Team:UNIPV-Pavia/Team

What we did & collaboration with other iGEM 2008 Teams
Paolo Magni and colleagues wanted to introduce Biomedical Engineering students into Synthetic Biology. So, he decided to get some information from Silvio Cavalcanti group (Bologna University), who already worked in this field. At the beginning of 2008 Paolo Magni visited Bologna University labs, located in Cesena, to understand what kind of wet lab resources were necessary to develop a Synthetic Biology project and, discussing with Silvio Cavalcanti and Francesca Ceroni from Bologna group, the iGEM competition seemed to be the right opportunity to start a project. Because Engineering faculty in Pavia had not the required facilities, it was necessary to involve Maria Gabriella Cusella, who leads a Molecular Biology lab in a structure that already worked with Engineering faculty (Center for Tissue Engineering). Then they started selecting students to build up the iGEM team. They chose one Biomedical Engineering master student, Lorenzo Pasotti, one Molecular Biology master student, Mattia Quattrocelli, and a lab advisor, Daniela Galli. In the first weeks of April, Lorenzo trained Mattia about Digital Electronics principles and mathematical modeling. In the meanwhile, Mattia trained Lorenzo about wet lab work. The training included a presentation of all the lab instrumentation, basic Microbiology and Molecular Biology protocols and safety issues. These activities allowed the two students to learn the preliminary skills to start a multidisciplinary collaboration and then they started to get information from literature and from the Registry, to understand what kind of original device they could design. After some weeks they two chose a project and, after some meetings with the other team members, they begun project implementation when Spring 2008 DNA Distribution arrived. The two students worked together in lab to build up and test the designed devices. They also organized periodic meetings with the team instructors to discuss about project progress. Daniela Galli supervised students' wet lab activity and was always ready to help to solve specific biological problems. During our activities, we found very useful to keep in touch with Bologna iGEM Team to share doubts and issues about the work. In particular, several conference calls were organized and two meetings were scheduled in Pisa and Bressanone (Italy). It was fundamental to compare lab protocols and techniques to help each other avoiding mistakes and speeding up project progress. The main topics of our discussion were the optimization of plasmid resuspension and ligation reaction steps as well as how to measure fluorescence. Finally, before DNA Repository quality control publication on the Registry web site, we cross-checked some parts that showed problems after DNA transformation. Problems had been confirmed by quality control results (parts' sequences classified as "inconsistent"). In particular, we were interested in red light sensor parts (see "notebook" section for more information).

Where we're from
Pavia is a town of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of about 71,000.

Pavia is the capital of a fertile province known for agricultural products including wine, rice, cereals, and dairy products. Some industries located in the suburbs do not disturb the peaceful atmosphere which comes from the preservation of the city's past and the climate of study and meditation associated with its ancient University. The University of Pavia, together with the IUSS (Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia), the Ghislieri College, the Borromeo College, the Nuovo College, the Santa Caterina College and the EDiSU, belongs to the Pavia Study System.

Pavia University is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the oldest one in Lombardy. Since its foundation in 1361 it has been a good place to study for both Italian and foreign students.

Each year, thousands of students can appreciate the multidisciplinary vocation of our University and the hospitality of its campus, really unique in Italy for the possibility it offers of living and studying in a lively, intellectually challenging environment.

The University of Pavia today: 3 hospitals 9 faculties 15 colleges 20 master degrees 35 libraries 49 departements 54 specialization schools 104 degree couses 310 exchange relationships over the world 1.120 professors 1.600 study grants 4.000 graduated each year 23.000 students