Team:Newcastle/Meetings/9 March 2009

Agenda of the Meeting

 * Discuss previous meeting’s action points
 * Storyboard explaination of 3 ideas.
 * Generate the vote result, make the final project.
 * Ask about tutorial time.
 * Wiki presentation

Team Members in Meeting

 * Chair - Hanny
 * Minutes - Mathew R
 * Present - Neil, Craig, Mathew R, Arun, Jane, Jan-Willem Veening, Leendert Hamoen, James, Morgan, Goksel and Hanny
 * Apologies - Jen, Matthew, Jessica, Dan

Minutes of the Meeting

 * Brought new recruits and 2 new advisors up to date on the project details to date, i.e. introduced team members, talked about the shortlisted ideas, the competition itself, etc.
 * Reviewed last meeting’s action points
 * Correct the address details at IGEM web site – Done
 * Jess apply for funding – Application forms handed in
 * Arun apply for funding – Currently in Progress
 * Setup file upload permissions to the internal wiki – E-mail sent out round to iGem team members with username and password
 * Setup security to access to the internal wiki - E-mail sent out round to iGem team members with username and password
 * Populate internal wiki – Ongoing
 * iGem projects finalised next week – Currently in progress
 * Specify a date for tutorial – Must negotiate a date sometime next week
 * Every student should pick a simple BioBrick from the repository and try to understand what it does, which genes it uses etc - Ongoing
 * Add references to Wiki – Not fulfilled as yet but as we read papers, we need to place references on wiki
 * Setup laboratory notebook – Must prepare a laboratory notebook
 * Populate main wiki – Some work done; more work needed
 * Give some history to the new team members about ideas – E-mails sent to new iGem team members with summaries of ideas however the presentation of ideas today shall provide more information
 * Aim for awards – Ongoing
 * Watch top six presentations from last year’s iGem competition – Ongoing
 * Investigate previous iGem projects for similarities – Currently in progress but some team members have already found things
 * For each shortlisted idea, create 15 min storyboards – Done; presenting the storyboards in today’s meeting
 * Invite new team members – Done! They are present in today’s meeting
 * Bio Memory - Do a research on how to get the data into the bacteria and out again - Will be discussed today
 * Bio Memory - Is it possible to make coloured spores? – Will be discussed today
 * Sequester metals - Do a research on if it is ok to leave the spores in the environment after all - Will be discussed today
 * Sequester metals - Can termites be used to eat spores? – Will be discussed today


 * Storyboards explaining for ideas – Questions/challenges raised for each
 * 1st Idea – Trapping Metals by Mathew R and Craig
 * Does Bacillus subtilis have a lot of space in periplasm?
 * Why 90% and 10%?
 * We don’t need to make a Biobrick for sporulation. B.subtilis already have sporulation mutants, therefore those mutants could be used for population growth.
 * How do we get the metal into the spore?
 * Where is the opportunity for modelling?


 * 2nd Idea – Skin Repairer by Hanny and Jessica
 * Why do you need a GFP reporter? (Answer – to make itself known)
 * Does the production of these compounds (hyaluron synthase) require a cascade of enzymes?
 * Is there any data collected/research done on collagen and HS levels in Bacillus subtilis?
 * Do you know the threshold level of collagen for wound healing?
 * Are there any antibiotics involved here? What about Quorum Sensing Molecules?
 * Why don’t you just put a plaster in hyaluronic acid and stick it on the patient? (I.e. what advantages does this idea have?)
 * Don’t see many advantages here


 * 3rd Idea – Bio Memory by Arun and Goksel
 * Has somebody already a similar idea to this one?
 * How much information can you store with a simple on/off signal in spores?
 * How are you going to store the bacteria in serial fashion?
 * This idea is very simple – where is the novelty?
 * Could you do something with concentrations of protein within a cell?
 * Can you integrate some of the first idea with this one, especially the sporulation signal idea?
 * The main issue is sequence! How do we get sequential order in bacteria?
 * Could we use the biosensor application featured here for detection purposes in the heavy metal idea?

These questions were posed by the presenters:
 * Can we have biostability inside spores without any DNA rearrangements?
 * Can we store colour-giving properties inside the outer layer of the spores?
 * Is it possible to control DNA rearrangement?


 * Vote Result
 * Not everybody has voted yet
 * However today’s meeting has showed that the first and third ideas can be amalgamated – everyone present was in favour of this suggestion. The idea – maybe use Bacillus subtilis to detect heavy metals in soil and then give a signal for them!


 * Wiki Tutorial/Presentation
 * Yet to arrange meeting with Morgan sometime next week however James has already done a short tutorial online which gets people familiar with the internal wiki. MediaWiki tutorial to come…

NEW Action Points For Next Meeting

 * Review the questions and challenges put forward for each idea
 * Do additional reading/research into ideas but more of an emphasis on the first and third ideas
 * Finalise an idea and write a paragraph on the idea to be posted in the main wiki
 * Reschedule wiki tutorial with Morgan.