Team:Paris Bettencourt/Newsletter3

PROJECT UPGRADE

Last month, we had a barbecue for our iGEM team the day after we had another barbecue with the whole GZMB (the Center for Molecular Biosciences in Göttingen) and aside from the delicious meal, many funny things happened.

First there was our attempt to warm our bread (it was couple of baguettes) on the grill that ended with the bread being actually grilled along with the meat. Then, at some point sambuca was being served in shot glasses and eventually also on the table. And there was also a rabbit. One of our lab mates saw it first and, very discretely, proceeded to shout “A rabbit!, a rabbit!”, and Mr. Rabbit was just chilling on the grass, looking at us humans finally enjoying ourselves after so many weeks of pipettes and Petri dishes –which of course is not to say that we don’t enjoy ourselves with our pipettes and Petri dishes, but only that Mr. Rabbit saw us enjoying ourselves after that-. Some started to get close to get a picture of that shy and wonderful display of nature. A prudent voice then mentioned the risks of getting close to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, but no one really seemed to listen. Then one of our lab mates got too close and Mr. Rabbit decided to retreat.

OUR HUMAN PRACTICE

The LIKA-CESAR-BRASIL is participating of iGEM human practices. For this porpose, our first action was to organized The First Workshop in Synthetic Biology and Technology Innovation in Recife. The focus of the workshop was the integration among Robotics, Health, Genetics and Information Technology.

Also for the human practices, the team conducted the campaign against breast cancer in Dona Lindu Park and Boa Viagem Beach. We also enjoying coconut water, sea and a beautiful blue sky. Besides taking advantage of the natural scenery, we spread information about our work and advances in synthetic biology! Working and having fun is our motto! The survey of breast cancer is available at this link for women from 18 years: https://pt.surveymonkey.com/s/prevcamama. The purpose of the questions is whether the women prevent breast cancer by making periodic examinations. The survey will continue to be applied until September and the results will be presented during the competition.

About the experiments we have a special help: Keizo Asami’s Ghost! You may not know him. He gave a great help in negotiations between BRAZIL and Japan in order to build the LIKA. Sadly, he died before the great opening… Well, we believe that he haunts our experiments, in the best way possible of course. Occasionally we hear some weird noises, but we all know that it’s only Keizo wanting to have some fun. Every time that something like that happens, our results get excellent! So, thank you Keizo!

INTERVIEW OF A TEAM MEMBER

Hi, everyone, this is Paris Bettencourt team. Our team members come from all over the world, from france to Spain, to the US. This year, as you may remember from the movie project and sweat pad collection, we are working on smell body, hoping to eliminate unpleasant body odor with synthetic biology!

Today, we would like to introduce you a special team member of ours: Panthere Delasavane! She invites everyone to friend her on facebook! Panthere currently lives with team member Henry De Belly, and would soon move in with another member, Antonio Villarreal. She is an active participant of all team activities, from scientific ones to social ones. Today we interviewed her on her experience with the team.

On being a family
How do you like it that you are living with, working with and partying with iGEMers all the time?
Grrrrr, it is really funny to say how Henry behaves during work and at home. He is really different. He tries to be as serious as possible at work, but plays crazily loud music and drinks a lot of beers at home. So does Antonio. In fact, they are in the same indie rock band together. Grrrrr, it is almost hard to believe they are synthetic biologists. I laugh whenever I hear them introducing themselves as biologists. It also seems to be the case with other members on the team. For the past two months, I feel like living in an iGEM bubble that is full of smelly compounds, with this project, and also people I like in one way or the other. It’s like a family and then you need to work hard to keep everyone together. You know, it seems I am always the parent of the team.

On international dinner
I heard you guys have international dinner every Thursday. How do you like it? Grrrrr, oh man, it is like my favorite part of the week. We have had Mexican night, French night, Indian night and American night so far. Someone cooks every week and it is awesome. This is one of the advantages of having such an international team. I enjoy listening to drunken conversations that are filled with national prides, but also cultural lessons. Learning so much about different countries now.

On iGEM
I know you have worked for other labs before. How is iGEM different? Grrrrrr, you know, as I said, iGEM makes me feel like a parent. It is really like being a PI, everyone on the team. You have to know the budget, build the team, interact with people with different specialties and come up with projects by yourself. I feel like a real scientist and inventor, not a panthere. I also like how it is not a super long project, so we get to see some results and hopefully feel good about ourselves.

Most important question! Are you coming to Boston?
Of course I am. I am the soul of the party and guardian of the team.

* Panthere is a stuff animal of Henry’s. It does have a Facebook page that has been turned into a photo wall of iGEM activities. This all got started because Henry wanted to build a Tinder account for her, which is coming! Now, we regard it as team mascot and a storyteller of our iGEM experience. This interview of Panthere was translated by Henry De Belly. Friend Panthere Delasavane on Facebook! Follow Paris Bettencourt iGEM team!