Florida State University’s multidisciplinary iGEM Team earned a silver medal at the 2022 iGEM Giant Jamboree, held Oct. 26-28 in Paris. It is the fifth medal in the past six years for the FSU team.

“The team strived for gold,” said Cesar Rodriguez, M.D., the team’s leader who serves as research faculty and entrepreneur in residence at the College of Medicine. “Despite a lot of sweat and creativity, we were unable to assemble a large DNA molecule, with 12,000 base pairs instead of the more common 6,000 to 8,000 base pairs.

“The judges recognized the hard work and lessons learned, but it kept us from the gold medal.”

Rodriguez said FSU was one of nine collegiate teams to earn silver medals from a field of 50 U.S.-based teams. More than 40 teams from around the world competed.

iGEM, which stands for Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine, gives students an opportunity to push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world. This year, the FSU team’s topic was “Quest for Biodegradable Algaecides,” a study of the impacts of algae blooms on Florida’s manatees and the impacts of a synthetic solution called Sea Clear.

They were inspired by researchers at Jiangnan University in China, who published a paper showing how the fungal toxin cercosporin can inactivate cyanobacteria responsible for the blooms. Algae blooms caused by excess fertilizer runoff diminish light penetration and cause seagrass, the manatee’s primary food source, to die off. More than 1,000 Florida manatees died in 2021 because of starvation, entanglement and boats.

FSU’s iGEM team attempted to separate and genetically modify essential genes required for cercosporin production, then clone them into baker’s yeast. Team members hope their work will serve as a “proof of concept” experiment and motivate others to continue to isolate and optimize the pathway, so it can be extracted in meaningful amounts and dispersed as an emergency treatment.

View the project documentation and project promotion video.

“FSU iGEM is the winningest team in Florida and among the best in the country. FSU has the only gold medal in Florida,” Rodriguez said. “Most importantly, the FSU iGEM mission was accomplished. The students learned a lot and they had an unforgettable experience in Paris!”