ALMA — The Alma College iGEM team continued its run of excellence at the iGEM Grand Jamboree, in Paris, France, Oct. 28-31, taking home a bronze medal for their project dedicated to helping local bat populations.

The nonprofit International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation brought together more than 400 multidisciplinary teams from 60-plus countries this year at its Grand Jamboree, where the future of synthetic biology has been showcased for the past 20 years in order to solve local problems all over the world. Synthetic biology is a field of science that involves redesigning organisms for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities.

“This was a wonderful experience for our team to present our hard work to not only the judges, but also to many diverse teams from all over the world,” said Gabriella Corson, team president. “It was amazing to see what other teams accomplished in hopes to solve a vast number of issues that impact our world, such as climate change, pollution, cancer, and even advancements in space technology. It feels beyond rewarding to receive a bronze medal for a first-year project and makes me excited to see how this project will evolve in the future.”

For the past several years, the Alma College team have worked to develop a testing solution for a device they created dedicated to detecting DDT — a major pollutant of the local Pine River since the late 1970s. This year, the team took on a new challenge: seeking to mitigate the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which can infect up to five species of bat in Michigan and cause a disease called White-Nose Syndrome. Death is often a result; there is currently no widespread treatment to prevent this infection in bats.

In order to combat this fungus, the students worked to engineer a bacteria that is often harmful in humans — Escherichia coli, or E. coli — to secrete a serine protease inhibitor(s), mitigating the effects of P. destructans. For their efforts, the Alma students won a bronze medal — another in a long string of medal-winning projects, following a gold-medal campaign in 2023 and a silver-medal win in 2022.

“The team’s focus on mitigating P. destructans in bats using genetically engineered microorganisms is both innovative and impactful,” one of the judges commented in their remarks. “They did an excellent job outlining their approach and thoroughly addressed the major concerns of the judges during the judging session, demonstrating a thoughtful and comprehensive understanding of the broader implications of their work.”

Faculty advisor Eliezer Schwarz pointed out that the team has experienced quite a bit of change in the past year, due to a large number of student graduations and taking on a new project, they had reason to feel proud for their efforts.”

“While bronze was a modest goal this year for Alma’s iGEM team, it is nevertheless a great achievement,” Schwarz said. “There’s much to achieve and much to be excited for as we look towards next year’s competition.”

Representing the team in Paris were:

  • Gabriella Corson and Sebastian Nolte, student leaders
  • Scott Sparks
  • Isabell Bryans
  • Mina Buchkowski
  • Reagan Keyser

Other team members include:

  • Brian Doyle and Eliezer Schwarz, faculty advisors
  • Owen Denk
  • Devyn Whitford
  • Jose Pinacho
  • Joseph Colucci
  • Hannah Gyolai
  • Anna Smith
  • Alice Hutchins
  • Anakin Brittain
  • Jackson Hall
  • Skye Wilcox
  • Timothy Salley
  • Nayeli Santana-Venegas
  • Charlotte Howald