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• Start
• Team
  • Members
  • Photos
  • TU Braunschweig
  • Acknowledgements
  • Official Team Profile
• Project
  • Description
  • Achievements
  • Approach
  • Model
  • Background
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  • Parts submitted to the registry
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What iGEM is about

iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition) is an international competition in the field of Synthetic Biology organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. It is an annually occurring event, designed for undergraduate students and as of late also high school students and entrepreneurs. It encourages teams to develop novel, creative and inspiring ideas for the use of genetically engineered systems to solve social and scientific problems. Next year, the event celebrates its 10th anniversary.

iGEM foundation
The iGEM competition is hosted by the iGEM foundation, an independent and non-profit organization originating from the MIT.

BioBricks
Participating teams are equipped with a kind of gene-kit. The so called “BioBricks” can be combined freely for the projects. As a part of the iGEM concept, teams are also encouraged to improve already existing bricks or develop new bricks to add them to the database for usage in future projects.

Aim
The iGEM competition is dedicated to promote teamwork, scientific research and advancement of Synthetic Biology.

Our project – outline

In nature microorganisms commonly live in symbiosis, be it in form of a protective biofilm or as composite organism[s] such as lichen (a symbiosis of algae/cyanobacteria and fungi). Members of this symbiotic community secrete chemicals that offer protection and nutrition or neutralize toxins.

The goal of the iGEM Team Braunschweig is to create a synergetic system similar to a natural symbiosis. During the course of our project we want to clone three individual mutant strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli which can only survive as a community – if one dies, they all die.
To achieve this, each strain bears a plasmid that confers antibiotic resistance upon activation of a two-component transcription activator.
The key feature of our system: only one component can be synthesized by each strain alone. The other half of a transcription activator is produced by another strain and secreted into the medium.

Curious? Here you can find more details.

Our university

Founded in 1745, the Technische Universität Braunschweig is the oldest institute of technology in Germany. Following this tradition, the university was one of the first to recognize the importance of interdisciplinary education. Innovative fields of study such as Germany’s first biotechnology program were established here. Today, the Technische Universität Braunschweig is part of the TU9, an alliance of Germany’s finest and biggest institutes of technology. Besides the renowned engineering faculty, the university also includes a well-established life science faculty with an unique network to major research institutions in Braunschweig. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research is only one of them. This network opens an inimitable variety of perspectives to researchers and students.