At 8 p.m. October 28th, the 2022-International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (The 2022 iGEM Competition), the most prestigious international competition in life science, concluded in Paris. HUST-China from School of Life Science and Technology won the gold medal for the second consecutive year in the event.

Originating in 2003, iGEM is a top international science & technology innovative competition for college students majoring in synthetic biology, aiming to solve significant problems facing society by building a brand new biological system with synthetic biology. It soon becomes the most influential competition in the biological field for its innovation and global vision. This year’s event kicked off in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, engaging teams across the world in the competition via online meetings. HUST-China, an active online player, achieved outstanding results under the guidance of Zhou Yu, Yan Yunjun, Zhan Yi, Ning Kang and Xie Xiaoman.

The project of HUST-China for the competition is REE Miner. REE Miner is an optimized absorption kit of rare earth elements. As a nonrenewable resource, rare earth is of great significance for human society. It is estimated that mining 1 ton of rare earth will produce an average of 263 tons of wastewater and each year sees 2760 tons of rare earth become wastewater. In addition, wastewater generated by rare earth mining has negative effect on human health and the environment. To solve this issue, HUST-China designed a brand-new kit based on the project accomplished in 2017. The team reached its goal by artificially engineering the E.coli, which enabled REE Miner to purify the environment while recollecting these valuable resources.

After half-year’s hard work, the team submitted 16 sets of standard synthetic biology element data to the organizing committee and made online real-time presentation to the organizing committee with display website, video and slides on Nov 26th. Exchange between team members and over 3000 iGEM members from different colleges and universities enriched the members’ experience, innovation and broadened their horizons. Winning wide attention and high reputation, the project won a gold medal with complete outcomes and comprehensive display, presenting an extraordinary profile of HUSTers on the international stage.

iGEM team, while attaching great importance to commercialization of research results and comprehensive training of research competence, has published many research papers on professional academic journals, such as BMC Biology and ACS Synthetic Biology.

Collaborating with Qiming College, School of Life Science and Technology keeps building and training teams for iGEM Competition with the support from Innovative Base for Life Science and Technology. During the preparation, the School encourages students to take part in different scientific and innovative competitions so that students have the chance to communicate and compete with extinguished students from different parts of the world, making the competition projects and teams a platform for enhancing students’ innovation, competence and academic horizons. This year, iGEM team will launch a new round of recruitment in November, hoping to have more aspiring students join it.

Written by: Yang Kunjie

Edited by: Meng Ziyun, Peng Yumeng

Source: School of Life Science and Technology