Team:NGSS AEI TURKEY

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  • Beril Gürdap

    Name: Beril Surname: Gürdap

    Age: 15

    Hometown: Bolu, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: Boredom

    Job of your dreams: Psychologist

    Plan for future: To be a great mum

    Favourite Quote: I can do it

    Favourite Music: Pop

    Favourite Movie: Avatar

    Country where you want to go: Great Britain because I've never been there

    Personal Description: Hey guys! It’s not so hard to describe myself. One word: Galatasaray(Sports Club)!

  • Team Members

    If you want to learn more about us, just click the names!

  • Büşra Güleçer

    Name: Büşra Surname: Güleçer

    Age: 16

    Hometown: Elazığ, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: To gain an experience about synthetic biology, designing a website and meeting with students like me from different countries

    Job of your dreams: I want to be a doctor. Particularly, a heart surgeon

    Plan for future: I am not sure, but after being a doctor, I may be an academician in a university and that moment I may treat poor people

    Favourite Quote: Work for this world like you never die, work for other world like you will die tomorrow (Hz. Mohammad)

    Favourite Music: Pop, R&B, verbal jazz, blues, and some of slow or classic songs

    Favourite Movie: Millionaire

    Country where you want to go: Countries like Haiti or Zimbabwe which are very poor. Maybe Palestine as there is violence. I live in good conditions. I should see them, and be grateful to God.

    Personal Description: I like learning new things. So, I read, watch documentary. I like reading magazines about history, science. Also, I like recognizing other cultures, languages and religions. Especially, I read books about Islam and learn French and Arabic except for English. I am interested in NBA, but I don't follow matches,now. My favorite team is Boston Celtics and player is Rajon Rondo. I like doing tezhip( kind of Turkish art).

  • Dilara Soylu

    Name: Dilara Surname: Soylu

    Age: 16

    Hometown: Kayseri, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: iGEM is a great way of understanding synbio world which is quite similar to the language of computers.

    Job of your dreams: Computer engineer, physicist

    Plan for future: to be helpfull to society/ to be happy/ to read 10.000 thick books

    Favourite Quote: The best way to make dreams true, is to wakeup

    Favourite Music: Classical music, Alternative Rock

    Favourite Movie: V for Vandetta

    Country where you want to go:Italy, it would be amazing to see one of the first center of science and philosophy

    Personal Description: Someone trying to find out the meaning of "true", others can say waste of time but loves every issue about music, want to live in a world that everyone can pick out what to learn; without any pressure, wishing to be a masterCoder on her own, this is all how I describe myself.

  • Mariye Erol

    Name: Mariye Surname: Erol

    Age: 16

    Hometown: Yozgat, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: iGEM is the way to gain an experience about synbio. Also to meet students like me from different countries

    Job of your dreams: Surgeon, biotechnologist

    Plan for future: I want to travel whole world

    Favourite Quote: People of tomorrow shouldn’t linger with today

    Favourite Music: Classical music, Pop

    Favourite Movie: Dead Poets Society

    Country where you want to go:It doesn’t matter for me because I would love to meet different kind of people, travel through different places

    Personal Description: Hey guys, what up? Let me talk about myself. I love painting and I am interested in the calligraphy. I like playing table tennis and also playing the flute. I’m not Professional about this but it is a good way to spend my free time. Whatever sleeping is the best way to spend free time. :) that’s all :)

  • Sinem Fırat

    Name: Sinem Surname: Fırat

    Age: 15

    Hometown: Malatya, Turkey

    Job of your dreams: General Surgeon

    Plan for future: to be a normal person

    Favourite Quote: People don't change

    Favourite Music: Classical music, Pop

    Favourite Movie: Harry Potter

    Country where you want to go:It is Australia because I like Aussie people

    Personal Description: Hey guys this is Sinem!! I don't know what am I gonna say but I'll try :) I really love playing basketball and volleyball. Also I like listening to music and some people say that I can sing :)I think I'm a cheerful person but sometimes I fell weird and I don't know why :) I love pandas and koalas, they make me feel happy. I think living your life is a great thing. All I wanted to say is, I am living my life so this is your life and just try to be happy :)

  • Hatice Kurşun

    Name: Hatice Surname: Kurşun

    Age: 16

    Hometown: Mersin, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: To add knowledge to my knowledge

    Plan for future: To be a beneficial person to society

    Favourite Quote: In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure (Bill Cosby)

    Favourite Music: Classical, Slow music

    Favourite Movie: Inception

    Country where you want to go:India, because you have a facility to meet people from variously different countries

    Personal Description:Hi I'm Hatice. I'm glad you to meet you. I like meeting different people. I like swimming, travelling to different places. I'm interested in music, I like playing the guitar. I can't live without a sea but unfortunately I live in Ankara and there isn't any sea in here. I'm a trustworthy, cheerful and a little bit shy person. How about you people?

  • Ayşe Demirci

    Name: Ayşe Surname: Demirci

    Age: 23

    Hometown: Kastamonu, Turkey

    Purpose in joining iGEM: iGEM is the port to the science world for me. I participated last year for the first time at the Collegiate Division and it was great! Now I want to assist NGSS Turkey by sharing my experiences about iGEM

    Job of your dreams: A neurologist (for now :- ))

    Plan for future: To be a good doctor and scientist /make a contribution to the understanding of the miraculous human body

    Favourite Quote: Be the change that you wish to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi)

    Favourite Music: Actually I like EVERY kind of music;-) it makes no difference. I'm happy to be able to listen to just the right music I need for the mood I am in...

    Favourite Movie: 3 Idiots

    Country where you want to go:: Ireland. The nature of Ireland fascinates me since my childhood

    Hobbies: Playing the violin, the guitar and the Ney (a Turkish reed flute). Basketball and football

    Personal Description: I was born and grown up in Germany. Since 2011 I'm studying medicine at Turgut Ozal University. I'm a passionate violinist and I like almost all kinds of music. I joined the iGEM family last year at the collegiate division. It is a pleasure for me to advise NGSS Turkey. Thank you for the great time we had together:)

  • Fatma Betül Çevik

    Name: Fatma Betül Surname: Çevik

    Age: 20

    Hometown: Tokat, Turkey

    Plan for future:to be a physician scientist

    Favourite Music: Country, Classical

    Favourite Movie: Hugo Cabret

    Country where you want to go:: Japan, I want to observe and learn their culture

    Personal Description: I’ll be third year medical student. I like my lessons without exceptions. I get excited by learning new things, especially in branches of science. I guess that’s why I take so much pleasure of iGEM studies (researches, experiments etc.). Furthermore, I think youths will achieve such incredible points in SynBio and in science as long as they are encouraged. I will try to be together with those young scientists which work with endless desire in every opportunity.

  • Team Video

  • Team Overview

    Hi there,

    Our team consists of 6 high school, 3 university students and 2 instructors. We are all so excited about iGEM HS 2013. We were ordinary people, who were just dealing with daily issues. Thank to SynBio and iGEM for giving such chance to us. Below you can find our team video prepared for iGEM 2013. "iGEM" brings us together"

  • Photo Communication - Abstract

    Communication between bacteria is a very commonly used phenomenon . It is a system which is continuously tried to enhanced and developed. As an alternative to these mostly AHL/inducible promoter dependent communicaiton systems we designed a pathway that targets messaging between different kinds of bacteria and especially bacteria in different and independent media. In our project we are going to examine the ability of a bacterium to affect other colonies via light/color production and emission as a product of several biochemical activities and additionally the effectiveness for different colors and wavelenghts.

    Furthermore, for the safety part of the project, we will analyze the capability of colonies to induce the death of other colonies or activating a second antibiotic resistance via ‘’photocommunication’’ additionally to the already integrated one in the backbone against contamination risks.

  • Murder Communication - Abstract

    As a result of rising number of studies in the field of SynBio the role of genetically modified organisms in our lives increased and gained an important role. At the same time, to keep control of the interaction we get with them and to take precautions against possible dangers, various safety modules were developed. We also established safety system with the help of quorum sensing in our project which is focused on bacterial interactions. At this point of idea, we used LasI and LasR; the communication chemicals of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Response of the receiver cell will be the output of holin-endolysin enzymes to the interaction with LasI gene which will be produced by sender cell. These enzymes will cause the perforation of bacterium cell membrane system and this will result with bacterium death. Consequently, a controlled cell death pathway will be developed with the system of an inducer connected to the sender.

  • Lab

    Module 1 - PhotoCommunication Abstract

    Communication between bacteria is a very commonly used ... Read More

    Module 2 - MurderCommunication Abstract

    As a result of rising number of studies in the field of SynBio ... Read More

  • Notebook

  • PhotoCommunication - Assembly/Design

    For the installation of an interaction system which is independent from any chemicals or the medium, we used the photoreceptor called Cph8 in the literature[3]. This receptor was first used by Team UT Austin in 2004. In order to harvest the molecule PCB which is one of the most important members of the Cph8 pathway, we added to our final part the HO1 (heme oxygenase) and PcyA (phycocyanobilin=ferredoxin oxireductase) sequences which are responsible for the synthesis of PCB. As PCB molecule gets in contact with light and induces the Cph8-complex, the inner cell element of the complex, EnvZ, activates the OmpR protein by phosphorylation. The phosphorylated OmpR induces hereupon the pOmpC promoter and the genes in the upstream region can be translated.

    3. ^ Levskaya A, Chevalier AA, Tabor JJ, Simpson ZB, Lavery LA, Levy M, Davidson EA, Scouras A, Ellington AD, Marcotte EM, Voigt CA (2005). "Synthetic biology: engineering Escherichia coli to see light".Nature 438 (7067): 441–2. doi:10.1038/nature04405. PMID 16306980.

    In this way, we can use extracellular light to regulate intracellular events. In order to test the intercellular applicability of this regulable procedure, we built system (A). System (B) was built to analyze the practicability of the resistance gain in the safety field and other fields besides the light controllable backbone during the life cycle of bacteria.

    System A:

    As a sender system we need a colony which is capable of producing a light stimulus as the basic element of the communication. Because the Cph8 system works best at 660 nm(red light) we transformed our sender cells witht he red luciferase part(BBa_K325219) designed by Team Cambridge 2010.

    To get concrete results from the receiver cell which will respond to the photostimulus, it was a safe way to use proteins which are simply visible through their color. In the upstream region of the OmpR inducible pOmpC promoter we placed:

    a. EPIC Luciferase(BBa_K325100) ya da

    b. GFP(BBa_K769001)

    and intended to test the GFP or EPIC Luciferase respond of the receiver bacteria in case of a Red Luciferase stimulus from the sender bacteria.

    System (B):

    Here, our goal was to find out whether it is possible to strengthen the bacterial antibiotic resistance in the presence of light or - another possibility – whether we could terminate the bacterial activity of the receiver at a desired time by disabling the light source.

    This was established by setting the second antibiotic resistance gene upstream of the pOmpC promoter in the receiver cell containing Cph8. In this way, if we expose the receiver to light (~660 nm) it becomes resistant to Ampicillin in our case (in addition to the Chl resistance contained in pSB1C3 plasmid backbone) and the risk of contamination by undesired colonies will be eliminated. On the other hand, if we stop the exposure our modified bacteria won’t be resistant anymore to Ampicillin and will go down with the other ones because of the still remaining Ampicillin in the medium.

  • Lab

    Module 1 - PhotoCommunication Data

    Data Page for PhotoCommunication ... Read More

    Module 2 - MurderCommunication Data

    Data Page for MurderCommunication ... Read More

  • Module1 : PhotoCommunication - Data Page

  • Module2 : MurderCommunication - Data Page

  • At a Glance

  • Murder Communication - Assembly/Design

    In view of the enormous problems we had with the cloning of Cph8 parts and the fact that our self-designed Cph8 based genes will arrive much later than expected, we decided to develop an alternative project to PhotoCommunication. We started with thinking whether there was a way to make a new project based on our knowledge from the research on bacterial communication methods. As a result of our brain stormings, we came to the result that we want to establish a killer system and link it to the quorum sensing pathway in our former project ideas.

    There was the option for us to use the optimized quorum sensing LasI/R genes of Team Fatih Medical 2012. Finally, we used the LasI/R quorum sensing mechanism of the gram(-) P.Aeruginosa and combined IPTG-inducible LasI production in the sender bacteria with the LasI/LasR dependent T4 Lysis device in the receiver bacteria in order to induce the death of the receiver.

    We used here for the sender BBa_K772005 from Team Fatih Medical 2012. In order to be able to control this device with LacI and IPTG, we decided to add a constitutive promoter at the downstream region of LacI. For this purpose, we ligated part BBa_K772005 separately with these promoters: BBa_J23100, pTetR and BBa_J23101. In this way, we got a sender which produces LacI constitutively and inhibits the transcription of LasI at the upstream region of by repression of pLac. After adding IPTG, the inhibitory effect of LacI on pLac will disappear and the production of LasI can start.

    For the receiver we also used a part from Team Fatih Medical 2012: BBa_K772004.Las Receiver Device. This time, the constitutive promoter pTetR is at the downstream of the LasR gene and ensures the constant production of LasR so that it can interact any time if a LasI molecule from the sender arrives. After interaction, LasI/LasR complex activates pLas promoter and thereby the translation of the upstream genes. At this point, we chose T4 Lysis Device which will be responsible for the bacterial cell death and worked with BBa_K112808 designed by Team UC Berkeley 2008. In conclusion, we have built a quorum sensing inducible lysis system by joining these two parts.

  • Assembly/Design

    Module 1 - PhotoCommunication Assembly/Design

    For the installation of an interaction system which is independent ... Read More

    Module 2 - MurderCommunication Assembly/Design

    In view of the enormous problems we had with the cloning of Cph8 parts ... Read More

  • Safety

    1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:

    a. Researcher safety:

    Actually few hazardous chemicals and solutions such as EtBr are used in some lab procedures such as gel preparation and electrophoresis. However these chemicals and solutions are used according to the safety rules of the laboratory with care and caution. All the members were trained for safety regulations of the laboratory as well as toxicity of the chemicals and solutions before starting the current project.

    b. Public Safety:

    When released by accident, our parts and materials actually cause no damage to the general public. Due to the unability of E.coli strains, TOP10 and BL21 to survive out of the lab, they cannot pose any risk to the safety and health of the general public.

    c. Environment:

    E. Coli strains TOP10 and BL1 have very limited ability to survive outside the laboratory; so that, it would be unable to survive or disseminate. Therefore, there is no specific environmental risk associated with the E. coli strains. All bacterial wastes are kept in 10% bleaching solution for one day, and then, are autoclaved to be sterilized. Yet, undesired GMOs may achieve ecologically harmful features.

    2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues?

    Solely, possible GMOs (genetically modified organisms) which are produced unwillingly during the lab procedures may cause unforeseen and incalculable consequences.A specific part of our Project ‘’MurderCommunication’’ is based on the prevention of GDOs. It contains quorum sensing dependent bacterial lysis. The cell wall destruction system consists of endolysin and holin proteins which are responsible for the lysis of the bacterium cell by degrading its cell wall.

    3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

    The institution which we are using for laboratory facilities has its own biosafety rules. Rules for laboratory use, general principles, prevention from hazardous materials and application of emergency intervention in case of accident are included. The web link is given as (http://www.fatihmed.edu.tr/icerik/guvenlikkilavuzu.php). In Turgut Ozal University Medical School, Laboratory and Patient-Employee Safety Committee is responsible for control as well as biosafety of laboratories and safety of patients and employees. This committee works under one of the vice medical director of Turgut Ozal University Hospital, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Gunduz. Form on safety rules of Turgut Ozal University Medical School Laboratory use was filled in as required. We discussed our project with Prof. Dr. Mehmet Gunduz. Safety and security issues are found sufficient enough that no change is considered as necessary. (Further questions can be directed to Prof. Gunduz, tel: +90-312-203 5103, mgunduz@fatih.edu.tr)

    Our advisor provided us with biosafety and lab training before starting our project. In the training, general safety rules of laboratory use, prevention from hazardous chemicals and solutions as well as emergency intervention in case of accident were included such as:

    - Eating, drinking, storing food and smoking are absolutely not allowed.

    - Mouth pipetting is not allowed; modern pipettes are used in lab.

    - Hazardous wastes and ordinary wastes are separated and cautiously disposed.

    - Lab coats are obligatory to wear in the lab and during on-going experiments.

    - In electrophoresis room, lab coat, protective eyewear, lab masks and gloves have to be worn. In the case of use of EtBr; extra caution is required.

    - Washing hands after any experiment and after touching anything related with viable material is obliged.

    - Air conditioning is kept closed during on-going experiments in order to avoid possible infections of spores and bacteria.

    In addition, we have made an instructive video about lab safety instuctions.

    Turkey has national biosafety regulations and the link is given as http://www.tbbdm.gov.tr/Home/BioSafetyCouncilHome/BioSafetyCouncilHomeChoose.aspx.

    4. Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?

    - First, IGEM committee may prepare a lab safety acknowledgement form like OSHA form. This form can be required to be filled in by all members. This will allow us to confirm whether members of the teams are informed about safety issues and standardize the safety measurements.

    - Second, iGEM committee may organize a webinar to inform the participants about safety and security in labs. Webinar can be done at the beginning of the experiments. Mentor scientists may talk about their experiences and mention some tricks about safety issues.

  • Lab

    Module 1 - PhotoCommunication Overview

    The communication between bacteria is provided by chemicals like ... Read More

    Module 2 - MurderCommunication Overview

    Bacteria communicate among each other by using chemicals called ... Read More

  • Goals

    Module1:PhotoCommunication & Module2:MurderCommunication – Goals

    Achievement of communication between colonies which exist in different environments:

    The communication between bacteria is provided by chemicals like AHL(N-Acyl Homoserine Lactones) in gram(-) bacteria, oligopeptids in gram(+) bacteria and some other molecules. These ways of messaging is possible only if both – sender and receiver of the message – are in the same medium, while messaging between two different media is not possible which is a limiting factor. As a solution for this standing problem and an alternative quorum sensing mechanism, ‘’Photocommunication’’ provides a non-chemical and contactless way of messaging between organisms.

    Achievement of communication between different types of bacterial strains:

    Between some types and subtypes of bacterial strains communication is already possible by means of different chemical molecules. However, it is known that not all types of bacteria have this ability. These microorganisms need alternative ways of interacting where ‘’photocommunication’’ comes into play.

    Achievement of an new controlable prevention method against contamination:

    Even if we use antibiotics in order to prevent the contamination in solid or liquid growth media, it is still not 100% safe against contamination. Our purpose is to use a second different antibiotic resistance for eliminating contamination as far as possible. The bacteria which we use in our exeriments will be able to survive by activating a second resistance at bright places thanks to the Cph8 photoreceptor system while unwanted bacteria die because of the lack of resistance against the second antibiotic.

    Controlled inacivation/killing of the bacteria:

    They same controlable system as mentioned above can also be used for avtivation and killing bacteria at a desired time. This time, the light source which had activated the second antibiotic resistance will be disabled so that bacteria which have done their jobs will be killed because of an antibiotic in their medium which they can’t resist any more. Thus, a processes can be terminated at each phase of the project, whenever desired -and more important- all this in a clear GDO-free manner.

  • PhotoCommunication - Overview

    PhotoCommunication – Overview

    The communication between bacteria is provided by chemicals like AHL(N-Acyl Homoserine Lactones) in gram(-) bacteria, oligopeptids in gram(+) bacteria and some other molecules. These ways of messaging is possible only if both – sender and receiver of the message – are in the same medium, while messaging between two different media is not possible which is a limiting factor.

    In our project, we aimed to provide a solution for this problem and an alternative way for bacterial communication by using the light-contollable Cph8 photoreceptor system which was used quite early in the iGEM history (2004 Team UT Austin with the ‘’photographer bacteria’’) and called our project ‘’PHOTOCOMMUNICATION’’. Through the mechanism we have developed our bacteria(receiver) will be able to perceive the light that is produced by another bacteria(sender) and as an answer a further pathway in the receiver will be activated.

    We prefered to work with E.coli in our project and tested two systems which will be applicable in different areas. In our first system (A), Cph8 photoreceptor was used to get an answer signal to the Cph8 induction in form of another Luciferase product or GFP. and in the second system (B) to develop an additional antibiotic resistance.

    In system (A), our goal was to confirm the proper function of Cph8. The red light which was produced by the sender through the enzyme Red Luciferase activates the receiver Cph8 photoreceptor. After receiving the photons, EnvZ membrane protein which is anchored to Cph8 will phosphorylate another protein called OmpR at the inner side of the bacterial cell. Subsequently, OmpR will activate the pompC promoter and the sender bacteria will beginn to emit another luciferase product as an answer. Consequently, this would prove that the ‘’photocommunicaiton’’ mechanism has worked.

    Our aim in system (B) was to use the CpH8 photoreceptor in order to earn the receiver bacteria an extra antibiotic resistance (apart from the one in the backbone) or, the other way around, to ensure the death of the receiver type bacteria by disrupting the connection at any desired time with the light/photon source so Cph8 can’t receive any activator signals any more and the bacteria loses it’s extra resistance placed behind the pOmpC promoter and is no more able to resist the second antibiotic in the medium.

    The part sequences of system (A) and system (B) are identical from the pBAD promoter and pOmpC promoter. The differance between the both systems is the sequence after pOmpC. In (A) pOmpC is followed by Luciferase in 5’ direction while in (B) it is followed by the Ampicillin resistance gene.

    We have shown the bacterial communication system we have designed via two different products. We think that by changing the sequence in the upstream region of the pOmpC promoter, it is possible to control divers pathways through an interbacterial communication.

  • Murder Communication - Overview

    Bacteria communicate among each other by using chemicals called autoinducers. As a result, features like symbiosis, virulence, motility, antibiotic production and biofilm formation are modified at the gene expression level. This type of communication – called quorum sensing – can be amoung the same colony as well as between gram(-) and gram(+) bacteria. Regarding our former work, we decided to continue with communication between bacteria and to use quorum sensing molecules produced by the gram(-) bacteria P. aeruginosa and a similiar autoinducer chemicals like LuxI/R from another gram(-) bacteria V. Fischer - LuxI/R. [1][2]

    This time, we thought of a innovative lysis device, similiar to that of the safety part of ‘’photocommunication’’. Contrary to ‘’Photocommunicaiton’’, bacteria will send each other chemical inducers instead of photons.

    As a conclusion, we built a killing device wich is still related to bacterial quorum sensing mechanisms but additionally inducible with IPTG. We think that IPTG induction can serve as a control during the experiments on different colonies in the same media.

    1..^ a b Passador, L.; Cook, J.M., Gambello, M.J., Rust, L., and Iglewski, B.H (1993). "Expression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence genes requires cell-cell communication.". Science 260: 1127–1130. doi:10.1126/science.8493556. PMID 8493556.

    2.^ a b Brint, J.M.; Ohman, D.E. (1995). "Synthesis of multiple exoproducts in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is under the control of RhlR-RhlI, another set of regulators in strain PAO1 with homology to the autoinducer responsive LuxR-LuxI family.". J. Bacteriol. 177 (24): 7155–7163. PMC 177595. PMID 8522523

  • Adventures of E.coli and B.subtilis

    Hi Dear iGEMers and the others,

    Have you met E.Coli and B.Subtilis? Yes, these are the cute little bacteria that you are working on them at laboratory. They are small but smart bacteria. They are trying to be heard by humankind on twitter. Not just that, they are also instruct us about iGEM and synthetic biology. Of course they are doing it with their own interpretation.

    Beside to be so active like this, both of the bacteria have different characteristics although they get along with each other. Let's get to know them closer:

    E.Coli: Born on 1885. He is the unique king of the Eubacteria Kingdom. He is friend with B.Subtilis over a hundred year. He loves living in large intestine most. On the other hand, he wouldn't say no for a chocolate cake. His lifetime wish is to be the king of the world -or the universe with his words- when the day come that evolution has been completed.

    B.Subtilis: Born on 1835. He has a modest lifestyle. E.Coli is his best friend-maybe because of he is his only friend. He hates antibiotics. Quiet places is his best. He prefers lemonade to chocolate His lifetime wish is to go to Pollyanna's village and continiue to his modest life. Although he is modest he says "When the world orders have changed, They will show the respect that I deserve!"

    If you wanna learn more about E.coli and B.subtilis, now visit and follow their twitter addresses!

    https://twitter.com/SubBacillus

    https://twitter.com/E_coli1885

  • Information Stand at Mall

    As a human practises work, we were trying find out a influential way to inform the society about iGEM and SynBio. We decided on the group that would talk to. Public awareness was a serious issue, therefore we claimed the public as our first group.

    Subsequently, we debated about how to inform the public effectively. We found out some efficient ways, and epening a stand in a shoppingmall was one of them. We choosed Nata Vega as a place, because it is the one of the biggest shoppingmall in Turkey. It also has famous brands which are only exist in there.

    On 6 April 2013, our group has moved to the mall. We managed to complete our stand on 10.00 o’clock when the visitors has just reached. Our school has assists us with the bus to carry our materials. Days before, we had have sent our brochures for distrubuted the shops under the roof of NataVega.

    We were ready with our balloons, brochures and ofcourse knowledge of SynBio, iGEM. We did estemeed number of presentations. Balloons were great idea to attractc people to our stand. We talked about what is SynBio and iGEM, example projects. Busra had borrowed her uncle’s camera to take professionals photos.

    We did an attribution to be able to be better. Mariye and Dilara have distrubuted booklets and informed the people who visited our stand. Busra have taken photos. Beril and Sinem have distrubuted the balloons, booklets and also invited people to our stand. Most of the visitors were families, except that business men and student groups visited our stand as well.

    After six hours, we have finished our presentations. It was a hard experience for us coming back with those equipments, they were really heavy, but it worth. We met people who can help us in our future projects, too. We met people who can help us in our future projects, too.

    Here are the original brochures that we distrubuted on the mall (You can see the images with full size by clicking the small images)

    Here are the English version of out brochures

    Below you can find some photos from our mall event

  • bactUNO Card Game

    Hi there,

    Our team consists of 6 high school, 3 university students and 2 instructors. We are all so excited about iGEM HS 2013. We were ordinary people, who were just dealing with daily issues. Thank to SynBio and iGEM for giving such chance to us. Below you can find our team video prepared for iGEM 2013. "iGEM" brings us together"

  • SynBio Day at Kindergarden

    We organized a SynBio day at the kindergarden. Our purpose was teaching new, different areas to kids and endearing science. We also aimed to measure their understanding of bacteria. First idea has came with the question :

    "SynBio was a science area on university level. Although İgemhs competition showed us even high school students can understand and learn specific knowledge from SynBio. Why don’t we inform kindergarden students with the amount and level of information they can be able to understand?"

    Those kids going to be futures astronauts, policemen, doctors, teachers etc. Does anyone ask how properly they know being an astronaut? So they can understand what we do, what bacteria are. We contacted with the teachers in Burc Child Academies, and explained our purpose. They were tend to do these kind of activities, so they let us to spend some good time with our little friends :)

    On the first Kindergarden SynBio Day there was a group of kids aged between the range 3 – 6. Hatice Kursun, Sinem Fırat and Busra Gulecer went to Burc Child Academies, on 7th June 2013, at 10.30. Our friends prepared a great presentation on Powerpoint which is really colorfull and attractive. Presentation included brilliant pictures about bacteria. They also prepared a sketch, consisting of two beneficial hand made cartoon bacteria, to make children understand better.

    Here are the notable questions that our friends asked to kids before the presentation and kids’ reaction to the questions:

    Have you ever heard the word bacteria?

    - Most of the kids have had heard about it.

    Do you know that which functions bacteria have?

    - Our friends got such answers: they sicken us, harm our teeth. The word bacteria didn’t not have a good impression on them.

    Our friends have informed them with their presentation. They showed kids that there are some beneficial bacteria as well, and they are useful. Finally kids decided to pick our cartoon bacteria as friends :)

    The first Kindergarden SynBio day passed great. Second Kindergarden SynBio day will come with surprises !!!

    Below you can find our photos

    Below you can find our powerpoint slide

  • Survey

    Our purpose in conducting this survey was to observe if people have enough information about synthetic biology, bacteria and activities which are related to them, or not. We surveyed with over 100 people. Most of them are high school students. The survey consist of 10 questions with 3 answer options.

    You can find our survey in Turkish

    You can find our survey in English

    Question - 1

    Are all kinds of bacteria harmful?

    98% of the participants think that not all kinds of bacteria are harmful and say that some bacteria are even useful. It is suprising.

    Question - 2

    Do you have enough information about bacteria?

    Most of participant haven’t got enough information about bacteria

    Question - 3

    Might bacteria be useful for the humanity?

    97% of the people we have asked answered "yes" to this question.

    Question - 4

    Do you think that transferring genes to bacteria in order to gain various useful functions is justifiable?

    For %38 of participants it is not justifiable. We need to inform people more about SynBio and its works.

    Question - 5

    Do you know which functions bacteria have/might have (except for illness)?

    That is a good ratio. Still there are some people don’t know about bacteria’s function

    Question - 6

    Do you think that changing genes is acceptable?

    Most of the participants think that transferring genes is ok, but changing genes on the other hand is not right.

    Question - 7

    Have you ever heard of E.Coli?

    %55 of the participants have not heard about E.coli

    Question - 8

    Might be bacteria enjoying?

    Most of them said that bacterias might not be enjoying.

    Question - 9

    Do you think that you have enough knowledge about synthetic biology?

    60% of the people noticed that they don’t know enough about SynBio.

    Question - 10

    Do you follow competitions and activities about Synthetic Biology?

    82% of the pople don’t know about activities related to bacteria/SynBio like iGEM.

  • SynBio Presentation

    As 2013 iGEM HS participants, NGSS TURKEY, we made an Introduction to Primary School Students. On 15th of May, we invited them to our school and organized a well designed presentation. They were all senior year students at a primary school, and as they have a High School Entrance Examination (SBS), SynBio and iGEM presentation was like a breathe for them.

    Beril Gurdap has presented and Busra Gulecer has taken the photos, and she also prepared the presentation. We gave place to important notes in Powerpoint, and prepared a presentation according to that. The presentation was consisting of brief descriptions and lasted for nearly 45 minutes. Beyond the PowerPoint presentation Beril also gave place to information about our team, NGSS TURKEY.

    Firstly, we explained what SynBio is. We mention the differences and similarities between genetical engineering and SynBio. We measured how the audience know about SynBio. We proved again that SynBio is a young field of science.

    As every slide included iGEM logo, we explained what the igem is, too  We got th attention on this part. They asked about how to participate. We explained them in the way as good as we can. We picked up next years iGEMers :)

    The heart of İgem, SynBio. Pipettesss!!! We could not afford one, so we could not show what it is like in real life, although our media was able to make sense. These magical tools... They are certainly amazing! After those reactions we have to explain to our visitors that they can not buy one for themselves and keep it. Actually they can, but without eppendorfs and plates what to do with pipettes?

    We showed them a plate and explained the points on the plate. It is so hard to believe that on these little plates there are more than millions of bacteria. We continued with sample projects of previous years. They were impressed by the shined bacteria. When we talked about the power of this light, we gave reading a book in front of luminous bacteria as an example. We also talked about the future of SynBio and asked them what they want e.coli to do.

    Seeing smiling faces made us feel good :)

    Below you can find our presentations

    Click here for our powerpoint slide in Turkish

    Click here for our powerpoint slide in English

  • Introduction of SynBio to Companies

    On SynBio projects, presentations of the projects are as important as what projects are. As synthetic biologists, beyond SynBio, as scientists our intention is to inform society about new technologies, about how to make the world a better place to live and to increase the awareness of public. Society sometimes refers kids or students and sometimes people in Supermarkets. There is also one more group of people. They are businessmen. Gaining the attention of those people has slightly different benefits to SynBio Society.

    Our purposes on SynBio and İgem introductions to companies have similarities with our other presentations. We are trying to inform those people about the area that we are working on. Almost ;) in every attendance we take good feedbacks. People like to hear new things, especially from youngsters. Their supports are considerable for us. With their encouragement we hope one day we are going to be able to be beneficial for humanbeings.

    To present SynBio and İgem we have contacted with several companies. After couple of struggles we managed to start a communication with some of them. We prepared a stable presentation including SynBio, iGEM, Example Projects and Our Team.

    Energy Market Regulatory Authory

    We have contacted with Mr. Osman Birgin, who is the head of Energy Market Regulatory Authory, he was enthusiastic for such kind of activities, so he has accepted our offer. We have taken appointment from him for 5th of June 2013 , at 11.00 am. Mariye Erol and Dilara Soylu as the students and Fatma Betül Çevik as the advisor have gone for meeting. When we arrived, we had a conversation in Mr. Birkan’s room. Afterward we passed to meeting room and started our presentation. The presenatation has been done to Mr.Birgin, other department presidents and a septet of EMRA workers.

    The audience has listened the presentation of little-known discipline synthetic biology and iGEM competition carefully. We’ve informed them about the studies on İgem related to energy. Our friends have answered the questions. Then we talked about the future of SynBio. Mr. Birkan offered us sending our presentation documents as an email to the ones on their email lists who are almost five hundred people.

    We informed them about our outreach projects. After couple of time, Mr. Birkan offered to us sending our presentation document as email to the ones on their email list who are almost five hundred people (Document was helpful :)) We have left EMRA about 12.40 am. Beyond being able to reach our purposes, we enjoyed to spend time with them!

    Halıcızade Company

    From our team; Mariye Erol, Dilara Soylu and Fatma Betül Çevik have established communication with the founder and the head of Halicızade Company, Mr. Metin Özer. We have talked about whether we can make a presentation or not Mr. Ozer has accepted our offer.

    The presentation has been placed on 5 June 2013, at 14.00. It has lasted for 30 minutes. Firstly we explained what SynBio and İgem is. Then we have showed the works of previous teams. After we completed the presentation, they spent some time on possible kinds of projects that can be done in the area of SynBio. It was a beneficial presentation for us and him, Mr. Ozer has given his thanks. Afterward we left him our presentation and sponsorhip document and left Halıcızade Company at 14.00.

    Below you can find some photos from the our presentations

    FIRAT COMPANY

    Mr. Fırat has accepted our presentation offer kindly. On 18 May, at 10.00 a.m. Sinem and Hatice from our team went to Fırat Company for the presentation. Audience consisted of six person. We used the powerpoint slides to inform the listeners. After sincere conversation we left the company. It was a succesfull presentation, we also developed our presentation skills.

    Below you can find some photos from the our presentations

    Here are our presentation documents :

    Click here for our powerpoint slide in Turkish

    Click here for our powerpoint slide in English

    Click here for our sponsorship and presentation document in Turkish

    Click here for our sponsorship and presentation document in English

  • iGEM for Everyone

    The time that we have spent in public transportations, most of the time, is wasted time. Imagine that you are in the subway, in the bus, walking or shopping; group of people came out started to tell you about such intersting issues. Wouldn’t it great? Today you learn something new dude!

    Why am I telling that? We are also part of the mass. In order to arouse the interest We printed some cute brochures - OK they were well designed but we couldn’t print them all in colours(By the way, we also used the last brochures which were left over from the information stand in the shopping mall ). It was our goal to make iGEM understandable for every member of the society.

    Where have we made our presentations ? Subway, bus, shopping mall, street, picnic area – everywhere we could see any human beeing! If we had a sea or a river in the neighborhood ships couldn’t escape us either. We informed people about SynBio and iGEM by leaving out the technical language out as far as possible, so even children could understand us.

    We had very positive feedback and especially elderly persons stated that they are very proud of us to take part in scientific projects like iGEM at such a young age.

    We also have some funny moments (especially in the subway). It was a really nice experience!

    Below you can find our brochures

    For English

    For Turkish

    Below you can find our photos

  • NGSS Comics

    Hey Guys,

    This is our Comics. Hope oyu like it. Next year it will contain more and more colour

  • Colloboration

    TO - DO

    Below you can find some photos

  • Fun!

    One day of an iGEMer: "Experiment, wiki, experiment, wiki, experiment, wiki... zZzZzZz..."

    Listening Ayşe Sister's guitar was a great pleasure for us. Also Dilara can play, but... In our free times, it is not valid actually, we played table tennis or took videos. The best parts of the days, definitely, meal times. Beril's mother bought us a baklava (turkish dessert, yummy!) for once :) Our traditional meal is pizza. Ordering pizza is cheaper than the others. We can choose "Secrets" as our favourite team song. Our favourite sport is wrestling, also.After three weeks that we stayed in the lab, we have collected some funny moments. Beyond them we took some videos else too. Enjoy it!"

  • Lab

    Notebook

    Here is the Notebook since January!

    Procedures

    If you want to learn how we did our experiments, you are in the right place

    Safety

    Safety have never been such funny!

  • Outreach

    Adventures of E.coli and B.subtilis

    Have you met E.Coli & B.Subtilis? ...

    InfoStand at Mall

    As a human practises work, we ...

    bactUNO card game

    As a human practises work, we ...

    SynBio Day at the Kindergarden

    We organized a SynBio day @kindergarden ...

    Survey

    As a human practises work, we ...

    SynBio Presentation

    As a human practises work, we ...

    Introduction of SynBio to Companies

    On SynBio projects, presentations ...

    iGEM for Everyone

    As a human practises work, we ...

    NGSS Comics

    As a human practises work, we ...

    Colloborations

    As a human practises work, we ...

  • Digestion

    Materials:

    • • Pcr Tube
    • • Pipette tip which has filter
    • • Plasmid which had isolated
    • • -20 C EcoR1, Spel, Pstl, Xbal enzymes
    • • ×10 NE Buffer 2
    • • ×100 BSA
    • • Nuclease Free H2O
    • • Heat block or PCR

    Experiment:

    • • Take PCR tubes. Don’t forget to take tube for destination plasmid.
    • • Paste the stickers to the tubes.
    • • Lave NE Buffer 2, NF Water, BSA into ice when they melted.
    • • Take the average of the nucleic acid concentrations measured by the spectrometer. Divide 500 by the DNA average.
    • • Add 5µl Ne Buffer.
    • • Add 0.5µl BSA Buffer.
    • • Add 1 µl of the enzymes with barrier tips.
    • • If you cut with Ecor1 and SpI, it will be up stream.
    • • If you cut with Xbal and Pst1, it will be down stream.
    • • Subtract the amount of DNA from 42.5 µl. This result will be the amount of NFW used.
    • • Add the NFW with barrier tips and do one pippetting while taking the NFW.
    • • Then the DNA is put into the PCR and is left there for 30 minutes.

    ATTENTION!

    • • Be sure enzymes are enough.
    • • You must use plasmid which had isolated.
    • • Use barrier tips has filter.
  • Plasmid Isolation

    Materials:

    • • Centrifuge
    • • Liquid waste bin
    • • 1,5 ml and 2 ml epps
    • • Plasmid Isolation Kit
    • • Resuspension Buffer
    • • Lysis Buffer
    • • Neutralization Buffer
    • • Wash Buffer
    • • Elution Buffer
    • • Vortex
    • • 50-500 µl pipettes
    • • Timer
    • • Filter columns and epps
    • • PCR Tubes (mini epp)

    Experiment:

    • • Use gloves!
    • • Liquid cultures centrifuge: 5 ml; 4100 rpm, 15 min. 1,5 ml; 13000 rpm, 10 min. (with 2 µl epp)
    • • After the centrifuge, the supernatent should be disposed without taking any pellets along with it.
    • • Add 250 µl Resuspension Solution. Vortex until to be homogeneous(about 30 sec.). You can pipetting too.
    • • Add 250 µl Lysis Solution. You must invert(4-6 times).
    • • There must be 3 min.
    • • Add 350 µl Neutralization Solution and invert(4-6 times).
    • • 5 min. centrifuge.
    • • After centrifuge try to take supernatent without pellets as much as you can to fitler columns.
    • • 1 min. (13 000 rpm) centrifuge. Throw the supernatent to liquid waste bin.
    • • Add 500 µl Wash Solution. 1 min. centrifuge. Throw the supernatent to liquid waste bin.
    • • Add 500 µl Wash Solution. 1 min. centrifuge. Throw the supernatent to liquid waste bin.
    • • 1 min. centrifuge to get rid of alcohol.
    • • Throw the supernatent with epp.
    • • Put new 1,5 epp under the filter column.
    • • Transfer the columns into 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tubes and leave their caps open for 2 minutes so that the ethanol that they contain dissolves in air.
    • • Add 50 µl Elution Buffer.
    • • Incubate for 2 minutes.
    • • Centrifuge for 2 minutes.
    • • Take the supernatent to new epp.
    • • Measure them with Nanodrop.

    Attention!

    • • All centrifuges are 13000 rpm.
    • • Don’t shake Lysis Solution.
  • LB-Agar

    Materials:

    • •LB-Agar(chemical storage)
    • •Sterile dH2O
    • •Flask
    • •Liquid autoclave
    • •Aluminium folio
    • •Antibiotic
    • •Empty plates
    • •Parafilm

    Experiment:

    • •In a steril environment, the tare of the container should be measured and subtracted from the overall weight.
    • •7 grams of LB Agar is put in the container.(If there is no LB agar, add the 4 gram LB broth and 2,7 gram agar.)
    • •Add 200 ml distilled water to graduated cyclindar.
    • •These two are mixed in a beaker.
    • •When you are opening the beaker be sure that it doesn’t contact with air.
    • •Autoclave tape is sticked on to the aliminium.
    • •The beaker is placed in to the autoclave machine.
    • •Autoclave machine has to have distilled water or demineralized water. The water level in the autoclave machine has to be a little higher than the liquid level of the beaker.
    • •Then start the 90 min.
    • •Take out the beaker and add antibiotics if required.

    Attention!

    • •Don’t be far away fire.
    • •Don’ forget to write the date.
    • •Don't forget add the amtibiotics
  • LB-Broth

    Materials:

    • •LB-Broth(chemical storage)
    • •Sterile dH2O
    • •Flask
    • •Lab skale
    • •Liquid autoclave
    • •Alumininum folio
    • •Antibiotic

    Experiment:

    • •In a steril environment, the tare of the container should be measured and subtracted from the overall weight.
    • •4 grams of LB Broth is put in the container.
    • •Add 200 ml distilled water to graduated cyclindar.
    • •These two are mixed in a beaker.
    • •When you are opening the beaker be sure that it doesn’t contact with air.
    • •Autoclave tape is sticked on to the aliminium.
    • •The beaker is placed in to the autoclave machine.
    • •Autoclave machine has to have distilled water or demineralized water. The water level in the autoclave machine has to be a little higher than the liquid level of the beaker.
    • •Then start the 90 min.
    • •Take out the beaker and add antibiotics if required.

    Attention!

    • • Don’t be far away fire.
    • • Don’ forget to write date
  • Ligation

    Materials:

    • • PCR Tube
    • • Plasmids
    • • 10× T4 DNA Ligase Buffer
    • • T4 DNA Ligase
    • • Nuklease Free H2O
    • • Heat Block

    Experiment:

    • • Take PCR Tube ® Write Lig on it
    • • Add 2µl upstream, 2µl downstream, 2µl destination plasmids
    • • Add 2µl T4 DNA Ligase buffer
    • • Add 1µl T4 DNA Ligase
    • • Add 11µl nüklease free H2O. It must be 20 µl.
    • • It must wait 37 C (10 min.), 80⁰C(20 min.)
    • • After incubation you must followwith transformation. The only difference between normal transformation and lig’s transformation is adding 2µl plasmid.

    Attention!

    • • You must leave plasmid in -20°C after lig.
    • • If electrophoresis results are successful you will follow with lig.
  • Liquid Culture

    Materials:

    • • Falkon
    • • Pipette gun
    • • 5-10 ml pipette
    • • Ice box
    • • LB-Broth
    • • Antibiotic
    • • Colony
    • • Pipette
    • • Shaker
    • • Incubator

    Experiment:

    • In sterile environment,
    • • Take falkons.
    • • Add 5 ml LB-Broth into falkons with pipette gun.
    • • Take an antibiotic into ice.
    • • Add antibiotic.
    • • Take the colony from plate.
    • • Leave it into falkon.
    • • Take falkons to the shaker.(it can be 240 or 320 rpm) Leave it 37⁰C ( 12-14 hours ) incubator.
  • Nano Drop

    • • Open the program(Nano- Spech).
    • • Choose dsDNA.
    • • Be sure pipette is 2 µl.
    • • Leave the drop middle.
    • • First try Elution Buffer (for blanck)
    • • Click blank.
    • • If results are about 0(zero) its okay.
    • • Write their names, click "start".
    • • Nucleic Acid must be much over than 17 ng.
    • You must check 2 times and to take their avarage.

    Notes:

    • Blanck = Elution Buffer
    • Graph must be as straight as it can.
  • Transformation

    Materials:

    Notes:

    • • 1.5 mL epps
    • • Heat Block (42ºC)
    • • Competent cells
    • • LB-Broth
    • • Ice
    • • Ice Box
    • • Microcentrifuge
    • • Rocks for epp
    • • Timer
    • • LB agar plates
    • • Spreader
    • • Shaker (240 rpm)
    • • Parafilm
    • • Band
    • • 1 µl pipette (for plasmid)
    • • 50µl pipette
    • • 150 µl pipette (for spread)
    • • 450 and 500 µl pipettes (for LB)
    • • Incubator (37 C)
    • • Alcohol
    • • If there is diluting from the kit:
    • • Nuclease Free H2O
    • • 15 µl pipette
    • • PCR Tube (Mini epp)

    Experiment:

    Notes:

    • • Sterilize the environment.
    • • Take the competent cells from -80°C.
    • • Turn on the heat block (42⁰C)
    • • Put 1 µl plasmid in a 1,5 ml ep.
    • • Put competent cells in the same 1,5 ml epp. Use 50µl competent cells.
    • • Place the epps into the microcentrifuge. (30-60 sec., 3000 rpm)
    • • Incubate on ice for 45 min.
    • • Put epps into the heat block at 42⁰C for 120 sec.
    • • Put epps back on ice for 5 min. to reduce damage to the e.coli cells.
    • • Add 450 ul of LB(with no antibiotic added)
    • • Incubate examples on shaker for 1 hour at 37⁰C. (240 rpm)
    • • Spread about 135 ul of the final examples on LB plates (with appropriate antibiotic added-usually Ampicillin or Kanamycin)
    • • Incubate overnight.
    • • Pick colonies about 14-16 hours later

    ATTENTION

    Notes:

    • • Don’t use gloves when you are working with fire.
    • • Don’t forget to write notes on epps.
    • • Be quick while sirkini Wilhelm compatent cells
  • Safety

    Safety is an important issue for lab experiments. We have created a safety text and also safety video! The name of our video is “Lab over Clouds”. You can find our safety text just under the video.

  • Attributions

    Attributions

    All of us work hard for iGEM 2013. But our particular thanks go to the esteemed people and foundations behind the scenes...

    Firstly we want to thank our school, Ankara Private Atlantik Nevin Gökçek Science High School , to give us such opportunities.

    Our very special thanks go to...

    Wet Lab Works

    ...Turgut Ozal University (former Fatih) for providing their labs and other facilities for us. We also want to thank our head advisor Assoc. Prof. Esra Gündüz who was ready at anytime to support us.

    ...Sentegen for helping us to to provide our genes, special thanks for cool centrifuge.

    ...the whole team, especially to our advisors: Fatma Betül Çevik, Ayşe Demirci, Esma Ölmez who were always with us.

    Wiki

    ... Ms. Havva Gulay Gurbuz – graduate student at Bilkent University. She spent a lot of her time for us.

    ... Busra Nur Aydın who helped us with designing - she has magical hands.:)

    ...Mr. Kasım Özkan who helped us with doing our comics.

    Funding

    We want to thank Mr. Osman Birgin , who is the head of Energy Market Regulatory Authory for finding us generous funds. He did things which mean a lot for us.

    We want to thank our school again in this chapter. They provided their sources for us.

    Beyond these, we want to thank Turgut Ozal 2013 Collegiate iGEMers for being our advisors. We also want to give a special thank to Esin and Kübra Sisters for yummy meals :)

    There is also one more group that we want to thank. They were supporting us in our desperative times. Our parents! Especially to Beril’s mom Mr. Hülya Gürdap for baklava (Turkish dessert) and to Dilara’s mom Mr. Özlem Soylu for transportation.

    Aaaand finally: Our instructor Ms. Mihriban Ozgun for her amazing "instructorhood"

Sponsors