{"id":1036,"date":"2015-10-06T09:58:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T08:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/biosciences\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2018-09-20T10:01:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T09:01:37","slug":"team-kent-igem-brings-home-the-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/biosciences\/2015\/10\/06\/team-kent-igem-brings-home-the-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Team ‘Kent iGEM’ brings home the gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Undergraduate students from the School of Biosciences have been awarded a Gold Medal at the 2015 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) <\/a>Giant Jamboree held\u00a0in Boston.\u00a0Initiated by\u00a0Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), iGEM is the world’s premier synthetic biology competition, encouraging students the develop and test innovative solutions to global problems.<\/p>\n

Kent iGEM\u00a0students developed\u00a0a research project entitled “Envirowire”\u00a0to investigate the feasibility of\u00a0generating functional amyloid nanowires,\u00a0under the guidance of Dr. Wei-Feng Xue<\/a> and other academic and research staff\u00a0within the School. Nano-wires formed from proteins by bacteria provide a potential\u00a0solution\u00a0in the fabrication\u00a0of biologically- and clinically-applied circuitry, with benefits including\u00a0miniaturisation, improved efficiency, biocompatibility and use of renewable\u00a0sources of energy and materials.\u00a0Working with students from the School of Engineering and Digital Arts and the School of Physical Sciences, the students were able to combine biological experiments and analysis with computing-based modeling approaches.<\/p>\n

Team Kent iGEM<\/a> presented their cross-disciplinary research at the Annual Jamboree in Boston alongside over 2,700\u00a0participants and 280 teams\u00a0from Universities all around the world. They were awarded a Gold Medal for their project, alongside teams from world-leading institutions including the universities of\u00a0Cambridge, Cornell, Heidelberg, Tokyo\u00a0and Sydney.<\/p>\n

The Stacey Fund<\/a> –\u00a0generously supported by\u00a0School of Biosciences alumni –\u00a0provided bursary support and travel costs for Team Kent iGEM.\u00a0The Fund ensures that talented students can gain financial support to gain\u00a0valuable experience for future career development. Students were, in addition, supported by bursaries from the BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, The Society for Applied Microbiology, The Society for Experimental Biology and The\u00a0Society for General Microbiology.<\/p>\n