VECTOR The Unofficial iGEM Proceedings Journal 2020 "Ideas shape the course of history." J. M. Keynes History of iGEM and Some Exciting Projects of the Past. Team MIT_MAHE Pages 2-4 SARS-CoV-2 Novel Diagnostics Interview COVID-19: A Creation of a Novel, The Importance of Current Review Diagnostic Method vaccines On Pathology, for Endometriosis Prof. Dr. Kremsner Progression, and Using Menstrual Evaluates the Current Intervention Effluent. Pandemic Situation. Team MIT Team Rochester Team Tübingen Pages 33-35 Pages 125-128 Pages 139-142 October 2020, Vol 1., created by MSP-Maastricht, www.igem-maastricht.nl Editors in Chief Larissa Markus is a 3rd year bachelor student at the Maastricht Science Programme and the Head of management of team MSP-Maastricht. Her organisation skills, goal-oriented work and motivated attitude are what made this Journal possible. Contact: [email protected] university.nl Juliette Passariello-Jansen is a 3rd year bachelor student at the Maastricht Science Programme and one of the Team leaders of team MSP-Maastricht. Her incredible dedication, patience and eye for detail are what made this Journal possible. Contact: [email protected] Not a normal iGEM year….. iGEM can be challenging. Even in a normal year. You need to come up with a great project, do your research, navigate obstacles, work as a team in- and outside of the lab and deal with all the challenges along the way. The wrong bands on the gel, the trouble to get actual funding money instead of five packs of free polymerase, hours upon hours upon hours of work, not just in the lab, but also in meetings and at home, and in the end, the last bit of sleep-deprived cramming to fit everything you did into a great wiki. Even in a normal year those things are not easy, in a normal year when you do not have to wonder when you can finally go to the lab again, when you do not have to expect and adjust to new regulations and when you do not have to worry about the health of your loved ones. But this is not a normal year. This year everything was more difficult, some things were just a little bit more difficult, like doing more meetings online instead of in person, others were a lot more difficult, like not being able to enter the lab for months while the time was slowly running out. This year was full of countless challenges no other iGEM team ever faced before. But from the experience we made working together with you and creating this journal, we know one thing for sure, you faced those new challenges head on and you kicked ass doing it. You managed all the obstacles and all the hardships, you created ways to make lockdowns productive, shifted from wet-lab to dry lab, held meetings online, used every online-tool you could to get ahead and worked as hard as you could to overcome the uncertainties this pandemic threw upon you, relentlessly. And when the day finally came and the lockdown ended and you could start getting back to the lab, you did not stop, you charged right ahead and worked even harder to make up for the lost time. And it was worth it, because now you are here, you made it to the end. And you can be proud of it, because a lot of groups did not. The year started with around 450 groups and only 257 ended up here. Be proud. You deserve it! We would like to thank you for putting all this hard work in, for all the great collaborations, and the great online meetings and the occasional in-person meetings when it was permitted. And of course especially a big thanks to the teams that took part in this journal. It was an amazing experience for us to organize this and to put everything together, and we hope it was for you writing and peer-reviewing it just as much. All of the 34 Teams that contributed to this very first iGEM proceedings journal have our greatest gratitude. What you hold in your hands now would not have been possible without the great work of you, the many talented young scientists that contributed to this project, in this definitely not normal igem year. Thank You! Larissa and Juliette, Editors in Chief. Quote of the Year : Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. - Bear Grylls CONTENTS Contents Review 79 The uptake of neuropeptides by nematodes and its 1 Team MSP Introduction Team MSP-Maastricht implications for pest control. 2 The History of iGEM and some exciting projects of the Team Groningen past. Team MIT_MAHE 82 Production of a Protein-based Antifreeze Product for 5 Bio-Startups: from iGEM to the worldwide industry. Team Crops in the Peruvian Highlands. Ecuador. Team UPCH_Peru 8 Promoters in International Genetically Engineered 86 SPARKLE: Solar Potentiated Artificially Knitted Lipid Machine (iGEM). Team IISER-Tirupati_India Enclosures. Team Estonia TUIT 12 Biological Lasers: A Review of The Past iGEM Projects. 89 The Magnetic ATP Recycling System. Team Aachen Team KU_Istanbul. 92 Bellatrix: Software Providing a Novel Protein 16 Like-Particles Systems as Molecular Carriers in The Representation Method. Team Calgary iGEM Competition: Where It Has Gone and What Is 95 Guide for Using Rosetta when Designing Ligand Binding Ahead? Team Ciencias UNAM Sites. Team Aalto-Helsinki 19 Current State, Developments, and Future Perspectives of 106 Amalthea: A Modular Platform for Monitoring Bioprinting. Team Bilkent UNAMBG. Gastrointestinal Health. Team Thessaly. 23 Machine Learning Applications in iGEM. Team Ecuador 110 HORMONIC: An artificial close-loop system for 25 Disasters and Successes of Genetic Engineering. Team hormonal homeostatic regulation.Team UPF_Barcelona. Sorbonne_U_Paris 114 Synthetic Mammalian Circuitry for Graded Treatment of 30 Synthetic Biology and Sustainable Development Goals. COVID-19 Cytokine Storms. Team MIT Team MIT_MAHE 118 Yeast-based Biosensor for Detection of Interleukins in 33 COVID-19: A Current Review On Pathology, Progression, Human Sweat. Team UCopenhagen and Intervention. Team MIT 121 A Synthetic Biology based solution for combating 36 An Intertwined Approach to Synthetic Biology and Antimicrobial Resistance. Team IISER-Tirupati_India Synthetic Chemistry for Health and Welfare. Team IISER- 125 In silico design and analysis of peptide inhibitors against Tirupati. P. falciparum malaria. Team IISER-Pune-India 40 Synthetic biology based medicine projects from Latin 129 Engineering the probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 for American iGEM teams. Team Ecuador oscillatory colorectal cancer therapy. Team UNILausanne 44 A Review of Coral Bleaching Resistance Genes in 132 The viability of engineering a Clostridium to produce Symbiodinium. Team GA_State_SW_Jiaotong DBHB and enhance neuroprotection. Team Nottingham. 47 The Potential for Combining Microbial PET Degradation 135 Creation of a Novel, Noninvasive Diagnostic Method for with Microbial Fuel Cell Technology in Order to Improve Endometriosis using Menstrual Effluent. Team University Water Security, Remediate Plastic Pollution and Produce of Rochester Renewable Energy. Team UCL. 139 Bullshit Detection in Times of Corona. Team Bullshit detectors Original Research Interview 50 Development of a synthetic probiotic bacterium capable of converting methylmercury to elemental mercury to reduce 142 Interview: Prof. Dr. Kremsner evaluates the current its toxic potential. Team MIT_MAHE situation of the Corona Crisis. Team Tuebingen 55 Pollutant biosensor with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 145 Interview: PHOCUS: Target Locusts from within. Team MFC. Team Stockholm TUDelft 58 Mossphate: Yesterday’s wastewater can fuel tomorrow’s 148 A ground-breaking sense of Community. Team UULM, crops. Team Duesseldorf Team Nantes, Team Aachen 61 Microdestruction-When Painkillers Hurt: Diclofenac- inactivating laccases produced by modified C. reinhardtii as an effective wastewater treatment option. Afterword TU_Kaiserslautern 65 A3 Project: a new look on algae revalorization. Nantes 68 Engineering Synechococcus CB0101 to Improve Iron Uptake and Processing. Baltimore BioCrew. 71 Targeting the Oak Processionary Caterpillar (Thaumetopoea processionea) Pest by means of Bacterium-mediated RNA Interference. Team Maastricht 75 Light-triggered knockdown of the WUSCHEL gene in Nicotiana benthamiana. Team Stonybrook.. October 2020 | Vol 1 | iGEM Vector | MSP-Maastricht 0 TEAM INTRODUCTION Dear Fellow-iGEMers and scientifically interested people, We are the MSP-Maastricht iGEM team consisting of 13 aspiring scientists from Maastricht University. Apart from one biomedical sciences bachelor's student and one student pursuing a master’s in systems biology, we are all students of the Maastricht Science Programme and together we have a very broad background on all natural sciences. All together, we have nine different nationalities and speak twelve languages. This year, team MSP-Maastricht’s project is about fighting an invasive insect pest, the oak processionary caterpillar, which poses a local and continental threat. The oak processionary caterpillar not only defoliates trees and entire oak forests, feeding on their leaves. It also poses a serious health hazard especially in urban areas, as its toxic bristles can spread over hundreds of meters and cause skin rashes, eye complaints as well as respiratory issues for both humans and animals. Current methods and pesticides used to manage this pest are relatively inefficient, expensive and unspecific, so that a broad use of the pesticide is not possible due to its harmful effects on the ecosystem. This is why our team’s project is to develop a safe biological pesticide that specifically targets the oak processionary and is therefore environmentally-friendly and presumably more efficient. Our solution, OakShield, is a bacterial pesticide that expresses shRNA to exploit the caterpillar’s own RNA interference mechanism. By targeting essential gene sequences unique to the oak processionary, we want to effectively reduce the pest species’ growing population while remaining highly specific and thus ecologically harmless. Team MSP-Maastricht decided that it is not only the general public that needs to learn more about synthetic biology and research, but also members of the iGEM community.