iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is an international synthetic biology competition held since 2004, originating from MIT. In the competition each student team plans and builds a synthetic biological mechanism operated in living cells, using an open gene library and biological parts of their own design. Projects have covered a wide range of application fields from medicine to environment and from food to energy. Over 250 teams from around the world work at their own universities for the summer and present their work in the Giant Jamboree held in Boston in the autumn.
Student-driven applied research
Increasing know-how in the field synthetic biology
Promoting interdisciplinary student cooperation between universities
Opening up new opportunities for international networking and cooperation
Promoting synthetic biology to the general public
Improving research opportunities among students
Propane is a commonly used, convenient and clean-burning fuel, currently produced from non-renewable sources. Our project is about producing propane in bacteria, paving way for its sustainable production from renewable biomass. Ultimately, the pathway could be transferred to cyanobacteria, producing propane from CO2 and solar energy.
We want to facilitate further improvement of the propane production pathway by creating easily accessible, standardized versions of the biological parts it requires. Furthermore, we are aspiring to find ways to make the biological production more efficient and researching the possibility to combine cellulose degradation with propane synthesis.
Read more about our project on our wikipage!