Be part of the first BGU team ever to compete in the iGEM competition abroad.

Interested in representing the university in an international competition in France? Then keep reading
What is iGEM?

http://igem.org/About
Stands for international Genetically Engineered Machines, iGEM is a prestigious synthetic biology competition for students that includes hundreds of groups from universities worldwide. The competition's submittals are evaluated by innovation, impact on humanity, modular projects and diverse uses of synthetic biology. In addition, the team is graded by their presentation of the project through presentations, posters and perpetuation of the project by a website built specifically to represent the group . Team BGU: The team currently contains eight students from Biotechnology Engineering, Bioinformatics and Chemistry. Additionally, the team is instructed by Prof. Smadar Cohen, Prof. Lital Alfonta, Dr. Niv Papo and Phd. Candidate Liron Amir. Eventually, the team will have a multidisciplined identity which will combine between fields of study and therefore do not hesitate to keep reading if you dont think you can contribute. The team is currently recruiting four students who specialize in specific fields: computer science, biology and ecology, economics, business management and philosophy.

Where do we stand?
The Ben Gurion University has already agreed to sponsor the participation by granting use of facilities, equipment and financial support. The president of the University, Prof. Rivka Karmi, and the head Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Joseph Kost, have expressed their desire to provide support in all needs and showed their appreciation for the project. Furthermore, There are advanced talks with biotechnology companies such as BTG, Hylabs, IDT, Sigma, Orgenics and Genome Compiler regarding their interest in sponsoring the project. The project Lately there has been a tremendous demand for the use of microorganisms designated for water purification, Biosensors, eliminating oil spilled in the ocean and most importantly for curing diseases and treating different sorts of human deficiencies. This has the potential to cause a major catastrophe. Moreover we have no real knowledge on the long term ecological effects of introducing new genetic abilities to a given environment. Therefore, the team has come up with just the right solution, a couple of independent and programmable self destruct mechanisms for bacteria.

How can you contribute? In order to reach our goal, we require help in research and presentation by a biology student that is interested in Bacterial ecology to provide research on the ecological effects of inserting native or new bacteria into a specific environment. A student of computer science is required for computer modeling and helping in some heavy duty programming. As well as designing and constructing a website for the team, with a priority for a graphic designer. A student of philosophy is required to do research and provide ethical and moral proof for engineering bacteria and microorganisms for use in human beings and in our environment (bioethics). Moreover, the team requires a student for economics and business management to write a business plan for the product and to examine how it could be profitable. Whoever will join the team will get to represent the university in the semi finals in France and in the Finals in the US during October-November. Ultimately the team will have the ability to merge between numerous areas of profession to maximize the success and accomplish the main goal which is to return with the GOLD. So what are you waiting for? If you are a student from the relevant fields listed above (or if you think you can contribute in other fields) and you consider yourself a hard worker and willing to commit please contact one of us! Edan 0526403437 Yonatan 0547581172 Alex 0524730339