The Magnificent Seven

Russia took away six medals from the iGEM-2021 international competition

Naked Science Editorial Board

In 2021, seven teams from Russia took part in the most prestigious international competition for genetic engineering iGEM, founded in 2003 at the Massachusetts Technical University (Boston, USA). Six teams from Russia received medals.

Schoolchildren and students from all over the world participate in this competition every year — they are looking for solutions to urgent problems of nature management, environmental safety, medicine and pharmaceuticals using genetic engineering methods. During the year, teams of young researchers from different fields — biologists, programmers, chemists, physicists, mathematicians — prepare projects and present them at the final conference in Boston.

In the 2020-2021s, due to the epidemiological situation, the competition was held online. The elaboration and implementation of the unique idea of the project includes not only working in the laboratory and solving bioinformatic problems, but also active interaction with experts in science and business, conducting educational information events. Participation in the competition opens access to Biobricks (a set of lyophilized DNA sequences "parts" for assembling complex genetic constructs), as well as online pages unique for each team. By the way, the competition is not free: you need to pay fees for the registration of the team and participation in the final conference. The teams are engaged in financing their participation themselves, while at the same time gaining valuable fundraising experience.

Since its inception, more than 47 thousand people have participated in the competition as part of more than three thousand teams. Russia was the gold medalist of the competition in 2007, and for the next 10 years did not participate in the competition. Russia's participation resumed in 2017, and in 2020, the team from Moscow received a gold medal.

The 2021 contest was attended by: Russia — seven teams, Brazil — five teams, Great Britain — six, Kazakhstan — one, France — nine, Germany — 13, Canada — 16, USA — 47, Taiwan — 10, Hong Kong — 10, China — 142.

The iGEM-2021 medalists from Russia were:

• Three gold medals — two teams of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), a team of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and MSU;
• Two silver medals — the team of Novosibirsk State University (NSU), the team of SIC "Kurchatov Institute" (SIC KI);
• The bronze medal was awarded to the team of the Obninsk branch of MEPhI.

Teams from Russia in 2021 and their projects:

• "Moscow" on the basis of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, head Alexey Shaitan (biofac). Development of methods for diagnosing depression based on microRNA detection;
• "LMSU" on the basis of the Biological and biotechnological faculties of Moscow State University, head Alexey Shaitan (biofac). Development of space nutrition based on microalgae;
• "MIPT_MSU" on the basis of MIPT and the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine of Moscow State University, head Ilya Zubarev (Phystech/FFM MSU). The system of targeted delivery of RNA to cancer cells;
• "Moscow_City" based on the SIC "Kurchatov Institute", head Maxim Patrushev (SIC CI). Development of a herpes virus test system in horses;
• "Siberia" on the basis of Novosibirsk State University, head Sergey Sedykh (NSU). Development of a system for delivering therapeutic proteins to the brain through the nasal mucosa;
• "MEPhI" on the basis of the Obninsk branch of MEPhI, head Ilya Klabukov (NMIC of Radiology of the Ministry of Health). Development of radioprotective proteins for human protection in long space travel;
• "Phystech_Moscow" on the basis of MIPT and Skoltech, head Georgy Nosov (Phystech). A system for predicting the interaction of microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs.

Managers and team members are doing everything possible to ensure that participation in the competition not only becomes a tradition for Russia, but also forms a platform for interaction between scientists, students, schoolchildren, companies and people interested in biology. However, let the medals also become a tradition.

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