Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM team invites you to support young scientists from Vilnius University on their way to the international synthetic biology contest iGEM – The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.

About iGEM competition

The purpose of the contest is the advancement of synthetic biology. Interdisciplinary teams from universities around the globe gather to solve real-life problems with the help of molecular biology, engineering, biology, computer science and mathematics. Another big part of the contest is human practices – students aim to break the stereotypes and educate people about synthetic biology. Teams closely collaborate with scientists, government and businesses to integrate their solutions into the real world. More: https://2021.igem.org/

Out team

Vilnius University’s team is participating in the competition for the 7th time. Up to this year, we’ve won gold medals annually. We’ve also brought the grand prize for the best project back to Lithuania twice.

„Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM“ team: Nikolajus Elkana Eimutis, Bernadeta Aleksandravičiūtė, Karolis Sabutis, Ita Čiutaitė, Vita Mačinskaitė, Gintarė Petraitytė, Ieva Pudžiuvelytė, Dominykas Špelveris, Guoda Taraškevičiūtė, Greta Zaburaitė, Rimvydė Čepaitė, Jokūbas Putrius, Radvilas Bendorys, Edvardas Timoščenka, Saulius Lipkevičius. Principal Investigator – prof. Rolandas Meškys.

What are we creating this year?

We decided to focus on Entamoeba histolytica– a microorganism that causes an infectious disease called amoebiasis. It infects around 50 million people worldwide and causes up to 100 000 deaths every year.

Our goal is to create a therapeutic compound that will diminish the virulence and viability of our target amoeba. We will achieve this by changing the genome of probiotic bacteria in a way that will make them produce a therapeutic compound called naringenin.

Another purpose of our project – development of a fast, low-cost and rapid test for the detection of an invasive amoeba infection. By using SELEX method we will carry out evolution of single-stranded DNA and will pick out specific aptamers that interact with proteins of E. histolytica.

Other practices

This year we’re creating an augmented reality project “6th sense of synbio” where we explain the main concepts of synthetic biology. Our team is also working on an intermedia project where art meets science called “Synthetic senses”. Finally, our human practices squad is analysing problems that disabled students deal with in the STEM field. Get to know our timeline:

Why do we need you support?

Your support will allow us to purchase needed lab equipment – chemical reagents, ferments, sequencing kits, SELEX tools, buffers and many more. A great part of the funds will be used to fulfil human practice activities. Additional funds will allow us to spread the “6th sense of synbio” project widely, to design information packages and markers for schools, to adapt the educational content for people with intellectual disabilities.

Your support will also help to make the “Synthetic senses” project free and open for the public, to purchase needed equipment for the events and live stream them. Your help will also enable us to create an information campaign on the topic of amebiasis – prevention, detection, spread and to present it in public spaces.

Gifts!

Every supporter will receive a personal Thank you email with more information about our project attached. If your donation is €25 or more, we will send you some virtual gifts!

Become a part of our project and help Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM team on the journey to international science waters! More about „Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM“: vilniusigem.lt, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.