IGEM gets the gold

ISABELLE CONN
PHOTOGRAPHER

BRONWYN MCALINDON
STAFF WRITER

11/20/2023

From Nov. 2 to Nov. 5, Alma’s Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine (IGEM) team competed at the IGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris, France, and won gold. 

IGEM is a nonprofit international foundation that hosts an academic competition where more than 400 teams from across the globe participate in topics pertaining to genetic engineering.

Alma’s award-winning IGEM team is developing a sensor that can measure DDT levels in water systems.  By creating a test like this, they can help the EPA determine chemical levels in water systems, including local waterways. 

“The pine river that runs through Alma… [is] actually a super fun site for DDT pollution,” said Alexa Dekorte (’24), one of the heads of Wet Lab on the IGEM team.  

The team has been in the process of making this test for the past four years.  The progress the team has made on the test will help to improve the quality of the local environment and aid in the decontamination of the Pine River.

“[By] manufacturing E. coli and engineering it within a plasmid, we have been able to use an RFP gene– which is a red fluorescence protein and a pond binding 2DT and its derivatives. The sensor will detect [DDT] and turn fluorescent red,” said Isabelle Conn (’24), Head of Operations for the IGEM Team.

To win, the IGEM team did not just focus on the lab aspects.  The team had to go out of the lab to engage with the community. This allowed the IGEM team to educate the local community on their research.

“Human practices is another big aspect… it’s not just the science side of it, but there’s also a lot of the human side [to] it… We’ve met with the City Council, [and] some of our members became honorary members of a few different committees that are helping with the decontamination… We [also] do a lot of different education and outreach alongside our project,” said Dekorte

While working to produce a DDT test that works, completing an informational data website and participating in the humanitarian aspects of environmental science, the list of requirements to win a Gold is long and arduous.

The team had to put together a lot of moving parts to present what they had been doing over the time spent between this Jamboree and the last. Alma has only won gold one time before, and a nomination for best bioremediation project makes it an even more successful year for the team. 

“To get gold, you have to meet all bronze, silver and the gold [requirements]… which includes our huge website that requires a lot of coding… a promotion video, a presentation video [and] a judging form. [It also includes] the judging session [which] is what we do at the competition,” said Dekorte.

Gold is a large accomplishment for any team no matter the school size.  Alma beat out many prestigious schools around the world including the Ivy’s.  

“Harvard, Stanford, Yale, UPenn, Duke, Oxford, [and] Princeton all earned [a] silver, and we ended up with a gold and a nomination,” said, Dekorte.

Quite a lot of commitment from the IGEM team has gone into making this project. It paid off as the Alma College IGEM team had a historical and record-breaking time in Paris this November. To win gold and receive a nomination for the best bioremediation project at the jamboree is a large accomplishment.  

“It takes a lot of grit, a lot of determination and [a lot of] focus, “said Conn. The iGEM team is now back on campus preparing to get started on another award-winning year.