Team:Brasil-SP/Outreach/Jamboré

Figure 1: Part of the poster for the "Jamboré" - written in portugese.

"Jamboré" is a "brazificated" word for for Jamboree, a neologism for the national meeting of brazillian iGEM teams, alluding the official Jamboree - but in a more confotable way to spell the word, at least for us! This is the second time the Jamboé was held in University of São Paulo. Like in 2013, we gathered the brazillian teams on a single place to talk about the synthetic biology projects, make suggestions, appreciate feedbacks and, of course, have fun together. We and the other teams have given continuity to the last year Jamboré initiative expecting to strengthen even more the bonds between the iGEM initiatives in Brazil, what is decisive for showing to the involved faculties and sponsors what we are doing and how it is important for the proper growth and development of real synthetic biology research on Brazil.

Fortunately, this expectation was completely achieved. For the second time, the Manaus team was present on São Paulo for the meeting - despite the long distance of almost 2700 kilometers! We were also very glad to have the presence of the team from Pernanbuco, first time on iGEM but already doing an impressive job on cancer biodetection. The team from Minas Gerais and even Anita Sifuentes from iGEM HQ have participated virtually (thanks Carlos Alberto and Anita!), but the internet connection didn't helped much with the videoconference. Although the technical problems limited our meeting, we transmited (in portuguese) everything online, enabling a larger audience.

On this first video we have the introduction given by Pedro Medeiros and the presentation of the USP team:

The second part had the presentations of the teams from Pernanbuco and Manaus. Detail for the "meta hangout" that we needed to create to communicate with Ph.D Deborah Zanforlin - it actually worked out!

After the event, we asked some participants to share their experience, what they found interesting and what the encounter can add to their team and project. The answers left us extremely satisfied and motivated to promote a new meeting next year!

”The meeting was super constructive; all the projects were very interesting. It was a relief to know that all teams also have the same difficulties in day-to-day lab and _ the best advantage of the meeting was being able to overcome these barriers by exchanging tips, suggestions and even protocols. Another very interesting part of the Jamboré was listen different opinions about each project and see that each team had a bit to add in another's one, resolving small failures of projects . Anyway, the meeting was very relaxed and constructive, just the iGEM way to finish with a golden key, the meeting ended with many games, beer and fries. :) “ - Luna Barroco de Lacerda (UFAM – Brasil)

"The meeting of teams "Jamboré" was a very rewarding experience for my team and for other teams from Brazil that will participate in the iGEM competition. On this occasion we could present the scope of work of each team, share information and some tips about how such studies could be improved and evolved according to the experience of each team. It was also a very cool moment of exchange of knowledge and networking among teams. Every one left a great impression and get excited for the Giant Jamboré." - Marcelo Nunes (LIKA-CESAR-Brasil)

Meetings like Jamboré fortify a network of ideas, collaborations, exchange of protocols and improve on the resolution of lab problems. We hope that in future this kind o initiative may lead to a more strong iGEM initiative on Brazil, aiming to spread the approach on genetic engineering that Synthetic Biology propose on our future national biotechnology research and biotech entrepreneurship.

Hours after Jamboré ended, we still had these amazing people discussing about projetcs, iGEM and synthetic biology on the auditorium. :)