Source: School of Life Sciences
Written by: School of Life Sciences
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On October 4-6, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) 2013 Asia Jamboree was held at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Both the experiment team SYSU-China and the software team SYSU-Software receive a gold medal in the Asian Jamboree and advance to the World Championship Jamboree to be held in MIT in November. SYSU-China also wins two special awards (Best Model and Best New BioBrick Part, Natural). This marks a historic breakthrough since SYSU teams began to participate in iGEM in 2010.
The experiment team SYSU-China is composed of 15 undergraduates from School of Life Sciences, School of Mathematics & Computational Science and YAT-SEN School, including Sun Mengyi, Zhao Yuchen, Chen Haoqi, Lin Kaixuan, He Dawei and Fang Yiming. The team has designed a device called iPSCs Safeguard which can select the right kind of cells from induced cell mass and retain selection pressure to remove cancerous cells.

The SYSU-Software team is made up of 16 undergraduates from School of Life Sciences, School of Information Science and Technology, School of Software, School of Mathematics & Computational Science, School of Communication and Design and YAT-SEN School, including Miao Zong, Nie Peng, Xu Wang, Li Jianhong, Zhang Hong and Liu Xi. The team has developed a software CAST (Computer Aided Synbio Tool)which can automatically perform the regulatory networks and gene circuits designing with Biobricks and other regulatory elements, modeling, vector designing and proposal build. This year the gold, silver and bronze medalists as well as special awards winners of the software group will compete in the World Championship Jamboree.

The instructors of the two SYSU teams include Professor Lu Yongjun, Professor He Xionglei, Professor Ren Jian, Professor Zhao Yong, Associate Professor Yang Jianhua, Associate Professor Huang Junjiu, Associate Professor Huang Shengfeng, Senior Lecturer Zhang Yongdong, Lecturer Xu Hui and Lecturer Zheng Lingling. This year, Associate Professor Yang Jianhua is elected as a judge in the Asia Jamboree. During the whole process, the two teams have received support from School of Life Sciences, Xiang Peng Lab of Zhongshan School of Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, The Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-sen University Biomedical Center, YAT-SEN school, School of Mathematics & Computational Science, School of Software, School of Information Science and Technology, School of Communication and Design, School of Engineering, University Dean’s Office, Student Affairs Office, SYSU Youth Association and Office of International Cooperation & Exchange.

Related Background

iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition) started in 2003 at MIT and grew internationally in 2005 with an aim to promote the study, communication and cooperation in Synthetic Biology among undergraduate university students. As a top-notch international science and technology competition for university students, iGEM receives attention from journals such as Nature, Science and Scientific American, as well as media coverage including BBC. In 2013, over 200 teams from more than 40 countries participate in the competition. 65 teams from universities in Asia competed in the iGEM 2013 Asia Jamboree, including The University of Tokyo, The University of Sydney, Indian Institute of Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Sun Yat-sen University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.