Warwick wins gold at iGEM Jamboree
Warwick wins gold at iGEM Jamboree 2024
The World Expo of Synthetic Biology in Paris
Congratulations to the Warwick iGEM teamLink opens in a new window who picked up a UG gold medal at the iGEM Grand Jamboree 2024Link opens in a new window for their project 'Enrichment of lanthanides for electronic waste recycling by engineering a chemotactic system in Methylobacterium extorquensLink opens in a new window'
Chemistry undergraduate student, Magdalena Godzina, joined Warwick team mates and Dr Fabrizio Alberti to deliver the gold-winning performance at this year's World Expo of Synthetic Biology. The Grand Jamboree brought together researchers, industry reps, start-up founders, investors, journalists, experts in governance and policy, and the general public to chart the future of synthetic biology. The iGEM Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education and competition, and the development of an open, collaborative, and cooperative community.
About the Warwick Project
Less than 10% of rare earth metals are recycled from electronic waste. The team presented an engineered strain of Methylobacterium extorquens that is able to enrich lanthanides from a homogenous mixture.
M. extorquens was engineered to display chemotaxis towards the affordable amino acid aspartate. This biological system facilitates the movement of lanthanides towards an aspartate plug. Lanthanide uptake was optimised via the expression of the protein LanM, which reduces the cellular stress caused by lanthanides. Genetic engineering parameters were informed by mathematical and computational models, including a gene regulatory network model; agent-based and PDE models were also employed to evaluate the experimental setup.
This concept can be implemented industrially to enrich lanthanides from electronic waste for recycling. Additionally, the principles can be applied to other biologically rare elements in the same waste mixture to enrich multiple metals simultaneously.
Well done Warwick iGEM Team for a stellar performance!