For the third consecutive year, an INSA team made up of twenty students (Biosciences, Computer Science) and 6 research professors (Biosciences, GEN, etc.) is taking part in the world's largest international synthetic biology competition organised by the prestigious MIT in Boston: IGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine).

After winning a silver medal in 2010 and a gold medal in 2011, as well as the prize for the best "biobrick" in the engineering category and qualification for the world final at MIT, the 2012 team is once again setting out in search of gold.
This year, their goal is to develop an innovative "Biofilm Killer" solution, which eliminates biofilms on the walls of pipes and treats the walls with a biosurfactant to prevent new bacterial deposits. This process could have applications in cosmetics, the food industry and in the oil drilling sector. It is based on engineering a bacterium which is harmless to both human health and the environment and which is already commonly used as an additive in animal food or in plant protection.

In parallel with its scientific work, the team is studying how to link the innovation and research in "open source" mode. Within this framework, on 13 September 2012, Dr O. Brette (Senior Lecturer at the Human Sciences Centre and a member of the EVS/ITUS research team) gave a conference at the Biosciences Department on the subject of:
“Intellectual property, science and innovation: what are the economic challenges for synthetic biology". The conference notably addressed the question of the "commons".
After six months of work and a summer spent conducting a whole range of experiments, the team will defend its project in Amsterdam from 5 to 7 October at the European selections, an essential stage for going through to the finals in Boston, Massachusetts! It is not too late to lend your support.