iGEM 2016 — Team UCL

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/8/8b/HQ_page_logo.jpg)](https://2016.igem.org)

# Team:UCL/Notebook

<!DOCTYPE html>

UCL iGEM 2016 | BioSynthAge

* [Search](#cd-search)
* [Menu](#cd-primary-nav)

* [Project](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Description)
  + Menu
  + [### Overview

    How are we approaching healthy ageing?](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Description)
  + [### Lungs

    Gene therapy approach](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Lungs)
  + [### Gut

    Lycopene probiotic](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Gut)
  + [### Teeth

    Redesigning the oral microbiome](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Dental_hygiene)
  + [### Heart

    Healthy heart, healthy ageing](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Heart)
  + [### Lubricant

    Detecting and killing UTI causing bacteria](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Lubricant)
  + [### Pest Control

    Using oxidative stress to accelerate ageing](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Vitellogenin)
  + [### Design

    Engineering therapies of tomorrow](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Design)
  + [### Notebook

    iGEM-ing all day, everyday](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Notebook)
  + [### Achievements

    See what Biosynthage are proud of!](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Achievements)
* [Parts](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Parts)
* [Lab](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Overview)
  + Menu
  + [### Overview

    Transferring concepts to the lab](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Overview)
  + [### Proof of Concept

    Building systems that solve healthy ageing](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Proof)
  + [### Demonstrate

    The first step towards reality](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Demonstrate)
  + [### Lab-book

    Find out what we did in the labs!](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Lab_book)
  + [### Safety

    Integrating safety into human based therapies](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Safety)
  + [### Protocol

    Methodology behind the data](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Experiments)
  + [### Results

    See our data and outputs of our project](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Results)
* [Modelling](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Model)
  + Menu
  + [### Overview

    Simulating and optimising our devices](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Model)
  + [### L-arginine

    Modelling inhibitory feedback loops](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Model/Larginine)
  + [### Xylitol

    Oscillatory behaviour](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Model/Xylolit)
* [Human Practices](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Human_Practices)
  + Menu
  + [### Our Story

    Biosynthage's journey](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Human_Practices)
  + [### Silver

    Building a bridge between Biosynthage and society](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/HP/Silver)
  + [### Gold

    Integrating design with the world](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/HP/Gold)
  + [### Integrated Practices

    Real world science](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Integrated_Practices)
  + [### Engagement

    Bringing Biosynthage to people](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Engagement)
* [Entrepreneurship](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Entrepreneurship)
  + Menu
  + [### Overview

    Bringing synthetic biology to the business world](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Entrepreneurship)
  + [### AlphaBrick

    Making biobrick design easier](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Alphabrick)
  + [### Xweet

    Engineering novel bioprocess for Xylitol production](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Xylitol)
* [People](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Team)
  + Menu
  + [### Team

    Meet the innovators of tomorrow](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Team)
  + [### Collaborations

    Our iGEM community](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Collaborations)
  + [### Sponsors

    Without whom, would not be possible](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Sponsors)
  + [### Attributions

    To everyone involved with our journey](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Attributions)

* [March](#march)
* [June](#june)
* [July](#july)
* [August](#august)
* [September](#september)
* [October](#october)

## **Notebook**

### See what the UCL iGEM team have been doing all summer. Below is a diary of almost everyday since the UCL iGEM team formed!

## March

### 17th March 2016 - Project Simulation meeting 1

This exciting day marked the first time meeting of all the UCL iGEM members. We went through introductions of each member and the deadlines of iGEM. We also started to brainstorm some weird and wacky ideas we had.

### 23rd March 2016 - Project Simulation meeting 2

All team members met up to start to brainstorm ideas. Tactics used to stimulate ideas for our project included talking about certain aspects of synthetic biology that we liked, then creating ideas from those points.

---

## June

### Friday 3rd June, 6.30pm - Meeting with UCL iGEM 2015

All team members were able to gain huge inspiration and insight to iGEM by meeting the 2015 iGEM team. We received downstream transfer of knowledge and lots of tips on how to get started (the do’s and dont’s of iGEM) and inspired whilst brainstorming. We then went to the pub where we had a laid back social session with light brainstorming.

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkGw_kNXEAALDRR.jpg:small)

## July

### Monday 4th July - Meetings

Some of the team members met to attend a skype meeting with the Paris team at 11am. We wanted to start to collaborate with the igem teams (uptown funk music video). We also had a meeting with the UCL staff members who are related to sutton trust year 12 summer school - we will be collaborating with them! We discussed our project with them and came up with some great activities with the students. Michelle started making the introduction of team members video for our youtube video. We were discussing some fun ways we could get attention such that we can raise awareness of synthetic biology and iGEM.

.

### Tuesday 5th July - Meetings

day 1 of labs: Abbie and Kuba were in the labs starting the transformation. The other team members were in a meeting with our supervisors, where we had a discussion about the biobricks that still needed to be ordered, . Amandeep started making the infographic, which was posted onto social media to introduce our project to the wider community.

### Wednesday 6th July - Meetings

Abbie was at the designers, finalising the logo. Some of the team members are thinking about the entrepreneur side of our project whilst other team members were making lesson plans for the sessions with the younger generation.We were also able to post the infographic onto social media (which got alot of attention) as well as introducing our logo.

### Thursday 7th July - Meetings

Kuba, , Dale, Michelle, Kamil and Amandeep were attending a meeting with New England Biologics about how they can sponsor us and provide us with some tools in the labs. This was extremely useful! The team members then met up to discuss what we need todo for today, some team members were interested in starting labs (for our project) today, whilst other team members worked on developing the lesson plans for the outreach activities we have planned next week! Other team members were also researching and building our business canvas

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cmwe2afXEAAmtfk.jpg:small)

### Friday 8th July - Meetings

Abbie and Dale started the day by by working in the labs. Whilst Amandeep, Michelle, Hana and Yuchao worked on developing our ideas for commercialisation of our idea. We also released the introduction video on youtube (successfully kicking off our vlog!) Other team members were working on several other aspects of the project. The team members also had a skype meeting with Experiment. We also had a meeting social with Imperial 2016 team!!! We also won a syngenta grant!!!

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cm2nfrMWIAEcuwY.jpg:small)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cm3TYfNW8AALMIh.jpg:small)

### Monday 11th July

Michelle, Amandeep and ChiChi were inspiring the next generation of scientists, lawyers, physiologists, computer scientists through a workshop. This consisted of some organised debating sessions about ageing and synthetic biology. We also organsised some fun activities such as getting them to draw what comes to their minds when we think of ageing. Abbie ans Kuba were also in the lab today. Yuchao is contacting the chineese igem teams through chineese social media (translating from english to chineese). We want to hopefully build a communication plaform for igem teams (Hana). He has also been working on some of the experimental plan.

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnEzyfwWcAA8xms.jpg:small)

### Tuesday 12th July

Day 2: workshop with the younger generation. We were able to give them some experience in the labs. Amandeep is working on arranging more events and sessions (human practices)

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnKMJyuXYAAI6xp.jpg:small)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnGRAdeWEAEmEl6.jpg:small)

### Wednesday 13th July

Some people were in the labs, whilst others were working on the poster and the presentation for the synbio showcase. We are also looking more into creating some visuals for the synbio showcase. Other team members are working on creating the resources for the outreach programmes that we have planned for the near future!

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnQFnfiWcAALAxG.jpg:small)

### Thursday 14th July

We had a skype meeting with Aubrey de Grey, which provided us with a huge insight to ageing research and also tips on our project. As well as this, we were also focused on finishing the presentation and the poster for the synthetic biology showcase the next day.

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnWJmDhW8AAbWDE.jpg:small)

### Friday 15th July

Michelle, Abbie and Amandeep were presenting at the synthetic biology showcase, where we got to share our project with experts in the field and also ask about their opinions on our project. We also attended further networking dinner.

![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnZfVORWEAAHEpY.jpg:small)

### Saturday 17th July

Elderly care home visit

### Monday 18th July

Meeting with Fillipe from UCL institute of ageing. Team members (Kuba, Michelle, Amandeep and Kamil) are working on the introduction of our project video. We are also looking into preparing for the interview later as well as looking into other mini projects we can take on.

### Tuesday 19th July

Amandeep attended the meeting with the organisers of year 8 workshop (for Friday 29th July), where we discussed ways to make the session more interactive and relevant to the theme of the summer school which is London. The other team members were working on developing different parts of the project, Hana was working on the business plan, Abbie and Amandeep attended a meeting with our supervisor where we discussed some of our biobricks (Lycopene), and created an action plan for the coming week. Michelle is looking into making our introduction to our project video for our youtube channel.

### Wednesday 20th July

Dale has been in the Lab making media and agar. Whilst Hana and Amandeep have been researching about some possible ideas (glucose bactosensor). We are also preparing our questions for the meeting with Maximina tomorrow.

### Thursday 21st July

Amandeep and Abbie attended a meeting with Maximina from UCL, where we were able to get a different perspective on our project. Abbie is now working on the lycopene experiment and design whilst Amandeep is creating some content for our wiki page.

### Friday 22nd July

Abbie was looking up the experimental protocol for Lycopene. Dale was in the Labs.

### Monday 25th July

Amandeep is working on ordering the t-shirts and editing the logo. Abbie finalised the lycopene concept and experimental protocol whilst Kuba is working on writing things up for out wiki page. We adopted a bonsai tree.

### Tuesday 26th July

Abbie designed gblocks for our lycopene biobrick. Amandeep created a slider for our wiki homepage as well as some banners.

### Wednesday 27th July

Amandeep was designing the Logo for the T-shirts and phoning companies to get a quote for some t-shirts. Abbie was working on developing the presentation for tomorrows year 12 interactive workshop with Sutton trust summer school.

### Thursday 28th July

Amandeep, Abbie and Michelle gave a presentation about iGEM, synthetic biology and ageing to year 12 students at the Sutton Trust summer school at UCL - attach photos. Very inspiring not for just the students, but for us aswell!
We had a meeting with James, who is assisting with the design of our wiki page (see attributions) to discuss the concept in greater detail

### Friday 29th July

Amandeep, Abbie and Michelle gave a presentation about synthetic biology and London to year 8 students as part of outreach activities at UCL - attach photos etc

---

## August

### Monday 1st August

Amandeep is working on developing the crowdfunding page - experiment for UCL iGEM.

Abbie updated our social media platforms describing our outreach experiences and promoting our '[about our project video CHANGE THIS TO ACTUAL UPLOADED FILE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miGGZ7cGazk)' on youtube. She also spoke to RICE iGEM team about collaborating with their humans of synbio project and has been interviewed to feature. Abbie spoke with various teams regarding feedback on current gene circuit designing platforms and collated this for AlphaBrick and with EPF Lausanne iGEM team to participate in their blog idea which helps to put all iGEM teams in one place. Abbie contacted a Kings College London students who wanted to advise our team - we want to keep him involved.

### Tuesday 2nd August

Abbie updated the wiki notebook, looked through what Amandeep did on experiment, constantly updating the wiki with content. Abbie and Amandeep is also working on developing the design of the wiki (building the design of the website with James). Neythan has created the basics of the app (biobrick game) that we are hoping to be a way to get synthtic biology more known - make people more aware of it. Exciting times - hes been able to develop a workign prototype that we hope to run a test with tomorrow.

### Wednesday 3rd August

Abbie attempted to remove the illegal restriction sites for the vitalogelin circuit. We also contacted transcriptic, hoping to use their automated robots for one of our ideas. Amandeep worked on developing the wiki as well as re-writing the experiment crowd funding page and developing some more ideas for our human practices. Kamil was working on creating the final proposal for the vitaliginin circuit. Amandeep wa also working on giving Neythan feedback on the app he has developed - I was able to do a trial run through.

### Thursday 4th August

Amandeep is starting to make the proposal (make the circuit) for the SOD gene therapy idea. We had a meeting with Darren.

### Friday 5th August

finally, after constant perseverance we got our Experiment page approved and ready to be released (crowdfunding). Abbie is focusing on designing the vitalogenein biobrick into chuncks ready for ordering. Amandeep is finding an oxidative stress induced promotor for the SOD system we are hoping to build, updating wiki and devising a plan for our human practices.

### Monday 8th August

Michelle is working on the poster for Westminster. Dale is organising the general protocol for the wiki and generally all experiments. Amandeep is working on arranging the wiki page as well as creating and sending out a list of questions for politicians and religious people. Amandeep is also organising the SOD proposal.

### Tuesday 9th August

Amandeep is working on the SOD proposal, doing extra research and developing the wiki page.

### Wednesday 10th August

Amandeep is learning CSS and javascript - developing the design of the wiki. She has also been contacting many Mp's.

### Thursday 11th August

Amandeep and Abbie conducted a workshop with year 12 students who are taking part in the Sutton Trust summer school. During the workshop we received lots of good feed back and some exciting opinions during the debate about whether ageing research is really a good thing.

### Friday 12th August

The project abstract was due today - therfore Amandeep and Michelle was working on developing a clear brief of our project and selecting our tracks.

### Monday 15th August

Some of the team members attended a meeting with our supervisors where we were able to start to organise our experiments and our plan for the coming month. Abbie, Amandeep and Michelle went to London City hall to see David Kurten (A member of the London assembly). Very exciting!

### Tuesday 16th August

Our crowdfunding page was launched today. Amandeep prepared the presentation for the UK iGEM meet up which is tomorrow. Amandeep and Michelle also worked on the poster presentation (for the meet up).

### Wednesday 17th August

Amandeep and Abbie attended the UK iGEM team meet up. We also presented our project this day to the other teams.

### Thursday 18th August

Abbie and Amandeep attended to UK iGEM team meet up where we presented our project in the poster presentation sessions. We also recieved some good feedback about our project.

### Friday 19th August

Amandeep was designing the team T-shirts and Jumpers ready to be ordered soon. Amandeep and Dale also met with Shubo who was able to help us to plan the yeast experiment as a part of the Vitelogenine sub project.

### Monday 22nd August

Amandeep is working on developing the wiki (making graphics, and the content) also hoping to start the yeast experiment this week.

### Tuesday 23rd August

### Wednesday 24th August

### Thursday 25th August

### Friday 26th August

### Monday 29th August

### Tuesday 30th August

### Wednesday 31st August

---

## September

### Thursday 1st September

### Friday 2nd September

---

## October

### Monday 19th October

The team met up early morning for a team meeting. We came up with an action plan of what we want to do in the lab this week. Other team members (Abbie, Amandeep, Hana and Kamil) are preparing for a practice run through our jamboree presentation. Amandeep is also working on developing the wiki and uploading more project write ups.

### Friday 2nd September

---

### BIOSYNTHAGE

BioSynthAge, Evgeny Saveliev, 2016

University College London, Gower StLondon, United KingdomWC1E 6BT

Project

[Description](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Description)

[Modelling](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Model)

[Parts](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Parts)

[Notebook](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Notebook)

Human Practices

[Our Story](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Human_Practices)

[Gold](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/HP/Gold)

[Silver](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/HP/Silver)

[Integrated](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Integrated_Practices)

Team

[Team](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Team)

[Attributions](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Attributions)

[Achievements](https://2016.igem.org/Team%3AUCL/Achievements)

Sponsors

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/1/19/T--UCL--nebwhite.png)](https://www.neb.com/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/6/61/T--UCL--biochemenglogowhite.png)](http://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemeng)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/f/f3/T--UCL--biochemsocwhite.png)](https://www.biochemistry.org/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/2/26/T--UCL--idtwhite.png)](https://www.idtdna.com/site)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/2/27/T--UCL--snapgenewhite.png)](http://www.snapgene.com/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/6/68/T--UCL--syngentawhite.png)](http://www4.syngenta.com/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/9/94/T--UCL--ucl_white.png)](http://www.ucl.ac.uk/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/7/74/T--UCL--uclengineering.png)](http://www.engineering.ucl.ac.uk/)

[![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/b/bf/HQ_menu_logo.jpg)](https://2016.igem.org)