The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the first Asia Regional Jamboree of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), an undergraduate Synthetic Biology competition launched by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003. Over 40 teams from universities in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India and Australia have just gathered at HKUST and participated in the event. HKUST team has been selected as one of the 18 teams going to MIT for the final competition in November and has also won the Best Presentation Award in the Asia Regional Jamboree for its outstanding performance.
Students of HKUST took part in iGEM for the fourth consecutive year. This year's interdisciplinary team, made up of first to third-year undergraduate students from the Schools of Science and Engineering, presented on "E. trojan - Boosting the Effectiveness of Antibiotics through Quorum-sensing Disruption". The panel of judges, formed by academics and industry leaders from over 20 prominent universities and organizations, commended HKUST students for their breakthrough innovation and superb organization skills which enable them to work on the extremely complicated project with details being well thought out and presented. They have also demonstrated strong team spirit and concerted effort throughout the event.
HKUST President Tony F Chan said that HKUST is extremely honored to host the first iGEM in Asia. The Competition, which requires undergraduate students to conduct research with interdisciplinary expertise, is in line with HKUST's emphasis on undergraduate research and our concept of 1-HKUST reinforcing inter-school and interdisciplinary collaborations.
HKUST also hosted a seminar "Safeguarding Science and the Future" on BioSecurity issues, a Bio:Fiction film session and a panel discussion featuring speakers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United Nations in Switzerland and the Organization for International Dialogue and Conflict Management in Austria. In the two-day competition, HKUST specially arranged a magic show related to Synthetic Biology and a Mascot Fun-Run during which participants ran with specially designed costumes.
Mr Randy Rettberg, President of iGEM Foundation and Director of iGEM Headquarter said: "iGEM is glad to have selected HKUST from a pool of Asian universities to be our partner in Asia. We have chosen HKUST because of its beautiful and centralized campus, its focus on undergraduate research, its experience in Synthetic Biology and its excellence in teaching and research which won international recognition."
iGEM Asia 2011 Organizing Committee was chaired by Prof King L Chow, Division of Life Science at HKUST. Sponsors included Merck Millipore, Tin Hang Technology Limited and Eastwin International Trading Limited. iGEM competition began in MIT in which student teams use given and designed biological parts to build biological systems and operate them in living cells to learn about the applications that contribute to improvement of clean environment, bioenergy, medical health and foundational understanding of life science.
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Kit Yip
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