UNews - Catholic Central High School

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.

Medoruma ready for his international debut

trevor.kenney — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:21:02 +0000

Matt Medoruma isn't one to have good fortune handed to him – he understands he's had to work to gain his rewards.

It was a lesson he taught himself early in his university career, and now, after five years with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's soccer team, his reward has arrived.

Medoruma, an accounting major in the Faculty of Management, will represent Canada at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia July 6-17. It will be the first time the 24-year-old midfielder has ever played at a national or international level.

"Honestly, I would never have thought I'd be in this position," says Medoruma. "I'm definitely honoured to be here and excited for the experience."

Senior midfielder Matt Medoruma will be wearing Canadian colours this summer as he represents the country at the 2013 Summer Universiade.

He essentially walked on to the U of L pitch in fall 2007, having talked to head coach Randy Bardock (who will also be on the Canadian squad as an assistant coach) about continuing to play soccer beyond the youth level. A Catholic Central High School graduate, Medoruma earned a spot with the Horns but after a year of Canada West soccer, stepped away from school.

"I don't think I was ready for university," he says bluntly. "I came in and I wasn't focused with my education and my grades weren't as good as I wanted them to be. So, I decided to take some time off and refocus."

Medoruma travelled to Australia, reassessed his major (finance, at the time) and returned in fall 2009 in a better frame of mind.

"I knew that once I took that break, when I came back it was for the right reasons," he says. "I wanted to play soccer and I was excited about school again. I definitely needed that, and once I came back I was refreshed and ready to go to school."

Taking the term student-athlete seriously, Medoruma took the discipline and diligence he uses so well on the field and applied it to his ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

"It is a challenge to balance your academic life with the time it takes to be an athlete and that was one of the reasons I struggled in my first year," he says. "I couldn't really find that balance, so it was a struggle. It took me a while to find out I needed to put a lot of work into my education and that had to come first. Once I figured it out that I needed to put the time in, then I was fine."

He is five courses shy of completing his degree, after which he will decide if he wants to pursue an accounting designation. Of course, now that he's representing Canada on the international stage, opportunities to continue playing soccer may also present themselves.

"It might open some doors, we'll see what happens when I get out there," he says. "Before I went out for this tryout (Universiade selection camp), I figured it was the last real soccer I would try and play. I'll always keep playing but not to this kind of competitive level. Now that I've made this team, it's up in the air. If some opportunities come from this, then I'd definitely look into it."

Medoruma's strength as a midfielder is his ability to create offensive opportunities for his teammates. He distributes the ball well and fits seamlessly with other players, likely one of the reasons he impressed at camp. He credits Bardock and the Horns program for helping bring his game to this level.

"The program has been great for me, it's helped me so much in terms of my development. I wouldn't have this opportunity if not for how it has helped my game over the last five years," he says.

The Canadian team will have very little preparation time before the Universiade event. Their only training sessions will come in Russia, along with a pair of exhibition contests right before the tourney's start.

Medoruma has no worries though, he's just anticipating the first time he'll pull the Canadian jersey over his head.

"It'll be amazing, something I'd never imagine would happen," he says. "To be able to represent the country, I'll be so honoured to put that jersey on."

GET THE FACTS

• Medoruma has played for the Lethbridge Football Club in recent summers

• He had two goals and four assists for the Horns in 2012

• Lethbridge product and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta defender Niko Saler, who Medoruma played with in youth soccer, is also on the Canadian squad

• Medoruma will document his trip on Twitter under the handle @taylorgang_89

• Kazan is known as the Sports Capital of Russia and in addition to hosting the 2013 Summer Universiade, will also host the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and the 2018 FIFA World Cup

This story first appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Medoruma ready for his international debut

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:12:15 +0000