Team Tsinglan · iGEM 2026

you NAILed it

Modern biotechnology meets artistic biology.

Explore the wiki

Project Overview

Welcome to Team Tsinglan's iGEM 2026 wiki. Our project, You NAILed it!, blends synthetic biology with a distinctive visual language inspired by nail art, cells, and ocean biology.

Use this homepage as a living overview of our goals, progress, and the pages judges and visitors should explore first. Every section of this wiki is designed to tell a coherent story — from the scientific problem we chose, through wet-lab validation and modeling, to human practices, education, and the artistic identity that makes our team recognizable.

What is You NAILed it!?

Our team explores biotechnology through the metaphor of nails and marine organisms — precision, protection, growth, and adaptation. The wiki you are reading is both a scientific record and a creative showcase of that vision.

Whether you are a judge reviewing medal criteria, a collaborator looking for protocols, or a curious reader discovering iGEM for the first time, we invite you to move through the pages below in any order that suits you. Key scientific claims are always backed by notebook entries, measurement data, and safety documentation.

At a Glance

  • Team — Tsinglan, competing in iGEM 2026.
  • Theme — Synthetic biology meets nail-art aesthetics and ocean-inspired design.
  • Wiki scope — Project description, wet-lab work, integrated human practices, team info, and attributions.
  • Design language — Mustard, navy, and cream palette; Playfair Display typography; shell and conch motifs throughout.
  • Accessibility — Responsive Bootstrap layout, scroll animations with reduced-motion support, and readable contrast across themes.
  • Asset policy — Images and fonts hosted on static.igem.wiki; no third-party CDNs.
  • Living document — Content will expand as experiments conclude and outreach events take place.
Quick tip for judges: Start with Description, then follow the Wet Lab trail through Notebook, Results, and Safety. Human Practices and Education pages document our community impact.

Start Here

Essential First Steps

Before diving into individual experiments, familiarize yourself with iGEM expectations and how this wiki maps to medal and award criteria.

  • Review the Wiki Requirements and confirm every mandatory page is present.
  • Check medal criteria on the Medals page — bronze, silver, and gold each have distinct documentation needs.
  • Explore Project Awards and Special Awards to understand what makes a standout wiki.
  • Read our Project Description for motivation, problem statement, and intended impact.
  • Visit Engineering to see design–build–test–learn cycles and how we iterate.
  • Skim Contribution for parts, tools, or methods we share with the community.
  • Open iHP for stakeholder engagement, ethics, and real-world context.
  • Confirm the footer on every page includes the required CC BY 4.0 license and GitLab repository link.

Remember: Judges may land on any page first. Each section should make sense on its own while linking clearly to related content.

Building This Wiki

Our wiki is built on the official iGEM Flask template with custom CSS, team fonts, and artwork — all served from iGEM infrastructure.

  • Content first — document science clearly before polishing visuals.
  • Navigation — keep paths short and obvious; use the top menu for every major section.
  • Accessibility — readable contrast, mobile layout, and respect for reduced-motion preferences.
  • Media — host images and fonts on iGEM uploads / static.igem.wiki; embed video from iGEM Video Universe only.
  • Consistency — reuse igem-card blocks, section titles, and callout boxes across pages.
  • Citations — reference papers, protocols, and prior iGEM teams wherever claims depend on external work.
  • Attributions — credit advisors, collaborators, and open-source tools on the Attributions page.
  • Version control — commit to the GitLab repo; CI builds and deploys the site automatically.
  • Theme switcher — four color palettes (ocean, purple, sage, burgundy) for presentation without breaking readability.
  • Scroll animations — native Intersection Observer; no external animation libraries.

For teammates: Edit files under wiki/pages/, wiki/menu.html, and static/. See the project README for local build instructions.

Tips for Success

A strong iGEM wiki balances rigorous science with clear communication. The points below reflect lessons from past teams and our own workflow — use them as a checklist while the season progresses.

Documentation & Science

  • Define the project — state goals, methods, and expected outcomes in plain language before technical detail.
  • Show progress — update experiments, results, and notebook entries as work happens, not only at the end.
  • Engineering cycles — document each design iteration with rationale for what changed and why.
  • Parts & measurement — link constructs in the Parts Registry to characterization data and protocols.
  • Reproducibility — include enough detail that another lab could repeat key experiments.
  • Negative results — report failures and troubleshooting; they demonstrate honest scientific practice.
  • Models & software — if applicable, explain assumptions, inputs, and how outputs inform lab decisions.
  • Safety & security — document risk assessment, responsible research, and institutional approvals under Wet Lab and Safety pages.

Communication & Impact

  • Engage audiences — write for a global reader; avoid jargon without explanation.
  • iHP & Safety — document stakeholder conversations, feedback loops, and how they shaped the project.
  • Education & outreach — describe activities, audiences, and measurable outcomes where possible.
  • Sustainability & entrepreneurship — connect the project to broader environmental or commercial context if relevant.
  • Collaborate — highlight partnerships, shared protocols, and inter-team exchanges.
  • Visual storytelling — use team artwork and diagrams to support — not replace — scientific explanation.
  • Multilingual awareness — consider how layout and text length work for non-native English readers.

Wiki maintenance rhythm

  • Weekly: notebook and experiment page updates after lab sessions.
  • Bi-weekly: engineering page and results summaries.
  • Monthly: iHP, education, and team pages reviewed for completeness.
  • Before deadlines: full pass for broken links, missing attributions, and medal checklist.

Inspiration

These wikis exemplify clear structure, strong visuals, and thorough documentation. Browse them for layout ideas — then tell our story in our own voice.

Explore Our Wiki

Questions? Contact details and social links will appear in the footer as the season progresses.