ISc wins gold at int genetically engineered machine contest

A team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here won the gold medal at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) contest held at Boston, USA.
Over 300 teams from all over the world had participated in the competition, held from November 9 to 13, an official release said.
"Team IISc-iGEM participated in the contest with an extra-ordinary idea to develop a new method to purify recombinant proteins in the laboratory. They made use of naturally occurring gas vesicles isolated from Halobacterial species. The presence of these vesicles help the bacteria float to the surface of the liquid medium," the release said.

Another part of the project was development of adevice called Growth Curve and Optical Density Device (GCODe).
It is a portable, automated device to measure absorbance of any given liquid.
This design is the first of its kind where, microbial growth analysis can be performed in an automated and error-free manner.

The device has the features of real time optical density measurement.
It is easy to assemble and it can even send the readings to a smartphone. Most importantly, its performance is on par with high end commercially available spectrophotometer at a two orders lesser price, it said.
A team of 6 students travelled to Boston to participate in the competition and they were evaluated based on their elaborate poster as well as oral presentations by the experts in the field of biotechnology and bioengineering, it said.

iGEM has been encouraging students for the past 10 years to work together to solve real-world challenges by building genetically engineered biological systems with standard, interchangeable parts, the release said.