Synthetic Biology

Through the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, OSLI is exploring the field of synthetic biology to address challenges in oil sands extraction and reclamation.

iGEM, in association with MIT, is the world’s foremost synthetic biology competition in which students are tasked with altering biological parts and systems to address real-world challenges. OSLI sponsored eight university teams from around the world in the 2011 iGEM competition, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in November. We sponsored five teams in the 2010 competition.

In the iGEM competition, student teams from around the world are given biological parts from MIT’s Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a continuously growing collection of genetic parts that can be mixed and matched to build synthetic biology devices and systems. Working at their own universities, the OSLI-sponsored teams use these parts in combination with biological parts they devise to address oil sands challenges. The 2011 OSLI-sponsored teams were from the following universities: Alberta, Washington, Queen’s (Ontario), Debrecen (Hungary), Calgary, Delft (Netherlands), Lethbridge, and Mexico.

The OSLI-sponsored University of Washington team became the iGEM 2011 World Champion for creating a biofuel made of glucose with a composition identical to that of diesel.

The University of Calgary team won first place in the Environment Category for its work in building a biosensor to detect naphthenic acid. This biosensor could potentially be used to test for naphthenic acid on a reclamation site during fieldwork, without having to send soil to a lab.

Of the eight OSLI-sponsored teams, five focused on separate issues related to detecting, mobilizing and breaking down bitumen and chemicals in the oil sands. Two teams used synthetic biology to improve the production of biofuels. One unique project focused on enhancing hydrogen generation to create an eco-friendly alternative to chemically derived soil enrichment.