Source: School of Life Sciences
Written by: School of Life Sciences
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On October 31, 2016, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) 2016 Giant Jamboree came to an end in Boston. About 306 teams from all over the world participated in the Giant Jamboree, including MIT, Stanford-Brown, ETH-Zurich, Imperial College London, Peking University and Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). Both the wet-lab team and the software team, SYSU-CHINA and SYSU-Software, won the Gold Medal.

The SYSU-CHINA team consists of 15 undergraduate students from School of Life Sciences, YAT-SEN School, School of Mathematics, School of Data and Computer Science, and School of Communication and Design, including Ni Chunyang, Zhang Qianbin, Nie Xichen, Deng ancheng, Hu Xiangyue, Ma lizhen, Liu Xinyi, Liu Diao, Yu Qi and etc.

As the tradition of SYSU-CHINA, the project was independently proposed by all undergraduate team members and the whole experiment during the project was also exclusively conducted by the team members, which well trains these undergraduates. Aiming at the challenging issue in stem cell therapy, team SYSU-CHINA developed Cyclebow that imprints number of cell cycles of modified cells and enables the tracking of cell proliferation, differentiation and migration in vivo. The innovative project and its design were highly regarded by judges and experts from Kyoto University or other institutes.
 

Group photo of SYSU-China
 

SYSU-Software consists of 20 undergraduate students, including Yao Nan, Deng Kaiwen, Zeng ziyi, Liu minxue, Liu Ren, Zeng Dongyu, Wang Xi, Wu Ziming, Lin Xiaoya, Zhang Zijie, Chen Fengjie and Zhong Yujie, coming from School of Life Sciences, YAT-SEN School, School of Mathematics, School of Electronics and Information Technology, School of Engineering, School of Data and Computer Science, and School of Communication and Design.

The design of the project this year, CRAFT, was based on the consideration of automatic synthetic biological system design in complex environment. With the application of evolution, CRAFT can enumerate all possible solution according to user demands and filter out the most appropriate one based on user customized constraints. CRAFT was implemented on self-constructed database, algorithms and models, which were much more complex than the precursors. Because of the design concept and further integration on software and experiment, CRAFT was widely approved by software track judges and competitors including Michigan_Software.
 

Group photo of SYSU-Software
 

SYSU not only gets good grades in iGEM competition, but also provides an excellent platform for national iGEM teams to communicate. From September 2 to 4 in 2016, the Central China iGEM Consortium (CCiC) was held in He Danqing Lecture Hall at SYSU. CCiC was hosted by SYSU-CHINA, helped by SYSU-Software and 28 iGEMers and teachers, and a total of 230 people participated in it. CCiC consisted of poster section and presentation section, from which each iGEM team was given a chance to prepare for the Giant Jamboree and the team members were touched by the beauty of Sun Yat-sen University.

SYSU iGEM teams continue to make breakthroughs. They have gathered the wisdom and strength of many teachers, students as well as functional departments at SYSU. The instructors include Prof. Zhang Yan, Prof. Huang Junjiu, Prof. Lu Yongjun, Prof. Yang Jianhua, Prof. Ren Jian, Prof. He Xionglei, Prof. Huang Shengfeng, Doctor Liu Feng and Doctor Zheng lingling. During the whole process, the two teams received great support from the School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Laboratory of Stem Cell and Functional Genomics, School of Mathematics, School of Data and Computer Science, School of Communication and Design, School of Electronics and Information Technology, School of Engineering, Department of Education Administration, Student Affairs Office, SYSU Youth Association and Office of International Cooperation & Exchange.