A team of undergraduate students from the University of Macau (UM) participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition 2024 held in Paris, competing against teams from top universities around the world. They won a silver medal for their research on developing a novel exosome-based therapeutic approach to target cancer cells. This is the sixth consecutive year that UM has received an award in the iGEM Competition.
This year’s iGEM Competition attracted the participation of more than 400 teams, which comprised over 5,000 students, from more than 50 countries and regions. Under the guidance of Professor Garry Wong and Associate Professor Lee Tsz On from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), a team of 30 UM undergraduate students developed a research project titled ‘CarvengerX: Novel Exosomal Tumor Therapy Using Bidirectional Calcium Overload Platform Built with Synthetic Biology’. The team utilised genetic engineering techniques to develop an exosome ion channel delivery system capable of killing cancer cells. The research project focuses on developing a novel approach by engineering exosomes to deliver calcium ion channels (MscS or hTRPC1) and an NO signalling activator (hNOS2) to cancer cells, stimulating calcium overload and inducing cancer cell death. This innovative system has the potential to provide a specific, effective, and safe cancer therapy, offering new hope for patients who do not respond to existing treatments.
The student team devoted their spare time to designing the project and conducting experiments. They also organised outreach activities to engage with the community and continuously refined their project through communication with professors and frontline doctors. In addition, the team aligned their efforts with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the aim of contributing to the development of cancer therapies. In mathematical modelling, the team created a calcium dynamic model, a protein molecular model, and a lentivirus transfection model, and used these models to predict experimental outcomes and improve experimental design through mathematical analysis.
Wei Ning, the team leader and a student from FHS and Cheng Yu Tung College, said that the team faced various challenges in communication and project development. However, the team members remained united and overcame all the difficulties together. Through the competition, they enriched their professional knowledge and made many like-minded friends.
Founded in 2003 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the iGEM Competition has become a global event that brings together student teams from around the world to address global challenges using synthetic biology knowledge and showcase the results of cutting-edge research. As a platform for healthy competition, the iGEM Competition not only fosters interdisciplinary scientific collaboration but also provides the public with an opportunity to witness new breakthroughs in the field of synthetic biology.
