Recently, the Award Ceremony for the 2021 International Genetic Engineering Machine competition (iGEM) was held online. The iGEM-Tianjin team of the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology of Tianjin University won the gold award and was nominated for the best measurement award, based on its eukaryotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) chromosome-free cell project. It is the seventh time that the team has won the gold award since participating in the iGEM competition in 2007.

iGEM-Tianjin 2021 members

So far, the team has won seven gold awards, three silver awards, three bronze awards and ten nominations for the best individual awards.

Awards over the years

The team is composed of undergraduates from the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology and Qiushi Honors College. The instructors are Associate Professor Wu Yi, Professor Li Bingzhi, and Professor Yuan Yingjin from the synthetic biology professional tutor team. The project is based on two interesting scientific questions that are worth exploring ‘What if there are no chromosomes in an eukaryote cell? Can it still alive?’ After more than a year of hard work, the team used the CRISPR technology to target the Delta sequence with high copy, high homology, and high conservation characteristics in the chromosomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the Cas9 protein was used to cut all of the 16 chromosomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The chromosome-free cells break the limitations of traditional synthetic biology tools, so they have more potential applications. With its chromosomal genome removed and combined with strong the homologous recombination ability, saccharomyces cerevisiae provide a possible solution to the current problem of difficult transfer of large fragments of DNA in molecular biology. At the same time, cells without chromosomes lose the ability to proliferate, which means biosafety, so its have application potential for drug production and delivery.

The wiki of 2021 iGEM-Tianjin：

https://2021.igem.org/Team:Tianjin

iGEM-Tianjin Official Account:

The QQ group of new members:

The International Genetic Engineering Machine competition (iGEM) started in 2005. It was originally sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. It is a top international college student science and technology competition in the field of synthetic biology. Participating teams were required to use standard biological modules to construct gene circuits, establish effective mathematical models, and measurement of delicate and complex artificial biological systems, finally they should complete the competition through social research, practice, reply, and poster display. The competition and research results of the competition attract extensive attention and reported by top academic magazines such as ‘Science’ and ‘Nature’ every year, which has a wide range of international influence.

By: The School of Chemical Engineering

Editors: Qin Mian & Yang Fan