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Team:Braunschweig
From 2013.igem.org
Achievements
Our project
In nature microorganisms commonly live in symbiosis, be it in form of a protective biofilm or as composite organism[s] such as lichen (a symbiosis of algae/cyanobacteria and fungi). Members of this symbiotic community secrete chemicals that offer protection and nutrition or neutralize toxins.
The goal of the iGEM Team Braunschweig is to create a synergetic system similar to a natural symbiosis. During the course of our project we want to clone three individual mutant strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli which can only survive as a community – if one dies, they all die.
To achieve this, each strain bears a plasmid that confers antibiotic resistance upon activation of a two-component transcription activator.
The key feature of our system: only one component can be synthesized by each strain alone. The other half of a transcription activator is produced by another strain and secreted into the medium.
You can find a more detailed project description here!
News
iGEM Braunschweig visits secondary school in Groß Ilsede (August 21st, 2013)
The iGEM Team Braunschweig introduced hands-on synthetic biology to the senior class of the secondary school in Groß Ilsede and gave a somewhat different period.
Synthetic biology is an essential part of our everyday lives, whether in shopping bags, exercise books or laundry detergent. In order to give students insights into this fascinating world, the iGEM Team Braunschweig gave a lesson at the secondary school in Groß Ilsede. The team did not only present the project they are working on but also discussed the benefit of vectors.
In order to get a deeper understanding of the essential parts and the design of a basic vector the students crafted vector models and had a lot of fun in the process. Finally Jan-Michael Blum, member of the iGEM Team Braunschweig, presented a bioreactor from the team’s laboratory. The students gained insights in the wide field of biotechnology and synthetic biology. Kevin Kramm from the iGEM Team Braunschweig is pleased: “We all had a lot of fun. The students’ interest showed that we won’t have to fear a lack of young scientists in the future.”
iGEM Braunschweig featured in IHK newsletter (August 5th, 2013)
Our shirts arrived today! (July 27th, 2013)
Looking great!
iGEM Braunschweig at the Strategy Congress Biotechnology 2020+ (June 27th, 2013)
On June27th the Federal Ministry of Education and Research invited all German iGEM teams to join the Strategy Congress Biotechnology 2020+ in Berlin. Like other teams, the iGEM team Braunschweig sent a delegation to the capital to present their project and to get in contact with the other German iGEM teams. Besides project presentations to fellow iGEMers and interested participants of the workshop, experiences and know-how in terms of lab work, common challenges with certain biobricks and strategies to approach a scientific task were shared. As some of the students were experienced iGEMers, who had already participated in former iGEM competitions, this exchange was very valuable for the first year contestants like the team from Braunschweig. Furthermore, the positions of the GEM Teams at their universities were discussed and revealed eye-opening differences.
After an interesting day on the congress, the German iGEMers assembled to explore Berlin’s nightlife together in order to extend the day’s inspiring atmosphere. The next morning all teams returned to their home bases with new insights and impressions, excited to see each other again in Lyon on October 11th.
iGEM Braunschweig attends Team Göttingen's panel discussion (June 12th, 2013)
Patients in hospitals fear them and the scientific community is desperately searching for a solution to control them: Of course, that would be multi-resistant pathogens. The question is which substance might be a suitable antibiotic to fight those dangerous bacteria in the future. The iGEM Team Göttingen is addressing this problem in its project and therefore hosted a panel discussion on this topic, which was attended by 10 members of the iGEM Team Braunschweig. Besides discussing the search for new antibiotics, experts and students also addressed the topics synthetic biology and genetic engineering of organisms in general.
Afterwards the two iGEM-Teams seized the opportunity to socialize and share their thoughts on the iGEM-competition. Project ideas and their implementation were discussed over delicious food and beer at the near-by restaurant “Kartoffelhaus”. Both teams agreed to stay in touch and track each other’s progress according to the iGEM-slogan: Primarily it’s not about the competition but about innovation in the field of synthetic biology and the special vibe of being a part of an upcoming scientific community.
iGEM Braunschweigs gets nerdy (June 7th, 2013)
Passionate speeches, odd people, geekytopics and lots of fun: that’s the Nerd Nite!
On June 7th, 2013 the fifth Nerd Nite was on in Braunschweig and the iGEM Team Braunschweig took part.
Jan talked about our „bacterial roommates“, explained what iGEM is about and how we got around to participate in the competition. Our three bacteria Hektor, Uwe and Rosa quickly broke the ice and caused a lot of laughter. A vivid discussion in the end showed that Jan’s presentation measured up to our expectations. All in all it was a successful evening and a perfect test for the presentation of our project in front of a non-scientific audience.
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