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Student team sponsored by the department wins gold in iGEM science competition

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology recently hosted a winning team of largely undergraduate innovators from the University of Melbourne to compete in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) at Massachusetts Institutes of Technology in the US.

An information seminar for next year's competition will be held on Monday 26 November at 4:30pm in the Public Lecture Theatre, Old Arts building.

University of Melbourne iGEM team The team won gold for their innovative use of intersecting light beams that caused a suspension of E coli to aggregate into a predictably shaped mass and shared the best "Biobrick" award with the University of Cambridge from the UK.

iGEM is a synthetic biology competition in which the student teams are given a kit of biological parts to use, and supplement with their own designs, to build biological systems and operate them in living cells.

The seven members of the team (Alisa Sedghifar, Patriia Illing, Katarzyna Kinga Krysiak, Phillip Dodson, Lei Xing, Craig Hamilton and Masters student Jan Zimak) are enrolled in subjects ranging from biochemistry and molecular biology to pure mathematics and biomedical engineering.

Associate Professors Paul Gooley and Heung-Chin Cheng of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology supported the team as they worked up their ideas.

"I was happy to hand over some of my laboratory space so they could work up their ideas during the year," said Paul, who also attended an iGEM workshop in China last May where he was briefed about the role of staff members and expectations for the competing teams.

University of Melbourne iGEM team
Cheng travelled with the team to the US in late October to participate in iGEM, competing against 54 other student teams from around the world.

The team came up with a novel approach that they termed 'coliforming' that has potential application in tissue engineering. They found a way to produce a 3-dimensional cell mass with a predictable structure, starting with E. coli bacteria.

In response to certain wavelengths of stimulating light, the E. coli, suspended in a precisely gassed growth medium so as to have neutral buoyancy (ie the bacteria neither float to the top of the liquid nor sink), produce proteins that cause them to stick together and form a cellular scaffold. The nature of the light determines the shape of the scaffold, raising the possibility that the method could be used to make tubes, such as blood vessels.

Financial support for the team's bid at iGEM was provided by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Bio21 Institute, the Faculty of Engineering and the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

Interested in joining the University of Melbourne iGEM 2008 team? Find out how by viewing the letter of invitation.
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