SYNBIOCHEM – Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals

SYNBIOCHEM - Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals

iGEM Manchester

iGEM, or the international Genetically Engineered Machine, is a student synthetic biology competition which aims to bring together young scientists from around the world, addressing global challenges through the engineering of biological parts.

Manchester iGEM 2020: Gold Medal and nomination for the Best Supporting Entrepreneurship award! The “HippoSol” team proposed a novel environmentally friendly sunscreen from hippopotomus sweat that could overcome the coral bleaching issues associated with traditional sunscreens.

Manchester iGEM 2019: Gold Medal! The “Cuticle” team used genetically modified bacteria to make “kinder” non-allergenic hair dyes.   They modified E. coli bacteria to produce secretions that can colour, repair, straighten and fragrance hair.

Manchester iGEM 2018: The Man-Cheester team developed a Listeria Monocytogenes biosensor to detect listeria contamination in cheese winning a Bronze prize.

Manchester iGEM 2017: Tackling the problem of Phosporus through phosphostore – a system which could sequester and store high levels of Phosphate. Gold medal winners and nominated for the Best Environment Project. “We may be able to substitute nuclear power for coal power, and plastics for wood, and yeast for meat, and friendliness for isolation – but for phosphorus there is neither substitution nor replacement – Issac Asimov’s “Life’s bottleneck”

Manchester iGEM 2016: Gold medal winner, overall prize for Best Model and nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement. This year’s interdisciplinary team comprises biologists, physicists and social scientists from the ElcoholiUniversity of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. The group will be undertaking a project aimed to help address problems associated with binge drinking and alcoholism, through the creation of a biological ethanol sensor. The experimental work will begin in June at the MIB with the final product presented at the annual Giant Jamboree in Boston, USA, in October of this year.

Manchester iGEM 2015: Gold medal winners! Due to existing collaboration between the University of Manchester and the Graz University of technology in several research programs, such as CHEM21 and KYROBIO (European research projects), we came together as the first truly international cross-country iGEM team, supervised by professors Eriko Takano, Rainer Breitling and Sabine Flitsch in Manchester, and Anton Glieder in Graz. DopaDoser: The Self-Regulating, L-DOPA-Producing Gut Bacteria. Gold Medal; First ever inter-European team

Manchester iGEM 2014: Sugar Sponge: Dietary supplement for glucose absorption. iGEM

Manchester iGEM 2013: E.C(oil)i: The Lean, Green, Fat Producing SynBio Machine. Gold Medal; Best Human Practice Advance, Europe; Best Human Practice Advance, World (Undergrad).