iGEM 2008: Bioengineering in Action

The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) is the premiere undergraduate Synthetic Biology competition. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools over the summer, they use these parts and new parts of their own design to build biological systems and operate them in living cells. This project design and competition format is an exceptionally motivating and effective teaching method.

One Calgary team has designed a strain of E. coli bacteria that recognizes and kills harmful salmonella and meningitis viruses before they spread. “Our bacteria have an antibiotic to kill specific targets,” said Thane Kubik, a biomedical science student. “It also alerts us to the presence of those cells by glowing red for salmonella, and green for meningitis.”