Idea Transcript
Stanford iGEM: Informational Packet for Undergraduate & Graduate Students
1. Introduction iGEM Mission & Vision Stanford iGEM is a student organization that participates in the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition. The iGEM Jamboree is hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and serves as one of the largest intellectual gatherings on synthetic biology in the world, where over 1500 undergraduates from 30 different countries present their research. The challenge is to design and build a biological system, using a collection of standardized, interchangeable DNA parts called “Biobricks”, and operate it in living cells. Design possibilities are endless, and iGEM teams from all over the world are striving to use such systems to address some of our most urgent problems, including generation of low-cost, renewable energy and synthesis of novel pharmaceutical agents that target infectious diseases. iGEM began in January of 2003 with a month-long course during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP). The students designed biological systems to make cells blink. This design course grew into a summer competition with 5 teams in 2004, and witnessed continued growth to 112 teams in 2009. This year is Stanford iGEM’s first year of competition. The objective of our team’s research is to create a therapeutic probiotic capable of sensing and controlling abnormal autoimmune responses due to imbalances between Th17 and T-regulatory cells. Our particular focus is Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Our team is composed of 10 undergraduates (one is an international student from Tsinghua University in China), 8 graduate student mentors, and 5 faculty advisors. For students, iGEM represents a challenging but exceptionally rewarding experience. Participants become part of an emerging scientific community that is defining the new cross-disciplinary field of synthetic biology, and are given the opportunity to perform cutting edge research in a field that is continually evolving. We envision Stanford iGEM as a group that sets a new standard for undergraduate scientific research, while building a community of scholars throughout academia and industry in support of interdisciplinary biosciences, particularly synthetic biology. Synthetic Biology Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that designs and builds novel biological systems. It includes the design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems, and the re-design of existing natural biological system for better application. Over the last century, advances in the field of biology have transformed life sciences. Synthetic biology, a new branch of biology, studies how to build artificial biological systems for engineering applications, using many of the same strategies that electrical engineers use to make computer chips. Drawing upon powerful techniques for assembly of DNA, synthetic biologists focus on taking apart natural biological systems, simplifying them, and using them as parts of a synthetic, unnatural, engineered biological system. We are interested in this field of study because synthesis offers opportunities to understanding biology that observation and analysis do not, as well as construction of functional biological machines and metabolic pathways for practical applications. The goal of synthetic biology is to modify the behavior of organisms and engineer them to
perform new tasks. The potential applications of this new field include creating bioengineered microorganisms that can produce pharmaceuticals, break down chemical waste, repair damaged genes, and produce biofuel and electricity. The essence of synthetic biology is that techniques used to build non-biological systems in the engineering and computational sciences could be used to build novel synthetics biological systems that solve practical problems. It incorporates elements from many different disciplines including chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, engineering, and computer science. iGEM Jamboree The iGEM Jamboree is the pinnacle of the year-long experience with the team. Hundreds of teams from all over the world gather at MIT to compete for the grand prize, along with many other awards in specific areas, including: Food/Energy, Environment, Health/Medicine, Manufacturing, New Application, Foundational Advance You will have the opportunity to meet other undergraduates with a passion for the field, and will spend a wonderful time with your teammates showing off your project!
2. Team Structure Responsibilities and Expectations, Leadership Positions Stanford iGEM can only be successful with the right leadership and team structure, with roles and responsibilities of each member clearly defined. Figure 1 is a schematic of Stanford iGEM’s organizational structure. At the undergraduate level, we have the “Team” and the “Club”.
The Team is the competitive sector of Stanford iGEM that requires a year-long/summer-long commitment from its members (up to ten members). The Team is led by two co-captains, who are responsible for leading day-to-day work, and setting an agenda for the weekly team meeting. The Team recruits new members each fall through an application and interview process conducted by past team and faculty members. The Club is the group of individuals who are dedicated to ensuring that the team continues its yearly cycle, and becomes a permanent face on Stanford campus. The Club organizes community events and courses, while maintaining funding and professional ties to Stanford and Silicon Valley. The Club is composed of a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Lab Director. The Co-Captains and members of the Club form the “Leadership Core” that meets with the Faculty Directors once a week. The responsibilities of the Faculty Directors are to provide feedback on the Team’s scientific ideas, as well as provide overall organizational responsibility for funding, space, equipment, and safety. The Team also relies heavily on the input provided by a project-specific Faculty Advisory Board (FAB) and Graduate Advisors. This year, our FAB included Dr. Charles Yanofsky (Dept. of Biology) and Dr. Lawrence Steinman (Dept. of Neurology, Chair of Stanford University Program in Immunology). The Graduate Advisors provided technical, scientific, marketing, organizational, and financial expertise. They attended most meetings and were available for consultations during the summer. As the years progress, we hope to have formed a substantial SiGEM alumni base, as well as a broader synthetic biology community at Stanford. Time Commitment iGEM requires considerable time commitment throughout the school year and the summer months: 3. Timeline 1.
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WINTER QUARTER: The commitment is at least 10 hours per week. Each team member is expected to attend a 1.5 hour long mandatory general meeting on Wednesday night form 7:30pm to 9:00pm. The activities that members will be involved in include brainstorming the research topics, presenting research ideas, meeting with graduate student advisers. Additional tasks may be assigned according to members' positions, such as meeting with venture capitalists for fund raising opportunities and meeting with Biology department for gathering research resources. SPRING QUARTER: The commitment is 15 hours per week. In addition to the commitment continuing from Winter Quarter, members may be expected to enroll in an introductory synthetic biology course focusing on project design, team building, and obtaining sponsorship.
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SUMMER: Team members will work full-time in laboratory. Given the demand of student-directed research for each participantʼs time and energy, we strongly advise against the involvement in other academic/extracurricular commitments during the summer. Specific information about dates, housing and summer stipends will be discussed later, but please ensure that you do not plan a vacation from June 22 to August 31st. FALL: The team will travel to MIT during the first weekend of November to present and meet other teams from around the world. Attendance is required. Team members will also be responsible for new member recruitment, laboratory maintenance, and a smooth transition.
4. Stanford’s 2009 Project The Stanford team has successfully engineered a device that will restore and maintain homeostasis between immune cell types, a long-standing objective of immunotherapy. Specifically, the Escherichia coli-based probiotic has been designed to polarize T cell differentiation along two counterpart fates--the immunosuppressive Treg and inflammatory Th17 phenotypes--in response to local conditions affected by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The device consists of two parts: one that detects and modulates deleterious Treg-driven immunosuppression, and another that is engaged by Th17-mediated inflammation. Through specific sensor and effector factors, therapy would oscillate between dampening pathologic inflammation and immunosuppression until a balance in the local T cell population is achieved. Securing such homeostasis between these populations has therapeutic implications for many other autoimmune disorders such as HIV infection and cancer. The system is a novel probiotic therapy that will act at the interface between commensal bacteria and human lymphocytes, integrating cutting-edge immunology with synthetic biology.