November 2020: Multiple accolades to TAU team in iGEM
A TAU team of students won multiple prizes and accolades in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM).
A TAU team of students won multiple prizes and accolades in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM).
iGEM is a worldwide synthetic biology competition where every year hundreds of groups from universities around the world participate and present novel ideas that address current global issues. The iGEM annual contest took place on November 25 2020 online, and TAU team participated for the second time. The team was one of 168 groups out of 256 that won a gold medal and was overall ranked as one of the top eight groups in the competition, which is an unprecedented achievement for an Israeli team.
The TAU team, led by Prof. Tamir Tuller, Edmond J. Safra Center member (Engineering), included twelve students from the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine, Life Sciences and Exact Sciences: Karin Sionov (Captain), Niv Amitay, Hadar Ben Shoshan, Noa Kraicer, Bar Glickstein, Itamar Menuhin, Matan Arbel, Doron Naky, Omer Edgar, Itai Katzir, David Kenigsberger and Einav Saadia.
The TAU team, which was partially supported by the Edmond J. Safra Center, developed an innovative technology that improves genome stability and ensures long-term preservation of inserted synthetic genes. Genetic engineering is based on the insertion of genes from one organism into another organism. The challenge in this process is the instability of these genes, which are often quickly “erased” from the genome. Since most biotech and pharma companies use this process regularly, the technology of the TAU team could contribute to drug development, food and agriculture industry, and green energy.
The team also won first place in the Best Software Development category and second place in the Foundational Advance category, a prize given for proposed solutions for fundamental problems in synthetic biology. In addition, it was one of top five finalists in both the best presentation competition and the best model competition.
The TAU iGEM achievements are featured in the online newspapers YNET, No Camels and Jerusalem Post.
Related Articles
