A team from KPK, iGEM Peshawar, has made it to the International Genetically Engineered Competition (iGEM), which will be held from 9th to 13th November 2017 at Boston, USA.

337 teams from 48 countries will be trying their best to bag the coveted prizes at the annual iGEM event.

Last year, a team from iGEM Peshawar participated in the event for the first time and won the Bronze Medal at the 15th annual event. They earned accolades for their efforts to engineer a bacteria that can detect air pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Their work will go a long way in combating the menace of pollution in many cities.

What was more remarkable was that the team from Pakistan managed the achievement despite competing against over 300 teams which participated in the event.

Students from prestigious universities like MIT, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, etc. also took part in the event in a bid to produce genetically engineered solutions to counter the most pressing challenges faced by the world.

IGEM 2017

The team from Pakistan will be presenting their latest project – bio-reporter fish and a bacteria for heavy metal detection in water and the outreach work for Public Awareness and Education – at this year’s event in Boston.

In addition to being selected for the flagship competition, the team from iGEM Peshawar is also visiting different schools to spread awareness of Science and Technology.

Synthetic Biology for solving the issues faced by the world today is the way forward and iGEM Peshawar along with Institute of Integrative Biosciences at CECOS University and Directorate of Science and Technology (DoST), KP are trying their best to put it to good use.

We wish the team best of luck for the endeavor and we hope that more and more students turn to Synthetic Biology to help Pakistan tackle the issues it is facing.