We are back on Monday 15 January, 6pm, Panton Arms
“Getting Hands-on with Engineering Biology: Team Projects for Real-World Applications”
Kavi Shah and the iGEM Team Cambridge 2023: BMax, An engineered living biofilm to coat surfaces
The iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine) competition is a prestigious synthetic biology competition with hundreds of teams competing from different universities worldwide. The Cambridge iGEM Competition Team this year worked on engineering a protective biofilm (a matrix of polysaccharides, proteins, and DNA produced by the bacteria within it) that can prevent surface colonisation by pathogenic bacteria which usually form pathogen biofilms on surfaces. The project was designed towards a use case in animal farms, where bacterial infections cause loss of productivity and animal suffering. In combating such problems, farmers typically resort to frequent use of antimicrobial drugs, contributing to the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance. The team will talk about their biofilm-based solution to this problem. Their aim is for this protective biofilm to be applied to farm surfaces after cleaning and disinfection, creating long-lasting protection against pathogens, thereby reducing the risk of infections and the reliance on antimicrobials for disease prevention. Following the talk by the team, a brief introduction will be given to Cambridge University Synthetic Biology Society, which organises the iGEM competition team at Cambridge every year.
Lara Allen, iTeams Development i-Teams – i-Teams (iteamsonline.org)
Details are available here on MEETUP