The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) is the world’s largest synthetic biology competition, bringing together teams from around the globe to design projects that address society's most pressing problems through synthetic biology.
Past UCSC iGEM teams have proven to the world that revolutionary treatments to type 2 diabetes were possible and accessible, created novel methods to reduce crop contamination from dangerous bacteria, and developed viable alternatives to plastics in industrial farming. These past successful iGEM projects highlight a key goal of all UCSC iGEM teams: creating solutions that are directly helpful to the communities being served. The 2023 iGEM team's goal is no different.
Watsonville’s Pinto Lake has frequently been negatively impacted by harmful algal blooms of M. aeruginosa, rendering the lake inaccessible and unsafe. Despite state-funded chemical treatments, microcystin toxin levels have risen this month to their highest level in six years, forcing the closure of the lake once more. Our iGEM team, TABI (Toxic Algal Bloom Interference), is using synthetic biology techniques to build a plasmid for the widespread elimination of toxin-producing genes to be deployed as part of a spot treatment to address harmful algal blooms in Pinto Lake. Our team includes 14 UCSC students, one intern from UCSC, two interns from Hartnell College, and our PI David Bernick.
Our current team includes students from a diverse set of backgrounds and disciplines coming together with the common goal of using our scientific knowledge to benefit a greater community. With this student-led approach, we are given the opportunity to independently design a research project from the ground up in an environment that fosters hands-on learning in laboratory skills, project management, and networking within our future fields. As developing scientific researchers, the experiences made during this year will go to lay a strong foundation for future scientific and humanitarian pursuits of each and every one of us.
UCSC's past iGEM projects include:
- PoPPY 2018 - Modified an edible yeast to produce progesterone for accessible birth control for communities around the world. It is a contraceptive that can be grown at home.
- Vitrum 2019 - Created a heat-stable vaccine for Newcastle Disease by surrounding it in a "glass shell." While this is a vaccine for chickens, this technology has applications for human vaccines as well by making them more accessible to communities without refrigeration.
- Komaplastics 2020 - Engineered a biodegradable plastic for agricultural bed mulches, an alternative that removes a major source of plastic waste in industrial farming.
- Progenie 2021 - Designed a system that removed the Shiga-toxin gene in E.coli, which is responsible for many food recalls. This system also functions as a tool for controlling gene pools of microbiomes, which could solve issues such as lactose intolerance in humans.
- HELO 2022 - Engineered laboratory microorganisms to produce Exendin-4, a drug to promote insulin secretion, to reduce treatment cost for type 2 diabetes patients. The group plans to move this system into a yeast-based host so local communities can produce their own medication.
