UNews - clean energy

Excelling on the world stage

trevor.kenney — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:03:53 +0000

Learning from the best – that’s exactly what a group of research-focused students is doing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Members of the U of L’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team are part of a phenomenon that began 10 years ago as a course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Today, the annual iGEM contest is the world’s leading undergraduate synthetic biology competition – and each year, U of L students regularly rank among the top iGEM teams worldwide.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge iGEM students Isaac Ward, Mackenzie Coatham, Harland Brandon and Erin Kelly are among the best young researchers in the world.

An emerging field, synthetic biology sees cells, enzymes and metabolic pathways as more than biological entities; they’re sophisticated parts that can be programmed like machines to perform specific activities. As a result, research in synthetic biology is opening up remarkable possibilities in such sectors as agriculture, pharmaceutical, medical diagnostics, clean energy and resource extraction. In 2011, for example, U of L students developed a petrochemical-eating bacteria that could be used to help clean up water in tailings ponds, a discovery that placed the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s iGEM team among the top 16 competitors in the world, alongside students from Harvard ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, MIT, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Washington and Johns Hopkins ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

This October, the U of L’s iGEM team once again demonstrated its strong innovation abilities. In addition to creating a bioengineering part that works like a zip drive, compressing genetic information, the team developed software that rapidly determines what DNA sequences are compatible to compress together. These inventions, which will allow future bioengineers more flexibility in their research, captured top prize in the 2013 North American iGEM Regional Jamboree held in Toronto. Moreover, the first-place finish secured the team – made up of Dustin Smith (BSc ’13), Graeme Glaister, Jenna Friedt (BSc ’11, MSc’13), Suneet Kharey, Harland Brandon (BSc ’12) and Zak Stinson – a spot in the international iGEM competition, which will be held at MIT in November.

Providing students with the opportunity to compete against teams from around the world is just one way iGEM benefits its participants, says U of L biochemistry professor Dr. Hans-Joachim (H.J.) Wieden. Considered the driving force behind the U of L’s iGEM teams, Wieden serves as the students’ advisor and coach. He is also a highly respected researcher in his own right.

Director of the Alberta RNA (Ribonucleic acid) Research and Training Institute at the U of L, Wieden was also recently appointed the Innovates Centre of Research Excellence (iCORE) Chair of Bioengineering. Funded by a $2-million investment from Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, the role enables Wieden’s research team to study how biological systems can be engineered to achieve breakthroughs in materials science, chemistry, biochemistry, health and nanoscience.

“iGEM enables students to get their first taste of research,” says Wieden. “They understand the goal of the project, and learn how to think outside of the box, troubleshoot and apply their knowledge to create scientific discoveries. All of this unlocks students’ creativity.”

What’s more, he continues, iGEM cultivates students’ entrepreneurial potential. The teams manage their own projects and raise funds to support their work, as well as learn how to communicate effectively and connect their work to real-world needs. Finally, as young researchers themselves, they come to realize the importance of supporting the forward-thinking scientists of the future: high school students.

To that end, U of L students have started iGEM teams in high schools in southern Alberta. And those high school students are following in the success of their older counterparts. Earlier this year, in fact, a team of Lethbridge high school students representing schools from across the city, won the Green Brick grand prize at iGEM’s international High School Jamboree at MIT, as well as trophies for Best New Biobrick Natural for their engineered DNA part and Best Wiki, the website used to display their project.

Advised by Wieden as well as U of L undergraduate and graduate students, the high school team – consisting of 22 students from Lethbridge-area high schools, including Keiran McCormack, Chris Isaac, Elaine Bird, Fiona Spitzig, Yoyo Yao, Patrick O'Donnell and Katie Thomas, who represented the team at the jamboree – successfully created a longer lasting form of Oxytocin. A hormone that’s most-commonly used to aid childbirth, Oxytocin degrades quickly and soon becomes unstable, making it expensive and difficult to store.

While such complex projects can be challenging for high school students, the research experience is invaluable, says former iGEM high school team member Erin Kelly.

“Being on the high school team was a steep learning curve, but I learned research methods through hands-on experience and that definitely made the transition to university easier,” says Kelly. Now a second-year biochemistry student at the U of L, she serves as an advisor to the current iGEM high school team along with fourth-year neuroscience student Isaac Ward and master of biochemistry student Mackenzie Coatham (BSc ’12).

The trio, all former members of the undergraduate iGEM team, have used their resulting research and entrepreneurial skills to launch the spinoff company Synbiologica Ltd. Along with Brandon (now a
U of L master’s student in biochemistry), and U of L neuroscience professor Dr. Gerlinde Metz and Wieden as advisors, the group is in the process of patenting their big idea – a biomedical technology that provides rapid hormone-detection results. Their idea is expected to be 93 per cent more cost-effective than traditional antibody technology, bringing the next generation of hormone detection to the research, agriculture and medical markets.

In recognition of its scientific innovation, the Synbiologica team has earned numerous accolades. They include winning $10,000 in the South Venture Business Plan Competition and taking first place in the Tech Stream side of the Chinook Entrepreneurial Challenge, an annual business-planning competition hosted by Community Futures Lethbridge Region. The group received an additional $10,000 in cash, a one-year lease on space in the tecconnect: An Alberta centre for new commerce – a high-tech business incubator operated by Economic Development Lethbridge – plus a range of other in-kind prizes, including business consulting from MNP and ActionCOACH, and several thousand dollars worth of media services.

“iGEM gave us the motivation and skills to explore multidisciplinary research,” says Ward, chief executive officer of Synbiologica. “And from there, we realized that we don’t have to follow the usual career route. We can create our own jobs.”

iGEM team celebrates North American Regional victory

trevor.kenney — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:10:49 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has further cemented its reputation as a leader in the teaching and research of synthetic biology by capturing first place at the 2013 North American iGEM Regional Jamboree in Toronto, Ont. this past weekend.

The competition, held at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto, featured teams from across Canada and the United States. The U of L team of Dustin Smith, Graeme Glaister, Jenna Friedt, Suneet Kharey, Harland Brandon and Zak Stinson will now move on to the international competition, which will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Mass. Nov. 1-4.

“This certainly shows that bioengineering research and the aggressive approach we’ve taken to study this field is working at the U of L, and that the RNA Institute is playing a key role in both enabling research and training students,” says Dr. H.J. Wieden, director of the Alberta RNA (Ribonucleic acid) Research and Training Institute (ARRTI) at the U of L, the Innovates Centre of Research Excellence (iCORE) Chair of Bioengineering and faculty advisor for the U of L’s iGEM teams. “The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is poised to continue to be at the forefront of this emerging field.”

The U of L team’s project includes developing a bioengineering part that compresses genetic information – essentially working like a zip drive. Every gene needs DNA, but there is only so much DNA that will fit in a cell. This novel part may allow future bioengineers more flexibility in their work.

Additionally, the U of L team developed software that quickly determines what DNA is compatible to compress together.

“Each year we are also tasked with exploring the social implications of our project. Our team sought to ensure that our part could not be misused to hide dangerous genes,” says team member Harland Brandon (BSc’13), a first-year master’s student and Winston Churchill High School graduate. “We hypothesized that our part could be used to hide dangerous sequences, such as Ricin or Ebola, from gene synthesis companies. We then took it a step further and actually consulted with gene synthesis companies, U of L Risk and Safety Services and even a representative from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Not only do we see our project benefitting the field, but we found through our critical analysis that the potential for misuse is not possible.”

In addition to winning the overall Regional Overgrad award, the U of L also claimed the award for best Wiki (website explaining their project).

iGEM is the premier competition for young scientists interested in the emerging field of synthetic biology, which is quickly leading to new discoveries that will diversify key economic sectors such as pharmaceutical, agriculture, medical diagnostics, clean energy and resource extraction. It also facilitates scientific research and education by establishing and operating the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a community collection of open source biological components.

The organization promotes the advancement of science and education by developing an international open community of students and practitioners in schools, laboratories, research institutes and industry.

Earlier this year, a team of Lethbridge high school students was awarded the coveted Green Brick grand prize at iGEM’s High School Jamboree.

The art of translation

trevor.kenney — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:19:43 +0000

What do you get when you cross a multiple scholarship winner with an Oxford graduate, Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Translation, senior analyst for the Canadian Privy Council Office, published author and an accomplished musician? You get one remarkable guy by the name of Blair McMurren (BA '96), who just happens to be the U of L's 2010 Alumnus of the Year.

Born and raised in Lethbridge, McMurren graduated from the U of L with Great Distinction, receiving the Faculty of Arts and Science Gold Medal and the Governor General's Silver Medal for Highest Undergraduate Class Standing. His pursuit of academia didn't stop there. McMurren was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and immediately went to Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to pursue graduate studies.

Dr. Blair McMurren, at home in Ottawa.

An English major at the U of L, particularly fond of the works of James Joyce, McMurren focused his attention at Oxford on furthering his understanding of English literature. He earned an Honours BA in English language and literature, and went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in comparative literature as well as an MA in translation from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Surrey at Guildford.

Ask McMurren what he initially planned to do after completing his education, and he'll admit that he wasn't really sure.

"Some far-sighted senior officials with the federal public service came recruiting at Oxford, and they made a compelling pitch for returning to Canada and making a difference in public policy," he says. "The idea of working on a variety of key files and having some influence on what would be happening in my country resonated with me."

McMurren returned from the U.K. in 2002 to begin work with the Department of Canadian Heritage. He also helped to launch a government initiative that has since become the Recruitment of Policy Leaders program. Since 2009, McMurren has been a senior analyst with the Priorities and Planning secretariat at the Privy Council Office – the department that supports the Prime Minister and Cabinet in all policy and decision-making actions. He is the lead analyst responsible for briefing senior officials and engaging with federal departments on Cabinet decisions related to climate change, clean energy and the environment.

McMurren concedes that the connection between English literature, translation and public policy isn't obvious, but says that his academic background fostered intrigue for the work he does today.

"Closely examining James Joyce's approach to translation is where many things started to come together for me," says McMurren. "So much of human history comes to us through the lens of translation. Freud, Marx, the Bible, what have you – all history-shaping works, and all are translated. Joyce was obsessed with the concept of translation, which ultimately got me thinking about how cultural politics work, and how ideas and issues move from one cultural context to another. It's not a huge stretch from there to cultural policy, which is all about how you tell your story as a country. It's a complex task, and in Canada we do it bilingually and multiculturally, which makes it richer but even harder."

While McMurren intends to continue his career in public policy, he would also like to branch out, perhaps by teaching sessional courses at a university. He's also very keen to give back to the school where his illustrious career began.

"I'd like to help U of L students find out all that's available to them after they leave the university," he says. "This award is a very humbling thing. I'd like to offer my experience to students and perhaps do something to help bridge the famous policy/research divide. I think we all have an interest in getting a broader, better dialogue going about the issues facing Canadian society."

Call for Nominations

The Alumni Association is now accepting nominations for the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year and Alumni Honour Society awards.

To obtain a nomination form, contact Alumni Relations: e-mail alumni@uleth.ca or call toll free 1-866-552-2582.

The nomination deadline is Feb. 1, 2011.

For a look at the full issue of SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - clean energy

Excelling on the world stage

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