College of Biological Sciences

The University's iGEM team takes home top honors from the iGEM international synthetic biology competition at MIT.

The Gopher iGEM team won gold for best environmental project at the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition earlier this month. CBS seniors Basem Al-Shayeb (microbiology) and Jessica Tarnowsky (genetics, cell biology and development) co-led the 24-person team made up primarily of undergraduates. Faculty advisors included Dr. Jeff Gralnick (Microbiology/BTI) and Dr. Casim Sarkar (CSE).

Aunica Kane, a graduate student in the Gralnick lab, says: "As their instructor, I was blown away by how much they accomplished this semester and how hard they worked. It was so fun to see them rewarded this weekend with such a prestigious award."

For more about the Gopher iGEM team and their project:

• Outside-the-box biology (CBS Connect)
• U pollution bead research nabs gold at national competition (MNDaily)
• Gopher iGEM  (Twitter)