A group of multidisciplinary Concordia undergraduate students is on a mission to demystify genetic engineering through dialogue and mentorship.
iGEM Concordia collaborates on synthetic biology projects and competes yearly in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM).
“We look at how we can use synthetic biology to solve today's social, environmental, health and manufacturing problems,” says Gabriel Aguiar-Tawil, one of three co-leads of the iGEM team and co-lead of the genetics sub-team.
“We try to help promote synthetic biology among the next generation of scientists by providing hands-on experience in the field.”
iGEM now looks to supplement its finances through FundOne — Concordia’s crowdfunding platform for students, researchers and community members. The platform allows Concordians to present projects to potential donors and show how their donation will make a difference.
“FundOne gives our research better exposure to Concordia alumni compared to any other crowdfunding platform,” says Amirhossein Rajabi Vajargah, fundraising team leader and member of the genetics sub-team.
“The beauty of iGEM is that it is very interdisciplinary — we combine synthetic biology with mechanical engineering, and we learn about science beyond our disciplines because we collaborate with so many different people,” adds the fourth-year biology student.
Concordia’s iGEM team has five sub-groups with different respective roles: human practices, software, hardware, genetics, and social media and design. The fund is used for research activities, design and manufacturing and to cover registration costs of iGEM conferences and competition.
“FundOne facilitates a lot of the financial aspects,” says Man Zou, iGEM’s social media co-lead and undergraduate student in Concordia’s Design program. “It promotes iGEM within our community, which is beneficial for student groups like us who need a bigger reach.”
Some members of Concordia’s iGEM team, including Aguiar-Tawil, are also part of the SynBioApps program, which was recently awarded $30,000 and was named among the Canadian semi-finalists in the Deep Space Food Challenge.
‘A very ambitious project’
iGEM Concordia’s current research project is the AstroYeast MicroFarm, an innovative solution the team hopes will help astronauts produce nutritious food during long-term missions.
“We have a very strong team and a very big and ambitious project,” says Aguiar-Tawil.
AstroYeast was inspired by the scarce food resources available to crews on a space station, where the environment is limited in terms of space and resources such as water and oxygen.
The team’s goal is to help advance space exploration through synthetic biology by designing a space-compatible micro-organism that could help produce the resources and nutrients humans need in space.