30.10.2024 Marburg iGEM team wins Grand Prize and completes the triple

Multidisciplinary team wins international competition for synthetic biology

The Marburg iGEM won the Grand Prize at this year's competition in Paris.

Once again this year, students from all over the world came together in Paris for the most important international competition in synthetic biology, iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine). The student team from the University of Marburg was particularly successful: they won the Grand Prize overgrad as well as four prizes in specialist categories, including the first prize in the agricultural section. In the course of their project, the iGEM team Marburg has created basic genetic parts to enhance the transformation of a latex-producing dandelion species into an industrial crop, which has the potential to serve as a future alternative to the rubber tree in rubber production. This is the third time after 2018 and 2021 that the Grand Prize of the iGEM jury was awarded to the Marburg team. In the history of the competition, no other university has won the Grand Prize more often.

The iGEM competition is an international competition for students in the field of synthetic biology. It is organized by the iGEM Foundation and aims to encourage students to conduct independent and innovative research. In synthetic biology, scientists redesign existing biological parts or recombine genetic building blocks in order to develop improved and novel biological properties.

“I would like to congratulate the students and project leaders from our Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Computer Science, History and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Nauss, President of Philipps University, visibly delighted. “The Marburg team succeeded against more than 400 competitors from universities all over the world and brought the Grand Prize back to Marburg. This success illustrates Marburg's leading position in synthetic biology and the sustained promotion of young talent in this field.” The team was also supported by Opentrons, Cultivarium, the City of Marburg, Hessen Trade & Invest and numerous other companies.

“This recent success once more attests to the close and fruitful collaboration between Philipps-Universität and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in the field of synthetic biology, not only in the Excellence Initiative, but also in fostering the careers of young researchers,” says Prof. Dr. Gert Bange, Vice President for Research. 

“The iGEM team Marburg 2024 has established molecular tools that are essential for the development of varieties of the latex producing dandelion Taraxacum kok-saghyz, which renders it suitable for widespread cultivation in the Northern Hemisphere,” says team supervisor Dr. René Inckemann, who recently obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and contributed significantly to the team's success. “The studied dandelion species is frugal and would not compete with crops for food or feed production in the use of arable land. This dandelion species would therefore be a sustainable alternative to the rubber tree, for which immense areas of rainforest have been cleared so far,” adds molecular plant physiologist Prof. Dr. Lars Voll. He supervised the student team together with plant biologist Prof. Dr. Felix Willmund and microbiologist Prof. Dr. Anke Becker from the Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO). “In addition, the team’s achievement will accelerate breeding dandelion varieties, which have advantages in terms of harvesting and cultivation practices,” Prof. Voll states.

However, the competition is not purely based on lab work - the students are also obliged to present their project to the public and discuss it with experts from various disciplines in order to incorporate the expert’s feedback in the adaption of the project’s objectives to social and industrial needs. In this respect, the Marburg team was particularly active this year and spoke to dandelion breeders, representatives of the rubber industry and world-leading scientists, such as Prof. Dr. Dirk Prüfer from Münster. The team also received significant input from EU representatives, conservation agencies, farmers and historians. For these integrated human practices, the strong interdisciplinarity of the iGEM team was particularly valuable, since students from non MINT subjects were also involved.