Congratulations to the Virginia iGEM team for receiving a Gold Medal in the 2024 iGEM Competition, held October 23-26 in Paris.

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition is an annual collegiate research contest in synthetic biology, an area of research at the interface of biology and engineering, in which cells are designed and engineered to solve global problems.  Almost 7000 students from 400 institutions, from across 50 countries, competed this season.  The Virginia iGEM team presented “BLISS – Bacillus Lipase Integrated Secretion System,"  a novel probiotic to ameliorate exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI).  Support from the National Science Foundation, MITRE Corp., and alumni was essential for enabling the team’s participation in the 2024 competition.  Team Virginia (shown above) included 1st row –  Madhuri Sosale (Biomedical Engineering), Siena Rodeschin (Biomedical Engineering), Hannah Shen (Biomedical Engineering) and 2nd row – Matthew Palermo (Chemistry), Stephanie Zhang (Biology and Cognitive Science), Elizabeth MacPhail (Chemistry), Nithin Avala (Chemistry), Michael Mao (Biology and Computer Science).  Not shown – Kaylin Shukert (Chemistry).  The team’s faculty advisor is Prof. Keith Kozminski (Biology).  Click here to learn more about iGEM at UVA, as it enters its 19th year.