6 Oct  2015

A genetic engineering team formed by 13 undergraduate students of science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has recently won a gold medal at the International Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2015 Giant World Jamboree held in Boston, USA. This is the fourth time that a CUHK team has won gold in the annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide among, this year, more than 280 student-led teams from around the world. The winning project designed by the CUHK team has extensive potential applications and may even help solve the recent lead-in-water problem in the city. 

The winning project of the CUHK team was named ‘Magnetosome Forming Azotobacter vinelandii’. The students devised a synthetic biology system to generate magnetosome, a kind of biological magnetic particles with hundred times surface-to-volume ratio than the current nanoparticles, inside a soil bacterium called Azotobacter vinelandii under an intracellular anaerobic condition. This innovative system can absorb metals in contaminated waters and soils, thus making it useful to tackle marine pollution problem or the lead contamination problem affecting Hong Kong recently. Potentially, it can also be used to extract any protein or enzyme, and therefore may find its applications in, for instance, food and pharmaceutical industries. With nitrogenase added, the system can also be used to improve the efficiency of biological fuel cells. This project has been supported by the UGC Teaching Development Grant. 

Prof. Chan Ting-fung, one of the instructors of the team and associate professor of the School of Life Sciences, CUHK remarked, ‘The judging panel is especially delighted to see the CUHK team’s effort in making standard biobricks for magnetosome biosynthesis which has huge application potential, and their ingenious choice of using Azotobacter as the bacteria of choice, as the biogenesis of magnetosome requires an anaerobic condition, of which the bacterial cells can readily provide.’ 

For more information about the winning project, please click the link below:

http://2015.igem.org/Team:Hong_Kong-CUHK 

About iGEM Competition  

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.  It was established by the MIT in 2004 to foster students' learning in synthetic biology, promote collaboration among students and nurture biology talents.  Participating teams are required to specify, design, build, and test simple biological systems made from standard, interchangeable biological parts.  The accomplishments of these student teams often lead to important advances or provide solutions to tackle real-world problems in medicine, food and nutrition, energy, and the environment.  For more information, please visit http://www.igem.org.

中大基因工程學生隊伍在波士頓再奪遺傳工程世界賽金獎

聯絡人:

陳竟明教授(生命科學學院: 3943-4420)

>> Additional Photos

Hong Kong-CUHK iGEM Team 2013 Synthetic Biology Talk


1. Invitation Letter

2. Reply Sheet

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7 Oct 2013

Press Releases

CUHK Undergraduate Students Win Silver Medal at iGEM Asia
Heading to US Next Month for World Championship

A genetic engineering team formed by 14 undergraduate students of science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has won a silver medal at the iGEM  (international Genetic Engineered Machine) Asia Regional Jamboree.  They also won the Best New BioBrick Part or Device (Engineered) Award and were qualified to compete for the world championship with over 50 elite teams in the iGEM World Jamboree to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in November. 

The 2013 iGEM Asian Jamboree was held on the CUHK campus during the last weekend (October 4-6).  A total of 65 teams from different universities in over 20 Asian nations or regions joined the competition, among which only 19 teams can compete for the world championship.  Officiating at the opening ceremony, Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor of CUHK expressed his appreciation to all participating students who showed their innovative ideas and dedications in carrying out the experiments.  The students were required to use genetic engineering and synthetic biology approaches to design new strains of bacteria which can produce new materials to solve problems associated with sustainable development, food and energy crises, and to improve medical technologies. 

The winning project of the CUHK team was named 'Switch Off PAHs'.  They have designed a voltage switch to control the enzymatic reactions of bacteria so that they can degrade poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) more effectively, such as benzo-a-pyrene (BaP), a common environmental pollutant and a well-known carcinogen.  This innovative technology may be useful in improving air quality and public health.  Over the past five months, the CUHK team had been devoted to developing the project from scratch with great team spirit, from defining themes and experiments to developing new parts, models and biobricks.  They have also published a wiki page, produced posters and introduced the project and the new devices on public occasions. 

About iGEM Competition 

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.  It was established by the MIT in 2004 to foster students' learning in synthetic biology, promote collaboration among students and nurture biology talents.  Participating teams are required to specify, design, build, and test simple biological systems made from standard, interchangeable biological parts.  The accomplishments of these student teams often lead to important advances in medicine, energy, and the environment.  For more information, please visit http://www.igem.org.

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中大本科生奪國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽亞洲區銀獎
下月赴美參加世界賽

由香港中文大學（中大）理學院及工程學院十四位本科生組成的基因工程隊伍在國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽（iGEM）的亞洲區比賽中榮獲銀獎，並同時獲頒最佳生物工程新零件獎。中大隊將於下月赴美國麻省理工學院參加iGEM世界決賽，與全球五十多個精英隊伍一較高下。 

亞洲分區賽昨天（10月6日）在中大舉行，共有六十五隊來自亞洲廿多國家和地區的隊伍參加，當中只有十九隊可晉級世界賽。中大校長沈祖堯教授為比賽主持開幕儀式，並表示十分欣賞參賽學生的創意，全力投入實驗室工作的認真態度。比賽要求學生利用基因工程和合成生物學的方法來改變細菌，使它們能夠生產有用材料，以幫助解決環境、食品及能源等問題，並促進醫療應用技術的發展。 

中大隊伍的參賽項目名為「去掉多環芳香族碳氫化合物 (PAHs)」，他們利用電流刺激來加強不同細菌酵素的連繫，更有效地用細菌分解 PAHs, 例如苯丙芘（常見的環境污染物和致癌物質）。此項嶄新技術可望應用於改善空氣質素及人類健康。中大隊自今年五月起積極籌備比賽，由訂定題目、設計實驗，到創造生物零件及模型等，皆完全由學生自行構思。隊員分工合作，盡顯團結精神，還發表了維基網頁、印製海報，並在公開演說中介紹其構思的課題及創作的新零件。 

iGEM比賽簡介 

iGEM比賽為國際合成生物學界每年一度的盛事，分為高中生、本科生及研究生組別。iGEM由麻省理工學院於2004年創立，旨在促進學生在合成生物學的學習、交流與合作，以培養合成生物學人才。比賽隊伍須利用基本且可交替的生物部件，設計及建立有效的生物系統。參賽作品水平超卓，有效推動醫學、能源及環境等方面的發展。網址：http://www.igem.org。

Additional Information:
1. iGEM Asia 2013 CUHK Team Website

2. Team Members

3. Photo Album

4. Videos of iGEM CUHK Team:  Part 1 and Part 2

5. Photo Album of iGEM 2013 CUHK team in MIT, US-- Part 1.

6. Photo Album of iGEM 2013 CUHK team in MIT, US-- Part 2.