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| Being the first iGEM team from Finland and one of the few groups in Finland actually doing synthetic biology, our goal was to make people aware of the field and its possibilities. | | Being the first iGEM team from Finland and one of the few groups in Finland actually doing synthetic biology, our goal was to make people aware of the field and its possibilities. |
| </p> | | </p> |
- | <blockquote> Our major breakthrough was the concept of turning bacteria into superheroes.</blockquote>
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| <p> | | <p> |
| The first part was figuring out how to explain any of it to an audience that isn't that familiar with biology or gene technology. Explaining BioBricks as LEGO bricks and synthetic biology through programming and engineering helped. But our major breakthrough was the invention of Brian in July and the concept of turning bacteria into superheroes. That really resonated with people and it seemed like people started understand what we actually did. | | The first part was figuring out how to explain any of it to an audience that isn't that familiar with biology or gene technology. Explaining BioBricks as LEGO bricks and synthetic biology through programming and engineering helped. But our major breakthrough was the invention of Brian in July and the concept of turning bacteria into superheroes. That really resonated with people and it seemed like people started understand what we actually did. |
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| </p> | | </p> |
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- | We also took part in the Summer of Startups startup incubator. It was a great platform for learning to talk about synthetic biology in layman's terms. | + | We also took part in the Summer of Startups startup incubator program. It was a great platform for learning to talk about synthetic biology in layman's terms. |
| </p> | | </p> |
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| </div> | | </div> |
| <div class="col-md-6 img-100"> | | <div class="col-md-6 img-100"> |
| + | <blockquote> Our major breakthrough was the concept of turning bacteria into superheroes.</blockquote> |
| <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/93/Aalto_Helsinki_Ppl_Working.jpg" class="img-responsive"> | | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/93/Aalto_Helsinki_Ppl_Working.jpg" class="img-responsive"> |
| <p class="kuvateksti"> | | <p class="kuvateksti"> |
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| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | Throughout the summer, in the Summer of Startups program, we also got to rehearse pitching and presenting our ideas to the general audience. We got coached by some great people, for example Marko Ahtisaari from MIT Media Lab, and they taught us to tell about synthetic biology in a more understandable way. It was during one these coaching sessions/meetings that we came up with the idea of turning bacteria into superheroes. It turned out to be an easy way to explain our project to people who don't know that much about genetic engineering, let alone synthetic biology. | + | Throughout the summer, in the Summer of Startups program, we also got to rehearse pitching and presenting our ideas to the general audience. We got coached by some great people, for example Marko Ahtisaari from MIT Media Lab, and they taught us to explain synthetic biology in a more understandable way. It was during one these coaching sessions/meetings that we came up with the idea of turning bacteria into superheroes. It turned out to be an easy way to explain our project to people who don't know that much about genetic engineering, let alone synthetic biology. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | We also had lab tours for people who were interested in project and wanted to see what we actually do in the lab. As genetically modified organisms and genetic engineering are a bit of a taboo in Finland, we wanted do our part in convincing people that what we do is not hazardous in any way and allay any suspicions they might have had towards our project and GMO in general. | + | We also had lab tours for people who were interested in the project and wanted to see what we actually do in the lab. As genetically modified organisms and genetic engineering are a bit of a taboo in Finland, we wanted to do our part in convincing people that what we do is not hazardous in any way and allay any suspicions they might have had towards our project and GMO in general. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | Spreading the word about synthetic biology, especially among our peers, was one of our main goals. So we went and talked about our project to a lot of people on all sorts of occasions. We held a small presentation of the project and iGEM in general to the Molecular Biosciences students of the University of Helsinki. We had only planned to talk for a few minutes but the audience was so interested in everything that we ended up talking for almost an hour! We also represented our team in Aalto Party, the kick off event of the academic year at Aalto University, where we had our own pop-up booth. | + | Spreading the word about synthetic biology, especially among our peers, was one of our main goals. So we went and talked about our project to a lot of people on all sorts of occasions. We held a small presentation of the project and iGEM in general for the Molecular Biosciences students of the University of Helsinki. We had only planned to talk for a few minutes but the audience was so interested in everything that we ended up talking for almost an hour! We also represented our team in Aalto Party, the kick off event of the academic year at Aalto University, where we had our own pop-up booth. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | We had the opportunity to pitch at Pitch Night, which was a an event aimed for scientific projects and was part of Thinkfest, an festival of thinking and science held by the University of Helsinki in honour of their 375th anniversary. At Pitch Night we had a bit more mature audience and it was great to see how they reacted to our idea. Most of them seemed very interested in our ideas. A major achievement was also securing an exhibition/event of our own at the Heureka Science Center for a full weekend. We will be displaying some of our work and telling people about synthetic biology in a down to earth manner. The event will be held in the spring of 2015 and we will aim it towards children. | + | We had the opportunity to pitch at Pitch Night, which was an event aimed for scientific projects and was part of Thinkfest, an festival of thinking and science held by the University of Helsinki in honour of their 375th anniversary. At Pitch Night we had a bit more mature audience and it was great to see how they reacted to our idea. Most of them seemed very interested. A major achievement was also securing an exhibition/event of our own at the Heureka Science Center for a full weekend. We will be displaying our work and telling people about synthetic biology in a down to earth manner. The event will be held in spring 2015 and it will be targeted mainly for children. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | In the beginning of September we had a chance to rehearse our presenting in front of the researchers of VTT. We got really good and constructive feedback and important points we needed to consider were brought up. Right before we leave for Boston we will also be giving our Jamboree presentation at a HYBER workshop, which will be a good rehearsing opportunity for us, as well as an opportunity to get to introduce ourselves to a lot of important people in the industry. | + | In the beginning of September we had a chance to rehearse our presenting in front of the researchers of VTT. We got really good and constructive feedback. Important points we needed to consider were also brought up. Right before we leave for Boston we will also be giving our Jamboree presentation at a HYBER workshop, which will be a good rehearsing opportunity for us, as well as an opportunity to introduce ourselves to a lot of important people in the industry. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| </div> | | </div> |
| <div class="col-md-6 img-100"> | | <div class="col-md-6 img-100"> |
| + | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/e/e7/Aalto_Helsinki_Heureka_Meeting.jpg" class="img-responsive"> |
| + | <div class="cpright"> |
| + | <p class="kuvateksti"> |
| + | Meeting at Heureka. |
| + | </p> |
| <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/5/50/Aalto_Helsinki_Heureka.jpg" class="img-responsive"> | | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/5/50/Aalto_Helsinki_Heureka.jpg" class="img-responsive"> |
| <div class="cpright"> | | <div class="cpright"> |
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| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | The second step was finding more financial support for the team. During the spring we had brainstorming sessions about fundraising and we spent long nights filling out applications to different Finnish foundations, organizations and ERASynBio. We also applied to AaltoES Summer of Startups, since we knew it would bring a great support on the Entrepreneurship track. During the spring we also connected with the Technical Research Centre of Finlad, VTT. They promised to invest their expertise and special equipment when needed. | + | The second step was finding more financial support for the team. During the spring we had brainstorming sessions about fundraising and we spent long nights filling out applications to different Finnish foundations, organizations and ERASynBio. We also applied to AaltoES Summer of Startups, since we knew it would bring a great support on the Entrepreneurship track. During the spring we also connected with the Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT. They promised to invest their expertise and special equipment when needed. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | The third step was to find company partnerships. We made a list of Finnish companies related to our field and contacted them by first sending and email and then calling them the next day. Regardless of the great effort we put in contacting the companies, only those where we had personal relations, were willing to support us financially. Summer of Startups was very useful in terms of networking as well. One of the coaches at Summer of Startups helped us to connected with Biotech Start-Up Management, which became one of our partners offering business expertise for our team. | + | The third step was to find company partnerships. We made a list of Finnish companies related to our field and contacted them by first sending and email and then calling them the next day. Regardless of the great effort we put into contacting the companies, only those we knew personally supported us financially. Summer of Startups was very useful in terms of networking as well. One of the coaches at Summer of Startups helped us to connect with Biotech Start-Up Management, which became one of our partners offering business expertise for our team. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| <p> | | <p> |
- | The last phase happened on its own weight. As a result of actively building a positive image on media and being active in social media, different parties in the field heard about us. We have received invitations to seminars and projects to present iGEM, our team and research. We were invited to Biocentrum Helsinki board meeting, Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence 2014-2019 HYBER seminar, Living Factories project's board meeting and ChemBio Finland conference. And of course we are going to give presentations to students and faculty members at Aalto University and University of Helsinki. | + | The last phase happened on its own weight. As a result of actively building a positive image on media and being active in social media, different parties in the field heard about us. We have received invitations to seminars and projects to present iGEM, our team and research. We were invited to Biocentrum Helsinki board meeting, Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence 2014-2019 HYBER workshop, Living Factories project's board meeting and ChemBio Finland conference. And of course we are going to give presentations to students and faculty members at Aalto University and University of Helsinki. |
| </p> | | </p> |
| </article> | | </article> |
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| </div> | | </div> |
| <div class="col-md-6"> | | <div class="col-md-6"> |
- | <blockquote>Every team member got to decide three animals. The combinations were then turned into illustrations of nine different chimeras.</blockquote> | + | <blockquote>Every team member got to pick three animals. The combinations were then turned into illustrations of nine different chimeras.</blockquote> |
| </div> | | </div> |
| </div> | | </div> |