The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is a worldwide multidisciplinary synthetic biology competition initiated by Harvard University. This iGEM competition is an excellent platform for multidisciplinary cooperation of CCU undergraduates. To this end, the College of Science at CCU promoted the CCU iGEM team formation through the supporting from Higher Education Sprout Project.

The 26 CCU iGEM team members came from five different colleges at CCU, and won the gold medal as well as the nomination of best measurement in iGEM competition this year with the topic “dressing with antimicrobial peptides”. This project includes the synthetic biology experiments operated by students with biomedical expertise. The education and international cooperation with other iGEM teams was mediated by students from the College of Education and the College of Social Sciences. The students from the College of Management brought the concept of marketing and cost into iGEM team, and organized the experimental result into a start-up proposal.

To further extend the achievement from iGEM competition, the selected team members established an start-up team, MRSA, and participated in the innovation and entrepreneurship program in CCU. The MRSA passed the first round of the FITI Program (From IP to IPO) and aimed to apply for a patent for the dressing.

In addition, the training of next CCU iGEM team is ongoing.