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We are a team of 10 motivated students from the University of Zurich who took part in the world's biggest synthetic biology competition this year: iGEM. iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is a competition in which students from all over the world tackle current problems with the help of synthetic biology. The aim of our project “RhyzUp” was to use synthetic biology to improve the biofilm production of rhizobacteria on the roots of crops in order to solve agricultural challenges such as drought, heat and resource scarcity. We approached these problems not only from a scientific perspective, but also wanted to make a contribution to society in order to create a holistic understanding.
After 10 months of work, we met up with over 400 teams at the “Grand Jamboree” in Paris in October. Here we were able to exchange ideas with scientists, experts and the other teams and present our project. The interaction with students from all over the world who are also enthusiastic about synthetic biology was really enriching. In addition, our project won several awards at the competition. In addition to a gold medal and the prize for “Best Sustainable Development Impact”, we also received nominations in the “Best Agriculture Project” and “Best Wiki” categories. We are proud of what we have achieved with our project and very grateful that we had the opportunity to take part in such a unique experience.
