Source: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Written by: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On October 31st, 2016, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) came to an end. This year, SYSU-MEDICINE, the team from Zhongshan School of Medicine of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), instructed by Professor Xiang Peng and Dr. Wang Jiancheng, won a number of prizes, including Best Therapeutics Project, Best New Composite Part, nominated for Best Model and a Gold Medal.

iGEM is a top international competition in the field of synthetic biology. With great international influence, the competition attracts great attention all over the world and is reported by Nature, Science, Scientific American, Economists, BBC and other mainstream media each year. In 2016, 306 teams around the world participated in the competition, including teams from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford and other famous universities. It is the first time for SYSU-MEDICINE to take part in iGEM competition, defeat powerful opponents and achieve great success.
 

The SYSU-MEDICINE iGEM team
 

Under the great support of Zhongshan School of Medicine, 14 undergraduates (Zhou Longyuan, Su Xiaojun, Chen Qinchang, Huang Zhipei, Zhang Zhiqian, Yuan Meng, Huang Yinong, Wu Haoxiang, Li Tong, Li Qihao, Bai Yang, Lang Quanjun, Li Xin and Fang Xueyu) from different schools of SYSU, including Zhongshan School of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Mathematics, School of Data and Computer Science, and School of Communication and Design, formed the SYSU-MEDICINE iGEM team. Supervised by Prof. Xiang Peng and Dr. Wang Jiancheng, the team focused on the challenging scientific problem "precise targeted therapy of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)" and started carrying out the project "MSCavalry: MSCs of Next Generation", including biobricks construction, animal model validation, human practices, mathematical modeling, art design and website establishment. The chemokine receptors engineered MSCs will smartly home to the injured tissues and significantly alleviate the syndromes, which may provide novel and promising therapeutic strategy.

The competition not only demonstrates the excellent medical education of SYSU, but also vividly fulfilled the teaching philosophy----SYSU students should have both talent and moral integrity, ability to cultivate charisma of leadership and eagerness to serve their country.

This project was supported by Mr. Xu Jianping, an alumnus of Zhongshan School of Medicine in 1980.

Wiki link: http://2016.igem.org/Team:SYSU-MEDICINE

Background of iGEM:

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) was founded in 2003 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was developed into an international event in 2005. It aimed at encouraging students all over the world to communicate and cooperate, to learn about synthetic biology and promote synthetic biology.

In 2016, more than 300 teams around the world participated in iGEM, including Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford University and other world famous universities. In addition, Tokyo University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sun Yat-sen University and other Asian famous universities were involved.

Synthetic biology has emerged in 21st century. It is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering and combines various disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, evolutionary biology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics and computer engineering. It aims to achieve the signal processing and precious control of the engineering organisms. iGEM has become the top competition of synthetic biology for students worldwide. Each year, the competition is reported by Nature, Science, Scientific American, Economists, BBC and other mainstream media, which has a huge international influence.

Best Therapeutics Project: No.1 of all teams in Therapeutics Track.

Best New Composite Part: No.1 of all teams in the field of new composite part construction.

Nominated for Best Model: Top 6 of all teams in the field of mathematical model.

Gold Medal: Meet the standards of Gold Modal. (Number of teams is not limited.)