UAlberta students take home gold at iGEM 2017

Undergraduate team wows the competition at international synthetic biology conference.

Katie Willis - 26 January 2018

The UAlberta team's project is called RISE, or the Recombinant protein Interaction Screening and Enrichment system. "RISE is a tool designed to provide an easily measurable and quantifiable protein screening process," explained Heather Baker, team lead and chemistry student in the Faculty of Science. Her fellow teammates come from across campus, including the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and the Faculty of Science.

The RISE system is designed to provide a cost-effective, efficient, and accessible alternative for protein screening, a technology important for the discovery and development of drugs and for myriad other research projects.

Valuable opportunity

Part of what makes iGEM unique is taking a project all the way from the ground up, explains Robert Campbell, iGEM team supervisor and professor in the Department of Chemistry. "An iGEM project is multifaceted; it involves research, modelling, human practices, outreach, education, fundraising, public speaking, and countless other aspects. This meant that every student could carve out a niche for themselves that was perfectly matched with their interests and skill set," said Campbell.

For Baker, iGEM has been one of the highlights of her undergraduate career. "I think I can speak for the rest of my team when I say we had so much fun during and outside of the conference. We had lots of opportunities to meet new people, network, attend relevant sessions, explore alternative careers, and essentially broaden our understanding of what science can do."

The UAlberta iGEM team is also forming a synthetic biology student group in hopes of continuing their project, supporting future iGEM teams, and sharing their love of synthetic biology with the rest of the UAlberta community.

The UAlberta iGEM team includes: Abhi Aggarwal, Heather Baker, Farynna Loubich Facundo, Teresa Nguyen-Pham, Deanna Song, and Monica Takla from the Faculty of Science; Ethan Agena and David Herczeg from the Faculty of Engineering; advisors Rochelin Dalangin (Faculty of Science) and Abdullah Farooq (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry); and faculty members Robert Campbell (Faculty of Science) and Dr. Dominic Sauvageau (Faculty of Engineering).

Interested in learning more about the UAlberta iGEM team? Join us for a public lecture on Monday, January 29 from 12 to 12:30 p.m. in Chemistry V-103.