Applied Virus and Complex Biologics Bioprocessing Research Lab
200 Univeristy Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
N2L 3G1
Contact Marc Aucoin, Director, Applied Virus and Complex Biologics Bioprocessing Research Lab
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is a yearly competition in synthetic biology geared towards students (mostly but not exclusively undergraduates) working in this area. I have been one of the main faculty advisors (together with Trevor Charles and Brian Ingalls). Together we help the teams navigate through the difficulties of research and design as well as team building and team work. As faculty advisors we have created a condusive environment for the growth of synthetic biology on campus. Our efforts, which have included the creation of an undergraduate course, Biol 349, have resulted in increased recognition at the annual Jamboree (as seen in our successes below).
- 2020 - Remine: Closing the loop for heavy metal waste. Gold Standing. Finalists for Best Manufacturing Project; Finalist for the Inclusivity Category; Finalist for Best Wiki.
- 2019 - Rooting for Symbiosis: Engineering herbicide tolerance in rhizobia. Silver standing.
- 2018 - Eco-light: Dynamic optogenetic control of co-cultures. Silver standing.
- 2017 - Prions be lit: Functional Amyloid as a Biological Tool.
- 2016 - OFF to priON:Using stop codon read-through and CRISPR to explore S. cerevisiae prion mechanisms. Gold standing. Best Poster, Overgrad. Read the article on the Faculty of Engineering News website.
- 2015 - CRISPieR: Re-engineering CRISPR with functional applications in eukaryotic systems. Gold standing. Nominated for Best Foundational Advance Project, Best Poster - Overgrad, Best Software Tool, Overgrad
- 2014 - STAPHYLOCIDE: Delivering Antibiotic Resistance Gene Silencing Mechanism to a MRSA Population using Bacterial Conjugation. Gold standing. Best Model - Undergrad. Read the article on the Faculty of Engineering News website.
- 2013 - Controlled Modification and Intracellular Transmission of a DNA Message. Gold Standing. Best Poster, North America, Overgrad, Advance to World Championship.
- 2012 - In Vivo Protein Fusion Assembly Using Self Excising Ribozyme (Part II). Entrepreneurship entry was one of 16 teams to advance to the World Championship.
- 2011 - In Vivo Protein Fusion Assembly Using Self Excising Ribozyme. Bronze standing. Advance to World Championship.
- 2010 - Staphiscope: a detection system for Staphylococcus aureus. Bronze standing.
- 2009 - Chromobricks: A Platform for Chromosome Engineering with BioBricks. Bronze standing.
- 2008 - Genome-free Bacterial Bioproduct Factory: A plasmid-safe, inducible genome-degradation strain for post-kill gene expression. Bronze standing.