http://wlvdigital.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/igem-2013-synthetic-biology-and-the-race-to-build-prize-winning-lifeforms/
iGEM 2013
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation was set up in January 2003 as a month-long course at MIT. Students used that month to design cells that could blink and the course then progressed to a summer competition of five teams in 2004. By summer 2013 that number had swelled to 203 and the competition to international jamborees with medal winners who progress to the world finals.
In the UK alone there are 12 teams, among them a team from the University of Newcastle. The video (top) shows what undergraduate team members have been trying to achieve and what they get out of the competition. Apart from a smart CV entry, it gives them the opportunity to extend their lab skills, learn about web development, brush up presentation skills and learn what it is really like working in a dedicated team with tight deadlines.
Standard innovation
All teams start by selecting from a registry of standard biological parts and add these to new parts that they design to create their own biological systems that operate inside living cells. In Newcastle’s case it was decided that they would work using L-forms (strains of bacteria without cell walls) to see if they could improve the way that plants absorb nutrients, which may have implications for the way that crops are grown in future.
DNA double helix
Previous team projects have included an arsenic biodetector that developing countries can use to identify safe water supplies; Bactoblood, a red blood cell substitute engineered from E.coli bacteria, and; E.Chromi, which revolutionised the path of biosensor design by engineering E.coli to change colour in response to different concentrations of a substance.
Gold medal
Newcastle’s iGEM students were among the lucky gold medal winners at the European regional heats in Lyon, France and are one of 11 teams in their class to go forward to the finals in Boston, 1-4 November 2013. Good luck to them because the competition is fierce.
Centre for Synthetic Biology and Bioexploitation
To help students and researchers at the University of Newcastle realise their projects, a new Centre for Synthetic Biology and Bioexploitation has also been launched. Links to the region’s chemical, extraction and pharmaceutical industries have already been established and a list of research specialities, including energy, the environment, agriculture, sensors, medicines and healthcare have been drawn up. The future looks bright for synthetic biology and for a brave new class of industry in England’s north east.
