iGEM students raising funds for Paris jamboree

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on August 31, 2022.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Masataro Tatsuno plays Moments Passed on the piano during Summer Gem! at Casa on Saturday.

The University of Lethbridge in conjunction with high school International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) students hosted its annual Summer Gem! Showcase on Saturday at Casa in an effort to raise funds for their trip to Paris for the Giant Jamboree competition in Paris.

Local high school students, who are also members of the iGEM team, played instruments, danced and sang as a part of the performance and raised money through silent auction items that had been donated by iGEM team members and donations at the door.

This was one of many fundraisers that is held throughout the year for iGEM.

“It’s a way for the team to fundraise for our travel to Paris,” said Laura Keffer-Wilkes, U of L biochemistry department instructor and lead instructor for the Lethbridge high school iGEM team.

“We’re hoping to compete in the international iGEM Giant Jamboree, which will be held in Paris at the end of October. It’s very expensive to take a team of high school students to Paris – so it’s hoping to raise some money to offset some of those costs.”

Keffer-Wilkes said “it’s huge” when it comes to the conference for both high school and university students.

“It’s over 300 teams -there’s usually 4,000 people from all over the world participating from huge universities,” she said.

“Like we go compete against Harvard, Oxford and all these really big institutions and quite often do very well. So it’s nice to put Lethbridge on the map, especially with the high school kids. It’s really great for the high school kids because they see what else out is out there, they get to meet a lot of different people, see what other programs they might be interested in.”

iGEM showcases leading synthetic and biology engineering that is conducted by high school students and all the way up to grad students and community members.

“We’re trying to use synthetic biology and genetic engineering to solve problems that are around the world – both local and international,” said Keffer-Wilkes.

The high school project this year is “Dia-Beatable” which is using a self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) as an alternative treatment for diabetes.

The insulin production will depend on the amount of insulin in the body and low amounts of insulin will signal production, however, high levels will stop production.

“Our saRNA constructs contain an insulin aptamer and the human insulin gene,” as read in the Summer Gem! pamphlet.

“Once injected into cells, the aptamer will bind to insulin if available and induce a change in the RNA structure, halting insulin expression. If no insulin is available to bind to the aptamer, translation occurs as normal.”

“Dia-Beatable” would provide a cheaper and less time intensive option.

“The saRNA would only be injected once a month and would be able to self-regulate insulin production.”

The university students’ project is to a create a CRISPR Cask-13 system to combat cyanobacteria that are associated with algae blooms in irrigation systems that could release toxins and be detrimental to livestock.

The high school team includes Amanda Dang, Amber Quo, Aubrey Nilsson, Enrique Zaki Olvis, Grace Cofell, Jayabhishek Chaudhary, Karma Patel, Lisa Sallah, Marie Metz, Masataro Tatsuno, Morteza Faraji, Noehil Ferolino, Priyanshi Patel, Raiyana Shams, Samreet Mutti, Sophia Bird, Steven Yang and Zitong Wu.

A presentation of projects will be made in front of judges to talk about the projects and answer questions.

A Wiki website will have to be created prior to the competition at the Jamboree which documents everything that is done through the iGEM season.