UNews - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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.

High school iGEM team best in the world

trevor.kenney — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 20:23:42 +0000

A team of Lethbridge high school students has been awarded the coveted Green Brick grand prize at the iGEM High School Jamboree – an international competition for young synthetic biologists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, MA.

The team was judged on its efforts to create a longer lasting form of Oxytocin – a hormone most-commonly known for its use in aiding childbirth. Oxytocin, unfortunately, has a very short half-life meaning the hormone degrades quickly and soon becomes unstable, making it expensive and difficult to store.

The Lethbridge High School team together with their ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate student and graduate student advisors and their faculty advisor, Dr. HJ Wieden, successfully developed a genetic circuit (BioBricks) to reprogram a harmless laboratory strain of the common bacterium Escherichia coli to express a stabilized variant of Oxytocin. Details about their project and the team itself can be found on their project website (wiki) http://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada

In addition to being named the top team at the competition, the Lethbridge team also was awarded prizes for the "Best Bio Brick" and "Best Wiki". A total of 30 international teams competed at the event last weekend.

The iGEM Foundation fosters scientific research and education through organizing and operating the iGEM Competition, the premier student synthetic biology competition. 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.

"One of the real values of the U of L's commitment to the iGEM program is that it is building bridges between high school and university experiences," say Dr. HJ Wieden, a U of L synthetic biology researcher who served as an advisor to the team. "These exceptional students will be the innovators and entrepreneurs who will add tremendous value to Alberta's economy and quality of life in the future."

Students from the Lethbridge team represented various Lethbridge high schools including Chinook High School, Winston Churchill High School, Catholic Central High School and Lethbridge Collegiate Institute. The team has successfully applied for funding from Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (geekStarter) to support their project.

"This result is absolutely exceptional, though I am not surprised. Previous iGEM competitions have placed ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate and our Lethbridge high school teams among the best in the world on multiple occasions," says U of L President and Vice-Chancellor Mike Mahon. "The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has a strong track record of attracting world-leading faculty like Dr. Wieden and we are committed to partnering with the community through programs like the iGEM High School Jamboree. It also illustrates that our local high schools are producing some incredible young scientists."

The Lethbridge high school team plans on continuing its Oxytocin project next year.

Corkin to give Milner Series address

trevor.kenney — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:28:56 +0000

Dr. Suzanne Corkin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appears at the Lethbridge Public Library Monday, May 9, 7 p.m., as the guest speaker for the Brenda Milner Lecture Series.

Corkin, a professor of neuroscience at MIT, is best known for her work with the famous amnesic patient H.M. who suffered from an unusual condition as a result of brain surgery to treat his epilepsy: He was unable to form new long-term memories. Her presentation is titled Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

Her research focuses on the multiple memory systems in the brain and involves human patients with neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

In addition to age-related illnesses, Dr. Corkin also studies the processes of healthy aging in relation to the brain.

Significant And Mentionable

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:54:14 +0000

HISTORIANS SCORE 100%

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge History Department celebrated 100 per cent participation in Supporting Our Students for the second year in a row.

"This is an incredible accomplishment," says Debi Sandul, who is co-chairing this year's SOS campaign. "Students have always been at the centre of what we do and this demonstrates the continued commitment of the History Department to enhance the student experience and create opportunities."

Supporting Our Students is an annual internal fundraising campaign to raise money for student awards. Faculty and staff donations are matched by the Government of Alberta's Access to the Future Fund, doubling the impact of all contributions.

The goal for this year's campaign is 300 contributions and thanks to the dedication of faculty and staff like those from the History Department, the campaign already has 255 participants.

"This year's campaign is about participation and this group has come together to demonstrate the strength of the U of L community," explains Dr. Rob Wood, the campaign co-chair.

"We are very proud of what we've been able to do as a group and I hope this is just the beginning," says History Department Chair Dr. Chris Epplett, who went on to issue a friendly challenge to other U of L departments.

GRAD STUDENTS HONOURED

When the School of Graduate Studies and the Office of Research Services handed out their Research Excellence awards recently, there were no trophies, only cold hard cash to the tune of more than $700,000, which was shared by 36 student recipients of graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral studies awards.

The investment in research funding directed toward candidates in master's and doctoral programs is critical to help grow the
U of L's research programs and its place as a comprehensive research university.

The research funding was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Alberta-based agencies Alberta Ingenuity Fund, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, and the Alberta government-funded Ralph Steinhauer Awards of Distinction.

NATIONAL RANKING SHOWS DRAMATIC GROWTH FOR U OF L RESEARCH FUNDING

The U of L is ranked second nationally by Re$earch Infosource in terms of research income growth over the decade 1999-2009 for undergraduate universities – with an overall growth rate from $3.295 million to $15.956 million.

"This is the highest gain of any Alberta school and any Western Canadian school – and we are still growing," says U of L Vice-President (Research) Dr. Dan Weeks.

"These figures do not reflect the additional people we have attracted, the income from this past year or the many new programs that we have launched."

As assessed by RE$EARCH Infosource, the list ranks universities by their research income and research intensity (research funding per faculty member).

ACCESSIBILITY AND INNOVATION LEAD TO RECORD ENROLMENT

This September brought with it the largest student enrolment in the U of L's history. The official enrolment number is 8,472, with the growth being credited to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's dedication to being an accessible and innovative institution.

EDUCATION STUDENTS TAKE A STAND AGAINST BULLYING

The third annual ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Anti-bullying and Cyberbullying Awareness Week was held Oct. 4 to 6. Organized by the Education Undergraduate Society, the event is the only student-organized anti-bullying campaign in Alberta and aims to increase the awareness of cyberbullying and bullying in the community.

The ever-increasing use of technology among children is rapidly leading to a transformation in the traditional forms of bullying, with cyberbullying becoming more prevalent.

The anti-bullying campaign highlighted the need for schools to develop policies and procedures related to cyberbullying, while providing teachers with techniques and tools to address the issue.

STUDENTS' UNION HELPING PAINT A BRIGHTER FUTURE

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union Executive Council worked on their home-improvement skills this past summer by volunteering with Project Paintbrush.

Working with Volunteer Lethbridge and Project Paintbrush, the students laboured to fix up homes for those who are not able. Specifically, the four council members grabbed brushes and aided in painting the exterior of a local home.

Project Paintbrush focuses on assisting seniors and individuals with special needs who are physically and/or financially unable to maintain the exterior of their property. There is no cost to the homeowner and the program operation is based solely on volunteers.

Taz Kassam, SU president, believes that "making positive changes through volunteering in the community provides for greater experiences and opportunities for all. Lethbridge supports its students and it is important for students to support Lethbridge, too."

By taking part in this project, the ULSU hopes to not only spark knowledge of Volunteer Lethbridge and Project Paintbrush, but also showcase the impact volunteering has on individuals and the community.

"At the end of the day, we can look back and realize that we made a difference, and the families are more than grateful for the help," says Kassam.

IGEM TEAM CLEANS UP

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate chemistry, biochemistry and neuroscience students has been awarded a $20,000 international research grant from the Oil Sands Initiative to find a biological solution to improving the environmental sustainability of Alberta's oil sands.

The students are members of the
U of L's multiple-award-winning International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team, which competes each year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Mass. Regarded as the premier undergraduate synthetic biology competition in the world, the conference attracts competitors from around the world but the U of L group was the only team to receive a $20,000 award.

The money will help support the development of a petrochemical-eating bacteria that the group plans to design. If successful, the bacteria could be used to help clean up water in ponds that have been polluted in the refining process.

CONGRATULATIONS

The U of L extends sincere congratulations to the following members of our community for their awards and recognitions this fall.

U of L Chancellor Richard Davidson was named one of the 50 most influential people in Alberta by Alberta Venture magazine.

Dr. Trevor Harrison, sociology professor, was awarded a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Canadian Studies at Kennesaw State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

The Honourable Rick Casson, who is a Member of Parliament for Lethbridge and a former U of L employee, was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council of Canada.

Dr. Susan McDaniel, director of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, was named Vice-Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies' Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).

Dr. Joseph Rasmussen, biological sciences researcher, was appointed to the National Oil Sands Review Panel.

GLOBE & MAIL REPORT CARD

The Globe and Mail's annual report card on Canadian ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ performance is out and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has been given high marks, ranging from B's to A's in more than 80 per cent of 17 categories.

The survey was prepared by higher Education Strategy Associates in partnership with the Globe and Mail, and asked more than 35,000 students 100 questions that were distilled down to the final 17 categories. Individual scores (such as the U of L's) are based on a minimum number of responses from U of L students.

The Faculties of Health Sciences and Management recorded high marks from students for providing a quality education, and "A" level grades were received for the number of small class sizes, the quality of student/professor interaction, and the institution's athletics and recreation services.

"This survey is a solid reinforcement of our strength as an undergraduate university, but we're moving along a new path to become a comprehensive research university – without losing sight of the very important factors that put all of our students first," says U of L President Dr. Mike Mahon.

U OF L'S CANDO PARTNERSHIP NETS STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

Faculty of Management student Shermayn Menicoche (photo, right) is one of three people to receive a $3,000 National Indigenous Economic Education Foundation (NIEEF) scholarship from the charitable arm of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO).

CANDO is an Aboriginal-controlled, community-based group that builds partnerships with educational institutions, Aboriginal leaders and senior corporate and government representatives.

The U of L is now one of nine post-secondary institutions accredited by CANDO to deliver courses that help economic development officers working in First Nations communities obtain an Aboriginal Economic Developer Certificate in addition to their U of L degree.

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

iGEM team claims gold

trevor.kenney — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:18:04 +0000

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate chemistry, biochemistry, biology and neuroscience students has been rewarded with Gold Standing at the 2010 International Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM).

This is the third gold-level victory for the 18-person synthetic biology research group, which competed against 128 teams at an event held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Boston, Mass.

The U of L team's project involved the design of a petrochemical-eating bacteria, which they proved could be used to help clean up water in oil sands tailings ponds. Their effort, which was supported by a $20,000 grant from the Oil Sands initiative, furthers a biological solution to improve the environmental sustainability of Alberta's oil sands bitumen extraction, upgrading and refining.

"The iGEM jamboree was the perfect conclusion to our six months of hard work," says team member and lab supervisor Justin Vigar. "It was a life-changing experience to be able to present our results on a world-class stage at one of the most prestigious, innovative universities in the world. To compete in the iGEM competition is an honour in itself, but to achieve a gold medal standing while working on a project that is very relevant to our province and country is indescribable."

"To even get into the iGEM competition is tough, but to further ensure that the team project is proven to work and has promise for further research, is even more difficult," says Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden, the team advisor and a researcher in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

A $34,000 undergraduate research grant from Alberta Innovates Future Technologies played a major role in allowing the team to participate in the competition. Still, it was incumbent upon team members to raise further funds to support the project.

"Motivated by their research objective, the students raised more then $62,000," says Wieden. "They also had the opportunity to run their own research lab, with all the problems and rewards associated with it."

Wieden, who was also nominated by his fellow researchers to judge at the competition, says the team went above and beyond the event's requirements. Not only did they excel in designing and executing the project, but their production of documentation on the ethics, public awareness, business potential and social implications of their research was very well received. The team also worked with an artist to produce a unique four-chapter DVD of music based on the data, which brought their research into the creative world.

With the co-operation of Dr. Will Smith in the Faculty of Fine Arts (New Media), who created musical phrases and sounds based on the graphs, data and photographs of the group at work, the team produced a giveaway DVD representing the four phases of their research. No team had ever done this before, and it was played for about 1,300 people at the final meeting.

Vigar says the team left the jamboree with many friends from around the globe, which in the future he hopes will spark international collaborations.

"The synthetic biology/iGEM community is one of the most exciting and rewarding communities to be involved in," says Vigar. "Participating in iGEM has given me more experiences than I could have imagined, and I hope that iGEM continues so that future students can have the same experiences that I, and others in our group, had."

Cleaning up the oil sands

trevor.kenney — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:36:00 +0000

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate chemistry, biochemistry and neuroscience students is taking on the challenge of trying to help clean up toxins in oil sands tailings ponds.

The 11-member group has been awarded a $20,000 international research grant to help solve a challenge posed by a consortium of leading energy companies – find a biological solution to improve the environmental sustainability of Alberta's oil sands bitumen extraction, upgrading and refining.

"As a team from Alberta, we know of the economic benefit that the oil sands have brought to the province," says team spokesperson Justin Vigar. "Many members on our team have friends and family employed around the province in the energy industry.
"However, we are also aware of the environmental impact of the oil sands, specifically the tailings ponds. We feel it is important not only to clean the tailings ponds, but be able to extract the potential energy of the residue bitumen at the same time."

The students are members of the multiple-award-winning International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team at the U of L. Each year, the iGEM team takes on a synthetic biology research project, which is then presented at an international competition held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Mass.

The group was the only team in the iGEM worldwide membership to receive $20,000 from the Oil Sands Initiative to study how petrochemical-eating bacteria could be used to help clean up water in tailings ponds. The ponds are a byproduct of the bitumen refining process in which water that cannot be recycled is deposited into large ponds to settle.

Vigar adds that the iGEM team has previously worked on related projects, giving them a significant advantage when facing this new challenge.

"Our iGEM teams have designed a variety of synthetic biology components that all relate to this new project," he says. "One year, the team created a biological 'switch' that directed bacteria to move toward certain types of contaminants. The next year, we refined that to make the bacteria consume a specific chemical compound, and then stop reproducing – we called it a 'bacuum cleaner.' Last year, we designed what we called 'bio-batteries' that use bacteria with photosynthetic properties to generate electrical currents."

Vigar says the group hopes to accomplish several things with its research.

"We intend to create and characterize biological parts that can be used in the efforts of cleaning the tailings ponds, and those parts will be available to the general public for use in the future through the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, housed at MIT."

The other benefit will be to the team members as they progress in their academic and post-university careers.

"This experience will be extremely beneficial to enhance team members independent and critical thinking," says Vigar.
"As well, we learn how classroom knowledge can be directly applied in helping to solve everyday issues – specifically the application of synthetic biology to engineer solutions. iGEM has spurred our scientific creativity in what we can and cannot do, and has opened our eyes to not only the field of synthetic biology, but made us more aware of the research community in general."

The science of small yields big rewards

trevor.kenney — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:18:52 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge chemistry professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden may work on the tiniest bits of matter, but his research is yielding big things – both for synthetic biology and for U of L students.

Wieden's research program is focused on understanding how antibiotic drugs disable the function of ribosomes. These organelles are the largest units in a bacterial cell, and they synthesize proteins critical to cellular survival. Impeding the ribosome function essentially shuts down a bacterial cell, preventing it from wreaking havoc in the body.

To understand the nuances of this process, Wieden says he's "eavesdropping" on cells by observing molecular processes at the atomic scale and then rendering them in 3-D using computer modeling techniques.

While it may sound theoretical, the research has very practical applications, he explains. "If you understand it, you can reprogram the bacteria for whatever you want it to do."

Eventually, bacteria could function as tiny "machines" of a kind, useful for a wide range of research, medical, industrial and environmental functions.

Genetically engineered biomolecular machines fall under the rubric of synthetic biology. It's a fascination for Wieden and he's committed to introducing this growing research area to students at the U of L.

For the last three years, Wieden has been the faculty advisor for an undergraduate team that competes at an international research competition called iGEM. Created in 2003, the event is held annually at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Each year, about 100 teams from top-notch universities participate.

The U of L gives the iGEM team dedicated lab space to carry out their research, but it's up to them to figure out the project logistics. To gather the resources they need, students must canvass local businesses to find sponsorship dollars.

"I'm trying to encourage self-guided learning with a spirit of entrepreneurship. They have to find the money to do it," Wieden explains. While he's available to lend his expertise, "I'm just guiding them."

For the students, iGEM is more than an extracurricular activity – it's a tremendous undertaking that challenges students on many levels. In the course of the year-long project, students learn how to run a laboratory, conduct research and find funding – skills they can use either in industry or academia down the road. This offers a hands-on experience that Wieden wishes he'd had.

"I set out to give the students the opposite experience I had as an undergraduate," he says.

While the experience of competing allows U of L students to travel and meet researchers from around the world, the competition really takes place at a molecular level. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts – called biobricks – at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools, they use these parts, along with new parts of their own design, to build biological systems. They then operate these systems in living cells.

The molecular structures the students create are designed for a wide range of real-world purposes. Two years ago, the team engineered bacteria to digest hydrocarbon compounds in tailing ponds in the oil sands and earned gold for their efforts. Last year's team engineered a nano-sized compartment in the unstructured "soup" of bacterial cells in order to store certain genes.

"This molecular structure will be a useful tool for other synthetic biology researchers," Wieden explains.

Winning gold again this year, the 8-person U of L team worked on harvesting solar energy by refining what was termed a bio-battery, focusing on a type of bacteria called cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) that has photosynthetic properties when exposed to sunlight.

"These projects are leading-edge science that has social relevance," Wieden says.

Golden effort for U of L iGEM team

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:14:31 +0000

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Chemistry/Biochemistry and Neuroscience students returned from a recent international genetically-engineered machines (iGEM) conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, MA as gold medalists and with a new appreciation for teamwork, inventiveness and taking chances.

The iGEM competition is regarded as the premier undergraduate synthetic biology competition in the World. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts – called 'BioBricks' – at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools, they use these parts, along with new parts of their own design, to build biological systems. They then operate these systems in living cells.

The 8-person U of L team worked on harvesting solar energy by refining what was termed a 'bio-battery', focusing on a type of bacteria called a cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) that has photosynthetic properties when exposed to sunlight.

"My iGEM experience, or my introduction to synthetic biology, began and ended with a bang," says team member Megan Torry.

"The competition was intriguing because it introduced me to a future that we cannot grasp. We have no idea of the vast number of possibilities of where the world will take us, and our future decisions regarding change. There does not seem to be an academic program that is as multi-disciplinary as iGEM. People from numerous backgrounds can come together and offer the team different perspectives and skills, further making it a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge goal to get more students involved."

The U of L iGEM team was one of the few composed mainly of
undergraduate students, and competed against more than 100 university teams to finish with a gold medal standing, one of 48 groups to achieve that mark.
They share their iGEM Gold Medal standing with such heavyweight universities as Stanford, Tokyo, Osaka, Johns Hopkins, Paris, and Cambridge, among others. They even outdid the incomparable Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) itself.

Team supervisor Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden says the team did a tremendous job of making their project not only work, but also be complete enough to have other teams take an interest in their research.

"The team constructed some functional biobricks by successfully using synthetic biology to engineer an organism. We also furthered knowledge within the synthetic biology community and helped other teams with their projects. This is a lot of work, which the students take on in their spare time."

Torry and the others didn't seem to mind the time commitment or the complexity of their project. As successful as the project ultimately was, changes and chances were the order of the day to make the project work.

"Throughout the summer our project was forced to change as our team took chances again and again, and consequently were wrong, again and again. It was good that we were all too stubborn to stop showing up. I realized that being a risk taker and taking chances will expand synthetic biology because it will lead to the development of new ideas. I would suggest that anyone interested should take a chance with iGEM," says Torry.

"I have a BSc in Neuroscience, but iGEM allowed me to come to a conclusion that there are numerous novel lab procedures to expand my personal skills.

"I had to learn all of these new lab procedures, and I had to ask a lot of questions, interact, present, travel, write and develop myself over the last eight months. I was successful on a personal level because I was able to expand my talents, discover talent within myself, and see it in those working around me."

The iGEM project has evolved to become a credit course, and there is now scholarship money available for travel. As well, the group developed a business plan to further take advantage of any ideas that come out of the iGEM process.

Rethinking the role of a professor

trevor.kenney — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:13:06 +0000

The answer to that question, according to Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden, a Canada Research Chair in Physical Biochemistry and an Alberta Ingenuity-supported New Faculty Award recipient working on drug-resistance in bacteria, is simple: Don't keep them in a classroom. Make students "build" bacteria that work for a specific purpose and then send them to a huge international competition to present it.

Wieden put that challenge to a team of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students, who recently participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Mass.

Instead of learning about the process through lectures alone, Wieden pushed the 12-member group to work in the lab to engineer their biological "machine" to perform a specific function. The outcome means specialized bacteria that could have medical or environmental applications.

The team met students from more than 50 universities and was also exposed to new ideas, that in turn challenge Wieden both in his classroom and his lab.

"It's extremely rewarding, but extremely difficult," Wieden says, with no hint of understatement as he explains how the process forces him and his students to rethink the basic concepts of science, research and collaboration. "This is the Olympics for biochemistry students. They are under pressure to work on the project, with limited time. They have to be well-prepared, flexible and work well as a team, and we have to learn together."

Wieden says a big part of the value-added education U of L chemistry and biochemistry students receive is in the opportunity to participate in activities like iGEM.

The process of moving students from the classroom to the work world with real-life projects is paying off. "Our undergraduate students already work at an international level," says Wieden. "They are crucial to our research programming because they help lay the groundwork for further research, collaborations and, ultimately, employment."

Students are also able to present their research and receive funding at professional development events such as the Chinook Symposium, a competition made possible through contributions from 100 per cent of the faculty members in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department.

Rethinking the role of a professor

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:31:38 +0000

The team met students from more than 50 universities and was also exposed to new ideas, that in turn challenge Wieden both in his classroom and his lab.

Wieden says a big part of the value-added education U of L chemistry and biochemistry students receive is in the opportunity to participate in activities like iGEM.

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