assays they are capable of performing to characterize genetic parts, and the teams’ analysis of the importance of each assay. The survey also gathered assurance from each team that a datasheet is an effective way to standardize characterization data in the registry.
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Each phase in our collaboration process brought us one step closer to achieving the versatile datasheet that we aimed to create. With the broad ranges of experience and the knowledge ourselves and our collaborators, the overall goal was to create a datasheet that is simple to use and adaptable to all different types of genetic parts. After collaborating with 79 iGEM Teams, the Purdue team feels they have successfully created a standardized datasheet system, and thus constructed an achievable method to standardize the presentation of genetic part information in the Registry.