Acknowledgements

MIB & SSB

BananaGuard team would like to thank all members of the Microbiology (MIB) and Systems & Synthetic Biology (SSB) chair groups at Wageningen University. Both departments gave us an amazing opportunity be part of iGEM 2014. Apart from the laboratory space and chemicals, they also provided us with unconditional support during the entire iGEM experience, from the initial brain storming sessions to the iGEM Jamboree.

We would to give special thanks to the laboratory technicians Tom Schonewille, Sjon Hendricks and Ruud Spruijt, who helped us with our doubts and questions while working in the laboratory. We really appreciate Steven Aalvink's, Alex Kruis' and Ton van Gelder’s advices related to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Gas chromatography (GC). Thanks to the dedication of Wim Roelofsen, all the computers in our offices were fully working with all needed software properly installed. Also we would like to thank Tom van de Weijer and Hauke Smidt for helping us with filling in the safety forms. Last but not least, we would like to thank Philippe Puylaert for checking if everything is according to safety rules during the whole iGEM project.

It is important to mention, that without the help of all our supervisors, the BananaGuard project could not have come so far. The combination of knowledge and skills of our supervisors was vital to build our project from the scratch. Some were previous iGEM members, others experienced molecular biotechnologists, bioinformaticians, modelers and plant scientists. Without doubt we can say that we were very lucky to have such a diverse group of people giving support to us and our project. Moreover, we highly appreciate all the Saturdays, Sundays and evenings that they spent in the laboratory to give us access and supervision.

Plant Research International

A special thanks goes to Gert Kema’s group from Plant Research International for supporting us from the beginning of our project. We would like to thank to Fernando Garcia Bastidas who was our main advisor for all aspects related to Fusarium infection and plant science knowledge. And also, Maricar Salacinas who helped us with one our interviews. The group was always friendly and very keen on providing us with anything that we needed - whether it was fusaric acid compound, green house space, banana plants, Fusarium data or a GMO license for the greenhouse. We share the goal to save the bananas, they just have a different approach. To learn more, have a look at their wonderful website.

External sources

Here we would like to thank to persons who are not affiliated with the University but have helped us a lot (in alphabetical order):

• Alba Ramos Álverez: For providing illustrations for the Wiki.
• A. R. Ferrari, Groningen University: For providing us with enzyme for a chitinase assay.
• Dr. Ben Blount, Dr. Tom Ellis & Dr. Ollie Wright, Imperial College London: For providing E. coli strains containing toxin and anti-toxin plasmids.
• Cees Waalwijk and Reinoud Bouwer: For helping us with the paperwork of the permit of GMO in the green house as fast as they could.
• Javier Lopez-Cepero:For his interest and time he took to help us with our interview
• Prof. Jos Raaimakers: For his micro-ecology and Pseudomonas knowledge and advice and also for providing us with a Pseudomonas strain.
• Mark van Passel: For his enthusiasm, support and advice during all our iGEM project.
• Luud Clercx: For his interest and time he took to help us with our interview
• Kaushik Rangarajan:For his interest and time he took to help us with our interview
• Sophia Wang: For helping us with coding the Wiki and her advice and support as a past iGEM member (XMU_China 2012).
• Professor Tsuey-Ching Yang, National Yang-Ming University: For providing Stenotrophomonas strains.
• Victor de Lorenzo’s laboratory in Madrid: For providing KT2440 strain and SEVA plasmids.

Final words

We would like to thank to everyone who supported our project during the iGEM experience. By helping us out, giving us your advice or just with liking our Facebook page you made our lives easier and more joyful. Due to everyone’s support this year we were able to have a great summer and a successful project.