Our journey in the iGEM 2025 competition would not have been possible without the tremendous support, guidance, and encouragement from numerous individuals and organizations. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to making the HKUST(GZ) Lychee Guardians project a reality.

Principal Investigators ​

We are immensely grateful to our Principal Investigators for their unwavering support, expert guidance, and continuous encouragement throughout this journey:

  • Prof. Julie Lin - For providing invaluable insights in molecular biology and synthetic biology design
  • Prof. Qi Zhang - For guidance in experimental methodology and scientific rigor
  • Prof. Junyu Xu - For expertise in system biology and project direction

Your mentorship has been instrumental in shaping our project and helping us navigate the complexities of synthetic biology research.

Advisors ​

Special thanks to our dedicated advisors who generously shared their time, knowledge, and experience:

  • Hua Xu - For requesting the initial funding for the team, training new members in basic wet lab work, participating in circuit design discussions and providing continuous useful suggestions, helping analyze experiment data, giving guidance on Human Practices activities, surveilling the whole project process, and promoting collaboration between team members.

  • Jian Kang - For providing practical techniques in bacteria culturing and offering pivotal suggestions on engineering plasmid construction.

  • Jianhao Ruan - For providing useful resources including potential factory partnerships and sponsors, and requesting initial funding from our university. For insights in computational modeling and data analysis.

  • Quanying Mi - For providing essential equipment and helping us get familiar with the laboratory environment.

  • Ruiming Xu - For helping Wet Lab troubleshoot, providing professional guidance in engineering plasmid construction, and actively participating in discussions about experiment problems.

  • Shiyao Guan - For providing training on basic laboratory equipment, helping observe bacteria, capture and analyze data, and providing permission convenience.

  • Sze Lai - For requesting the initial funding of the team, giving guidance on how to conduct successful Human Practices, training Wet Lab members for basic experiments and equipment use, participating in HP activity design and discussion, providing constructive suggestions in activity reflection, and actively joining weekly HP meetings. For guidance in experimental design and execution.

  • Yilin Liu - For helping request the initial funding, providing Wet Lab training to ensure everyone was familiar with laboratory safety rules, and participating in communication activities like the iGBA preparation in Macau. For support in human practices and project presentation.

  • Zhuoyang Chen - For providing important suggestions on engineering cycle design, participating in communication activities like CCiC in Beijing, and Wet Lab troubleshooting. For assistance in wiki development and documentation.

Your patience in answering our countless questions and your constructive feedback have been invaluable to our growth as researchers.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) ​

We extend our sincere thanks to HKUST(GZ) for providing us with:

  • State-of-the-art laboratory facilities and equipment
  • Access to computational resources for modeling and bioinformatics
  • Financial support for our research and participation in iGEM
  • A collaborative and innovative research environment

We are proud to represent HKUST(GZ) in the international synthetic biology community.

Laboratory Support ​

We would like to thank:

  • The laboratory technicians and staff who maintained our equipment and ensured our safety
  • The administrative staff who helped us navigate paperwork and logistics
  • The facilities team who kept our research spaces running smoothly

Collaborators and Partners ​

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to:

  • Local lychee farmers who shared their expertise and provided valuable insights into the challenges facing the lychee industry
  • Education institutions and community centers that participated in our outreach activities
  • Industry partners who provided feedback on the practical applications of our project
  • Fellow iGEM teams who engaged in valuable discussions and knowledge exchange

Conference and Meetup Participation ​

We are grateful for the opportunities to connect with the broader synthetic biology community through:

  • Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC) - For providing an exceptional platform for resource sharing, mutual learning, and exchange among Chinese iGEM teams and young synthetic biology enthusiasts. Since 2014, CCiC has been instrumental in fostering collaboration and intellectual discussion within the Chinese iGEM community.
  • iGEM Greater Bay Area (iGBA) Forum - For bringing together iGEM teams from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, enabling us to discuss project technologies and applications with neighboring teams, and strengthening regional collaboration in synthetic biology research.
  • HKUST Clear Water Bay and Guangzhou Campus Exchange - We are deeply grateful for the collaboration and exchange between the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Clear Water Bay campus and Guangzhou campus. This cross-campus partnership has enriched our understanding of synthetic biology, facilitated resource sharing, and strengthened the bond between the two campuses. The exchange of ideas and expertise has been invaluable to our team's development.

These conferences and meetups have enriched our project through valuable feedback, collaborative opportunities, and the exchange of innovative ideas with fellow teams.

Funding and Resources ​

We acknowledge the financial support from:

  • Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

We are also grateful for the reagents, equipment, and other resources generously provided by various suppliers and organizations.

Special thanks to:

  • Alibaba Cloud (阿里云) - For providing free computing credits that significantly supported our Dry Lab computational work, including modeling, bioinformatics analysis, and data processing. This computational infrastructure was essential for the development of our AI-powered tools and mathematical models.

  • SnapGene - For providing generous sponsorship that supported our synthetic biology research and plasmid design work.

  • GenScript - For providing valuable sponsorship that enabled us to advance our experimental work and project development.

Technical Acknowledgements ​

We would like to acknowledge the following teams for their technical contributions that inspired our wiki development:

  • Team CJUH-JLU-China - For their innovative comic book page-turning code implementation. We referenced and adapted their elegant solution for our interactive handbook feature, which greatly enhanced the user experience of our educational materials. Their open-source contribution to the iGEM community exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and knowledge sharing.

iGEM Community ​

We extend our gratitude to:

  • The iGEM Foundation for organizing this incredible competition and fostering a global community of young scientists
  • The iGEM judging panel for their time and expertise in evaluating our work
  • All participating teams for inspiring us with your creativity and dedication

This project represents the collective effort of many individuals who believed in our vision to extend the shelf life of lychees through innovative synthetic biology solutions. While we have done our best to acknowledge everyone, if we have inadvertently omitted anyone, please know that your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thank you all for being part of the HKUST(GZ) iGEM 2025 journey!

Team HKUST(GZ) - Lychee Guardians