Team:Tec-Monterrey/teamfriends/helphow

Currently, customs regulations in Mexico do not allow quick access for biological material, which includes the kits sent to each team with the biobricks. This is not a new problem; for that reason the iGEM team Tec-Monterrey 2010 did, as Human Practice, a guide that explained the process, step by step, to import biological material to Mexico without problems. However, this procedure, consist of preparing the documents, sending them to Mexico city and waiting for the response from the relevant authorities (if the documents are not rejected). This procedure may take three months approximately, depending on the place of the country in which the team resides.

 

Generally speaking, it is difficult to make this procedure, since some teams begin their projects at this time and require the standardized parts soon. Given that this situation not only affects us, but also our colleagues of the other Mexican teams, we pursued to solve the problem. We contacted a FedEx Customs Agency, in order to seek advice and support in obtaining the kits, explaining in detail what the sending parts were.

 

This was presented in the Micro Congress carried out by us during the summer. In the talk given by Mr. Manuel Tiscareño, Agent of FedEx, we learned an easier process to obtain the parts. Because of this contact we were able to support ITESM_Mexico and UANL_Mty-Mexico teams so they could receive their respective biobrick kits.