Team:METU Turkey policypractice

SynBio Party! #2

Hello everyone! On 5th of April, we held our second SynBio Party. Approximately 200 people joined and had fun with Live Music and then DJ performance begun. It started at 09:00 pm and continued untill 02:00 am in Matiz Bistro & Pub in Ankara. As you can see in photos, our team members wore lab coats and served colorful shots in experiment tubes. It was important for us because in this way people might be learned more about what is synthetic biology and iGEM . While we were selling our party tickets, we gave lots of informations about them and informed them about our project. We tried to design a striking party poster. Thus, we used visuals that are related with synthetic biology such as, experiment tubes . When students from different deparments saw our posters, they automatically ask what is iGEM ? , What does synbio mean? In this way, we had a chance to explain. Now lots of people in our university have known these answers and we have reached our goal. Scientific Truth : Everybody loves drinking colorful things in experiment tubes! :D

SynBio Party! #3

Autumn is coming! Before the midterm season, we decided to organize SynBio Party #3 but this time our concept was "Autumn"! Approximately 150 people joined. They really loved Autumn Concept. The ground was filled with yellow and red leaves, tables decorated with pine cones, and it started at 08:30 pm until 02.00 am. DJ perdormance and Live Band Music has been performed in IF Performance Hall which is a well-known place in Ankara. Same as the previous ones, our first aim was to introduce synthetic biology.

We gave Lab education to young iGEM'ers!

We have started, advised and helped to this year's High School team "METUHS-Ankara"!

We are raising new iGEM'ers!

HighSchool iGEM Courses: There is a part of iGEM for highschools which they can attent with their projects like for undergraduate and graduate parts. METU Development Foundation Schools (ODTÜ Geliştirme Vakfı Koleji) is one of the highschools which participate in this competition. We met this young iGEM'ers in this winter and made an education programme about synthetic biology. First, we attented to conference of Dr. Emrah Altındiş called “Approaching the deveopment of bacterial antigen with the help of Bioinformatics and Proteomics”. Then we visited our university's Central Laboratory. In Central Lab, we reviewed the protocols and performed Plasmid Isolation and Gel Electrophoresis. Then we made an presentation about iGEM Competition, generally what it is, what did we do last years and we gave some advices to them. We think this education program was helpful for METU highschool team and for us. We were so glad to share our experiences with young scientists. We have helped them in their WetLab and Modeling of their project. We are planning to repeat this education and helping in the following years.

II. METU The Day of Synthetic Biology!

As METU iGEM 2014 Team, we organized “II.METU The Day of Synthetic Biology” in February 22, 2014. With more than 190 participants, event was extremely productive for everyone. We both find the opportunity to listen to our teacher working on synthetic biology and contact with other iGEM teams. Our event started with the opening speech of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Can Özen. His ideas on İGEM and iGEM teams in the past years led us at many issues. Then Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yeşim Aydin Son’s “Synthetic Biology in the Era of Biotechnology” speech was entitled. Synthetic biology combines with a different perspective in a futuristic manner guiding this conversation was for all participants. Life her speech, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Can Özen’s “Peptide Drug Discovery and Design” speech was entitled. Then, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haluk Külah “BioMEMS and microfluidic” titled speech joined the biology and engineering sciences. Engineering application on explaining the biology of this conversation because it is in line with the objectives of İGEM’s. Our interest by all participants were heard. Prof. Dr. Mahinur S. Akkaya from Department of Chemistry gave her speech “iGEM at METU”. To listen experiences of prior iGEM team was a guide for our future works. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Urartu Özgür Şafak Şeker from Bilkent University, made his speech on “Genetic Circuit and Device Designs”. His speech was also listened with interest and lots of questions asked him. Finally, a graduate from Middle East Technical University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Burak Yılmaz gave his speech on “Experience from iGEM Synthetic Biotechnology Corporation”. His speech introduced us opportunities on different jobs and gave some ideas for our future. Our organization ended with positive feedbacks. Next year, we’re planning a new organization with our experiences and would like to welcome everyone interested in synthetic biology.

SynBio Survey!

As METU 2014 iGEM Team, we wondered the ideas of our students from different departments, on Molecular and Synthetic Biology. So we prepared a simple survey and asked people questions in a lunchbreak. Approximately, 70 people attended this survey and we chose best 2 answer for you. Here are the questions; 1)What is synthetic biology, could you explain it in a sentence? 2)What are the effects of synthetic biology on our lives? 3)What do you think about GDO? 4)Could be a collobration between your department and Molecular Biology and Genetics? 5)In Genetics, which topic is investigated the most? First answer page; 1)Science of life in labratory. 2)Sort of enyzmes and some beneficial drugs for human health can be produced in the lab, researches can be done about DNA and hereditary diseases. 3)In lab, it is okay but in food industy, it would be prohibited by laws. 4)My department is Computer Engineering and yes it is possible. With some softwares, the image can be clarified or zoomed. The temperatures of rooms can be stabilized by computer technologies. 5)The structure of DNA and RNA Second answer page 1)Biological structures which are produced by human, synthetically. 2)It can be used in treatment of lots of diseases or destruction of harmful genes. 3)There are some discussions on it. Production might be more efficient but also might be harmful for human health. 4)My department is Biomedical Engineering and it would be a very beneficial and efficient collabration. 5)Cancer and relative diseases