Team:UC Davis/Judging

Judging Criteria

Over the course of putting together our iGEM project, we have kept all goals in mind that may qualify us for a Gold Award Medal. In this section, we would like to directly address all the medal requirements listed on the iGEM Judging Criteria list.

Bronze Medal Requirements

• Register the team, have a great summer, and have fun attending the Jamboree
  Shortly before the beginning of this past summer, we successfully registered our iGEM team. We've also already booked our flight to the Jamboree!


• Successfully complete and submit a Project Summary form
  A few weeks into the summer, we submitted a Project Summary form to iGEM summarizing our project.


• Create and share a Description of the team's project via the iGEM wiki
  This year, our team attempted to complete 3 individual projects: the Spatial Oscillator, the pH Sensor and the computational tool CPOTATo. A detailed description of all 3 of these projects are available on the Projects Page


• Present a Poster and Talk at the iGEM Jamboree
  We will definitely be presenting our poster and talk at the Jamboree!


• Enter information detailing at least one new standard BioBrick Part or Device in the Registry of Parts
  We have successfully entered new information into the registry of a barcode-less LVA-tagged cI repressor from phage Lambda. For more information about the problem with the original part (with the barcode) and the steps we took to solve it, see the cI-Lambda section.
  
  The only existing source of information that we referenced was the Registry itself for the original part.
  
  In terms of safety, here is really no potential danger to handling this part.
  
  This part adheres to the original assembly standard by Tom Knight.


• Submit DNA for at least one new BioBrick Part or Device in the Registry of Parts
  As of 10/26/10, we have successfully submitted DNA for our new Biobrick part, Bba_K327018, which is the barcode-less LVA-tagged cI repressor from phage Lambda. For more information about why this was necessary to construct, see the cI-Lambda section.

Silver Medal Requirements

• Demonstrate that at least one new BioBrick Part or Device of your own design and construction works as expected
  When we originally used the LVA-tagged cI repressor in our construct, it was ligated to an RFP coding region. We realized that the cI coding region was initiating unwanted transcription because the cells would express RFP, even without a promoter upstream of it.
  
  After removing the barcode in the LVA-tagged cI repressor from phage Lambda, we ligated the part to a construct that had RFP downstream of the coding region of Bba_K327018 (our newly submitted LVA-tagged cI repressor sans barcode region). This time, the cells did not spontaneously express RFP, thus proving that the modified part works as we expected. For more information on how we experimentally determined the root of the problem with the original part, see the cI-Lambda section.


• Characterize the operation of at least one new BioBrick Part or Device and enter this information on the Parts or Device page via the Registry of Parts
  We are completing this requirement. Please see our talk and corresponding parts page during iGEM.

Gold Medal Requirements

In order to fulfill the Gold Medal requirements, we chose to assist another iGEM team in the construction of their part.

• Help another iGEM team by, for example, characterizing a part, debugging a construct, or modeling or simulating their system.
  Towards the beginning of the summer, The University of Michigan contacted us to request a part that we submitted to the registry last year:Bba_K265008, the ice nucleation protein NC. We sent them the part at the beginning of the summer to assist them with the construction of their project.

  We also hosted Jia Li, a visiting iGEM undergraduate from Zhejiang University (TEAM ZJU-China) for part of the summer.