Two NYCU teams, NYCU Formosa and NYCU-Taipei iGEM competed with 356 teams from top universities from around the world and each won a gold medal at the 2022 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) in Paris, France, in October 2022. The former nominated for the Best Manufacturing Project and the latter awarded the Team Impact Grant.
Led by Professor Wen-Liang Chen and Assistant Professor Hsiao-Ching Lee, the NYCU Formosa team from NYCU’s Boai Campus developed biomaterials for use in regenerative medicine through simulating self-assembling peptides in Drosophila proteins and combined bioinformatics engineering with BioArt.
The NYCU-Taipei iGEM team from NYCU’s Yangming Campus, led by Professor Chuan-Hsiung Chang and Dr. Ching-Fen Chang, developed a remote device for observing bacterial growth through color changes, which can be a good asset for future medical research and industrial application.
Self-assembling peptides for use in regenerative medicine
Combining expertise in biotechnology and engineering, the NYCU Formosa team conducted the interdisciplinary development of self-assembling biomaterials applicable to three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting and regenerative medicine, thereby proposing an innovative and novel type of self-assembling biomaterial applicable to a wide range of practical settings.
Through mathematical modeling and programming application, the research team simulated self-assembling peptide fragments in Ultrabithorax (Ubx) proteins from the Drosophila insect. Fusion proteins were formed using minimized Ubx peptide fragments and diverse proteins with varying functions. The technique effectively increases the yield of biomaterials and can be extensively applied to various biomaterials.
The new type of biomaterial (i.e., the generated Ubx fusion proteins) proved to be both self-assembling and able to preserve its original protein functions. To further achieve its practical application, the research team applied 3D printing to the produced material and established the potential of the Ubx peptide biomaterial for producing biomedical materials and, in the field of regenerative medicine, cytoskeletal proteins in stem cells. Product efficacy maximization can be achieved through combining functional proteins with varying functions and of varying proportions.
Combination of science and humanities
The team also has bridged the gap between science and humanities through combining bioinformatics with BioArt. Bioinformatics engineering technologies were employed to predict the brightness change over time in mixtures of fluorescent proteins of varying proportions. Data simulation results were presented in the form of a coral-skeleton 3D model. A series of obtained images were displayed as BioArt in an online exhibition entitled “Digital Fluorescence.” The team successfully created a third space through bioinformatics and BioArt integration to increase the accessibility of science to the public. Through an online BioArt gallery and a BioArt workshop, diverse facets of synthetic biology were presented from a humanistic perspective.
Through the competition, bioengineering and information engineering concepts as well as ideas associated with humanistic society were fully deployed and applied in diverse fields, demonstrating Taiwan’s strength in biology, engineering, and humanities to the world.
The team won a gold medal and was nominated for the Best Manufacturing Project. It was the only Taiwanese teams nominated for a Track Award.
A remote device for observing bacterial growth
E.COLOR enables researchers to observe bacterial growth and determine the optimal time for incorporating inducers for protein production (e.g., the IPTG technique), which can improve the industrial production of protein products such as protein drugs.
With interdisciplinary integration, including genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, programming, mathematical modeling, and mechanical design, the team created E.COLOR, which enables the automatic remote observation of phases of bacterial growth. Users can easily observe experiment results on a mobile phone or other mobile devices to determine the optimal timing for supplementing chemicals.
Additionally, with a built-in mathematical modeling tool, E.COLOR enables the pre-experiment prediction of bacterial growth on the basis of parameters such as initial bacteria count and initial bacterial status; the experiment design and supplementation timing can be modified accordingly.
The research team was awarded the Team Impact Grant and US$2,500 in prize money for their innovation and contribution in academic research and industrial application.
Leading the Next Generation to the World
Since 2007, the NYCU-Taipei iGEM team has been taking part and excelling in the international iGEM competition, winning an Environment Track Championship and ranking among the top six international teams and third among Asian teams as well as winning numerous special prizes, including twelve gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals.
In recent years, the team has further engaged in disseminating synthetic biology concepts among people unfamiliar with the discipline through activities such as synthetic biology–related internships in senior high schools and synthetic biology lectures in colleges. Furthermore, the team has helped outstanding high school and college students in Taiwan to participate in synthetic biology–related competitions, further increasing the visibility of Taiwan’s achievements on the global stage.