Local People Solving Local Problems: Highlights from iGEM 2020

“iGEM is about local people solving local problems everywhere in the world, and we see that in the projects that iGEMers do. We see there were problems iGEMers saw that some venture person in Silicon Valley would never pay attention to, but for iGEMers, in their environment and in their world, those were important."

– Randy Rettberg, President and CEO, iGEM Foundation

More than 50,000 people from over 45 countries have participated in the iGEM competition since it first began in 2003. Each iGEM team identifies a regional problem or global challenge they want to help solve using the tools of synthetic biology. iGEM teams are self-driven, and they work within their local communities in developing safe and responsible biological systems to solve local problems.

Highlights from iGEM 2020 of local people solving local problems everywhere in the world include:

Africa

Inspired by Ghana’s efforts to build defense walls that could help stop erosion of coastal villages, team AshesiGhana engineered bacteria to create “bioconcrete tetrapods” that are self-repairing and also bioluminescent. Silver Medalist, Undergrad Division.

Asia

Recognizing that Japan must rely on imports for all its’ phosphorus needs, team Qdai aimed to secure a sustainable supply of phosphorus by engineering bacteria to remove phosphorous from wastewater and recycle it. Silver Medalist, Undergrad Division.

Sensitive to the challenges of tea production in the Fujian province, team XMU-China engineered a rapid detect-and-degrade system to remove excess glyphosate herbicide from tea. Winner Best Food & Nutrition Project, Winner Best Parts Collection, Winner Best Wiki, Winner Best Presentation, Nominee and 2nd Runner-up Grand Prize, Nominee Best New Basic Part, Gold Medalist, Undergrad Division.

Europe

After testing different locations along the Seine river, team Sorbonne_U_Paris revealed the presence of one pesticide in particular: atrazine. To address this local problem, they designed photosynthetic microalgae that could efficiently degrade atrazine. Winner Best Plant Synthetic Biology, Gold Medalist, Undergrad Division.

Concerned about the heavy pesticide usage by potato farmers in Sweden, team Lund designed a biopesticide based on antimicrobial peptides to prevent outbreaks of late blight in potatoes. Gold Medalist, Overgrad Division.

Latin America

Seeking to mitigate the contamination caused by military practices in the Anones Lagoon in Vieques, Puerto Rico, team RUM-UPRM designed a system to bioremediate Mercury and the explosive, RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine). Bronze Medalist, Undergrad Division.

Motivated to help Peruvian agricultural communities reduce crop loss and improve food security, team UPCH_Peru sought to develop anti-freezing proteins that could protect frost-susceptible crops. Gold Medalist, Undergrad Division.

North America

Inspired by the cultural and economic importance of Canada’s maple syrup industry, team ULaval aimed to develop an enzymatic treatment to degrade dextran and turn ropy maple syrup into a marketable product. Gold Medalist, Overgrad Division.

Aiming to clean-up the long-standing DDT pollution of Michigan’s Pine River, team Alma designed a biosensor to aid professionals and cut down on costs for DDT bioremediation. Gold Medalist, Undergrad Division. 

We are proud of all the iGEM teams that make a positive difference within their own local communities using synthetic biology. By solving local problems, iGEMers help tackle global challenges such as climate change, plastic pollution, water scarcity, agricultural sustainability, and more.  

As the new season begins, we are excited to welcome the new and returning teams to iGEM 2021, and look forward to seeing their many creative and innovative solutions to local problems and global challenges.

Cover image: by iGEM 2020 Team UPCH_Peru