TU iGEM team wins gold medal
Gold medal for innovative solution to combat oil spills
2024/11/08 by iGEM
After a two-year break, a team from TU Darmstadt took part in the international iGEM competition again this year. And they were very successful: with their project to combat oil pollution, the students were awarded a gold medal at the Grand Jamboree in Paris and nominated for two Special Prizes.
iGEM is the world's largest competition for students in the field of synthetic biology. Over the course of several months, the teams develop their own project in the laboratory, which they then use to compete against each other at the Grand Jamboree.
TU Darmstadt has also been taking part since 2012. This year's twelve-strong team developed a project to combat oil pollution in rivers. To this end, they modified the bacterium Pseudomonas vancouverensis DSM8368 so that it can completely break down three toxic and carcinogenic oil substances. This chassis is immobilised in a specialised device that can be installed in rivers. The river water flows through the device and is thus passively and cost-effectively purified.
More information on the project can be found on the wiki.