Team:Newcastle/Meetings/27 January 2010

Formal Meeting - 27 January 2010

• Start time: 4 p.m.
• Attendance: Philip Hall, Rachel Boyd, Zoltan Balogh, Harsh Sheth, Younus Essa, Alan Koh, Steven Woodhouse, Da Ye, Jannetta, Richard, Matt, Jen and Anil

Summary of the last meeting

• We will need to look over past projects:
  • working with B. subtilis and the
  • winners and the
  • rest of the projects
• Summary of last informal meeting
  • B. subtilis must be in italics!

Wiki update

• Login will be changed to password protected

Ideas Brainstorm

Phil

• Arsenic sequestering or heavy metal
• Detect using fluorescence
• Last year did it/Cambridge
• Pigments... can we improve?

Zoltan

• Degrading hydrocarbons
• B. subtillis can do this already can we improve it
• Problem biofilms, we must stop the bacteria forming a biofilm
• Oil slicks
• Bacteria already do it, not as fit.
• Ethics
• Environment not contained
• Damaging to wild life, counterproductive to cleaning up the oil slick

Steven

• Removal of CO₂
• Making biotechnology safer
• Kill switches
• Reducing rates of mutation

Harsh

• CO₂ to isobutynol
• Cut cyclic chain, fuel instead of fat
• Spores not germinate
• Weaponised hydrocarbon spores
• Need clean burn

Alan

• Nitrogen fixation in soil
• Enhance
• Better promoter
• Nitrogenase genes
• Anaerobic
• 2009 heavy metal sequestering plus fertiliser
• Plant root, protect (fungicide), fertilise

Timeline

• Key Point on Monday
• Work backward from November
• Igem deadlines ... last years
• Personal constraints ... exam periods
• Booking flights etc
• On agenda again next week
• Project decision

6. Action points

• Security – Zoltan/Anil talk to Dan
• Start learning code - Everyone (who hasn’t already)
• Add new members to mailing list - Jen
• Send then the link to the wiki - Zoltan
• Extend Monday meeting time - Zoltan
• Project management software - Jannetta
• Aim ~ 5 projects in each area
• Tutorials - clone manager and sequentia, what is a biobrick tutorial, modelling tutorial – need to ask Anil and Jen in advance
• Register! - Anil and Jen
• Add our own personal deadlines to the wiki - everyone
• Program to sort out who's going to go through each of the past iGEM projects – Zoltan
• Breaking up past igems, review 30 each, linking up on wiki - all

Any other business

• May need to change 5 p.m. meeting time
• More ideas all our ideas are environmental
• How many areas?- Best food/energy, Best environment, Best Health and medicine, Best manufacturing, Best new app, Best information processing, Best software tool
• We should have a standing agenda
• We need to start characterising early on
• What is a bio brick?
  • Chunk of DNA
  • Defined start / end
  • Easily connected
  • No scars
  • Same restriction sites
  • Cut ends not middle
  • Like Lego bricks