一切都要从李逢华阿姨的流浪猫救助队说起……
北京右安门，65岁的李阿姨从98年至今已救助过几百只流浪猫，她每天凌晨4点出门，骑自行车给小区周边数十个喂猫点投放猫粮和饮水，给生病的流浪猫看病，带猫做绝育。
但用妙鲜包猫食引诱流浪猫进入捕猫笼却是一大难题，流浪猫警惕性很高，而且猫食还会吸引其他动物。如此捕猫，十分艰难。
It all began with the story of a feral cats rescue team run by Fenghua Li, a 65-year-old woman named Fenghua Li. She has helped hundreds of cats in Beijing since 1998. Every day she gets up at mere dawn to take care of the cats at numerous feeding sites: providing food, water, taking them to the vets for treatment and sterilization. And it’s very time-consuming and challenging attract the cats into the designated cat cages merely with cat food.
今年，由13名高中生组成的iGEM参赛队——大湾区联队合成生物学项目便可以帮助李阿姨解决这个难题：他们设计出一种工程菌，来批量生产猫薄荷的主要物质荆介内酯的前体物——荆介醇。
This year, the iGEM team GreatBay_China, consisting of 13 high school students, finds a solution to solve the above-mentioned problem. They will be able to mass produce nepetalactol, the precursor of nepetalactone— the active principle of catnip.
知识点－合成生物学：合成生物学是21世纪新兴的、发展最迅速的学科之一，它运用工程思想编辑基因，将生物学与计算机科学、化学、数学等领域结合，以高效、精准的方式人工设计、构建出自然界中不存在的生物系统来解决现实生活中遇到的问题。而构建“基因电路”是达到这一目的的重要手段，合成生物学家们把各个生物元器件（启动子、核糖体结合位点、蛋白编码序列、终止子等）的DNA序列像拼接电路一样拼接到一起，实现逻辑门控制，赋予生物相应的功能。
This will require the team to put their knowledge of Synthetic Biology into actual use.
What is Synthetic Biology?
Synthetic Biology is one of the most rapidly developing fields in the twenty-first century, a rising star. It engages engineering thinking, combining Biology with other subjects like Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics in order to design and construct artificial biological systems to tackle real-life issues, for example, energy, environmental protection etc. Building genetic circuits are the approach to this goal. Synthetic biologists connect the DNA sequences of different biological parts (promoters, ribosome binding sites, protein-coding sequences, terminators etc.) in a way similar to building electrical circuits, endowing the artificial biological systems with corresponding functions and enabling regulation of these functions by logic gates.
说回iGEM大湾区联队小组的荆介醇批量生产方案，荆芥醇是一种平台分子，即他们能通过荆芥醇生产出其它有价值的天然化合物，比如目前应用最广泛的抗癌药物长春花碱。荆介内酯是猫薄荷能吸猫的有效成分，荆芥醇通过一步生物酶即可变成荆介内脂。荆介内脂还有着许多功效：它不但是对抗蚜虫的环保型农药，还能有效驱蚊，且驱蚊效果比常用的避蚊胺更加强大。虽然把荆芥醇转化为荆芥内酯的酶暂时还未被鉴定出来，他们暂时只能生物全合成荆芥醇，但一步简单的化学氧化还原反应就能把荆芥醇转化为荆芥内酯。
Speaking of nepetalactol, it is a platform molecule, meaning we can synthesize other valuable natural compounds from nepetalactol, such as vinblastine, an anti-cancer alkaloid which is one of the most widely used anti-cancer drugs nowadays. Anyhow, due to its complex structure, chemosynthesis is rather difficult, so it is mainly extracted from the plant. The cost of extraction is high because of the low content of vinblastine in plants, resulting in high price. Therefore, if we can mass produce nepetalactol through microorganisms, and then synthesize vinblastine from nepetalactol, we have a chance to lower the cost of production and price of such anti-cancer drug.
iGEM大湾区联队小组成员们尝试使用荆芥内酯精油作为辅助诱剂，吸引流浪猫，进行救助。目前，对于项目正主荆芥内酯在造福猫咪上的用途，他们也有了独特的想法：能否建造一个有能令不少猫咪愉悦到荆芥内酯的猫猫乐园呢？这个乐园既可以吸引流浪猫，便于救助队员帮助它们，又可以成为流浪猫舒适的居留地。别忘了，荆芥内酯还能驱虫呢……
Therefore, the GreatBay_China plans to replace the current attractants with the nepetalactone in order to capture and help those feral cats more efficiently. Right now, they have come up with a bold idea about the use of nepetalactone in promoting the welfare of cats. Would it be possible to create a device, in which nepetalactone is used to create a relaxing & enjoyable environment for the cats?
iGEM全称International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition（国际遗传工程及其大赛）是美国麻省理工学院创办的合成生物学领域最高级别的国际性学术竞赛。参赛者包括了高中生、本科生、研究生，以小组为单位参赛。参赛队伍需要利用标准化的生物元件构建生物砖 - biobrick，以创造出一个合成生物学项目。在此之外，参赛队伍可以开发新的生物元件，从而使改造生物的过程更加便利。
The International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM for short) is the top academic competition of synthetic biology, founded by MIT. Participants include high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students, compete in teams. Every team must use standardized biological parts to construct bio-bricks with certain functions, thus generates a whole synthetic biology project. Apart from using the characterized biological parts, teams can also develop new parts, bringing more possibility to future teams.
这个阳光灿烂的7月，我们将邀请大湾区联队的部分团队成员来柴火造物中心和大家分享他们的这个项目：同您分享合成生物学的精彩、一步步构建出工程菌的经历，通过聆听你们的建议，在实现造福猫咪的梦想的路上向前一步。欢迎大家来参加哦~
This July, we’ll invite team members of GreatBay_China to x.factory, sharing this amazing project with you! Join us to learn about the splendor of synthetic biology and the experience with constructing engineered organisms. Hopefully, through this meetup, the sharing, and your inputs, we can all move a step forward on the path of creating a better life for the lovely cats.
活动详情 Event Info
时间：2018年7月6日（星期五）19:30 - 21:30
地点：柴火造物中心（南山区打石二路万科云设计公社B608）
报名：点击该链接http://www.huodongxing.com/event/5446511113900报名。
Time: 19:30 - 21:30, July 6th (Friday)
Location: Chaihuo x.factory (B608, Design Commune, Dashi 2nd Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen)
Sign up: Click this link <LINK_TEXT text=“https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meetup-syn … 7701665967”>https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meetup-synbio-cats-change-makers-tickets-47701665967</LINK_TEXT> to sign up.
分享嘉宾 Speakers
Alexis是一个passionate的高中生iGEMer，深圳国际交流学院准A1年级学生，今年iGEM大湾区联队队长，去年深国交iGEM队员。2018年获得英国生物奥赛银奖。她希望能通过这次机会让大家重新认识合成生物学有趣、好玩、又有价值的一面。同时Alexis是中国马术协会与法国马术协会的注册骑手。
Alexis is a passionate high school iGEMer, an A1 student of Shenzhen College of International Education. She is the team leader of GreatBay_China this year, a former team member of 2017 iGEM team SIAT-SCIE, and the silver award receiver of British Biology Olympiad 2018. Through this opportunity, she hopes to bring the public an insight into the potential and the charm of synthetic biology. Meanwhile, she is a registered rider of both Chinese Equestrian Association and French Federation of Equestrian.
Lucinda Lin 林炜倩
Lucinda Lin（林炜倩）是来自深圳高级中学IBDP的高二生，参加过2017和2018年的iGEM，去年随BGIC-Union（华大基因学院联队）获得银奖，今年担任GreatBay_China(大湾区联队)宣传外联队长。
Lucinda is a senior two IBDP student who has participated in the 2017 (BGIC-Union, silver award) and 2018 iGEM. This year she is a student leader of the team GreatBay_China. She likes the interdisciplinarity and intellectual atmosphere of iGEM.
