Florida State University’s iGEM team is gearing for its second trip to the 2018 iGEM Giant Jamboree in Boston this fall.
The Giant Jamboree features work from the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition and is projected to host nearly 300 international, interdisciplinary teams. These teams study a need or problem centered around biological engineering, then collaborate to design, build, and test solutions.
This year’s interdisciplinary team includes FSU undergraduate and graduate students from engineering, biological science, business, communication and human science.
Christopher Cruz and Arian Rastgou are chemical and biomedical engineering majors through FSU and Rollin Scott is a Florida A&M University electrical engineering student. All three attend the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, which is a sponsor of the iGEM team.
Led by rising-junior Ian Schlander, a pre-med student, FSU’s iGEM team aims to win gold at this year’s competition after finishing with a bronze medal during the 2017 event.
Cesar A. Rodriguez M.D., Research Faculty and Entrepreneurship Advocate at the College of Medicine is the mentor for this year’s team. He highlights the mission for FSU’s iGEM program.
“Our iGEM team was founded with the intention of having FSU participate in and lead the historic changes triggered by the rise of biological engineering,” Rodriguez says. “We want our teams to consistently compete against other elite teams by building an infrastructure the right way: with talented students, high-caliber projects and strong support from community sponsors.”
The 2018 FSU iGEM team will focus on using sound to induce gene expression Escherichia coli (E. Coli). They have begun conversations with molecular biologists, brewmasters, and managers of water treatment systems to examine the potential positive and negative impacts.
“During the spring semester, we hosted several workshops to explore the best topics to design and came across a variety of complex ideas,” Rodriguez said explaining their selection process.
“Out of the 15 topics we discussed, our team decided to focus on using sound to induce gene expression and very quickly realized the potential for how special this project can become for research purposes as well as placing at this year’s Giant Jamboree.”
If the project is successful in using sound to induce gene express in E. coli, the group’s research will be used to determine the impact. Moreover, the group will be exploring the potential use and misuse of the technology.
iGEM Giant Jamboree will take place October 24-28, 2018 in the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA, USA. The iGEM team and project are sponsored by the FSU Office of Provost, FSU Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement, FSU Office of Research, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, FSU Colleges of Entrepreneurship, Medicine and Arts and Sciences.