A group of students from the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of\nHealth Sciences (FHS) recently won a gold prize at the Environment Track of the\nInternational Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition for a self-activating\nnanoparticle collector they developed, which provides a safe and cheaper alternative\nto the traditional way of purifying waste water. The team also won a Best Part\nCollection award, ranked among the top five in this category. Held in Boston,\nUnited States, this year\u2019s competition attracted a total of 7,500 contestants\nin 344 teams from 45 countries and regions. This is the first time that a team\nfrom Macao has participated in iGEM.<\/p>
The UM team engineered a strain of Escherichia coli<\/i> (bacteria found in the environment, foods, and intestines\nof people and animals, also known as E coli<\/i>)\nthat can capture nanoparticles by activating itself and can be controlled\nthrough magnetisation. E coli<\/i> uses a\nsticky protein on the cell surface to capture nanoparticles, which provides an\neffective and economical way to purify waste water. For biological experiments,\nthe students collected water samples from different locations in Macao to test\nthe organism. They also visited water treatment plants in Macao to collect data\nand visited different local secondary schools as well as universities in the\nGuangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to promote environmental awareness.<\/p>
The UM team also received a Best Part Collection award for creating plasmids with special functions,\nranked among the top five in this category. Only teams that can provide\ncomplete experiment data to establish the special functions of the plasmids\nwith visible effects are nominated for this category. The other four teams\nranked among the top five in this category come from the University of Calgary\nin Canada, Fudan University, Kyoto University, and the National University of\nSingapore.<\/p>
In addition, FHS assistant\nprofessors Wang Ya-Fan, Lee Tsz On, and Xie Ruiyu worked with a team from Pui\nChing Middle School (Macao). The team also received a gold prize at the\ncompetition for a sustainable cyanobacteria system they developed for the\ndegradation of endocrine-disrupting compounds. The project is one of the\nscience popularisation projects supported by the Macao Base for Primary &\nSecondary STEM Education, and it was sponsored by the Macao Science and\nTechnology Development Fund. The students used UM\u2019s laboratories to work on the\nproject during their spare time for an entire year.<\/p>
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iGEM encourages students to use their\nknowledge of synthetic biology to find solutions for the problems in our daily\nlives. The competition aims to promote education and provide a platform for\ninternational collaboration in related fields.<\/p>
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Source: Faculty of Health SciencesMedia Contact Information:Communications Office, University of Macau<\/p>
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Albee Lei Tel\uff1a(853) 88228004Kelvin U Tel\uff1a(853) 88224322Email\uff1aprs.media@um.edu.moUM Website\uff1awww.um.edu.mo<\/p>
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