A bit of both it seems, looking at this year’s iGEM—International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, held at MIT, Mass., on November 2.
A team from Bangalore Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology were judged to have made the “Best Presentation”. Commendable that an art-school team managed this in a formidable tech bastion that MIT is, where they never fail to remind you that the ‘T’ in MIT stands for ‘technology’!
The team’s project was a unique experiment in art-science collaboration: to construct bacteria which would synthesize geosmin, the substance responsible for the emotive smell of freshly ploughed earth, or of the fragrance that first monsoon rains elicit from the parched earth. The team’s project documented their journey of discovery, as they learned the language and techniques of the life sciences and explored its cultural, ethical, and aesthetic implications.
Over 100 teams from 25 countries participated in iGEM 2009. The Cambridge team was awarded the Grand Prize, as well as a prize for the “Best Environmental Project”, while the Stanford team won in the “Health or Medicine” category.
India was represented by four teams: Srishti, with their “smell of rain” project; IIT Bombay, who engineered bacterial feedback controllers; IIT Madras, who designed a living lock-and-key device; and IBB Pune, who designed cells based on game theory.
Mukund Thattai of NCBS, whose work I first wrote about two years ago in Mint, and blogged about the following year, has been leading Indian teams at iGEM since 2006 and is ostensibly thrilled at the outcome.
“This is the third year in a row that India has picked up an iGEM prize. But what I am most excited about is, for the first time there are multiple teams representing India at iGEM. We must build on this momentum,” he says.
Given the zeal with which engineers and biologists alike have taken to this synthetic biology journey, maybe we could see a regional iGEM in this part of the world!
Filed under Pop Science, Research, Science Education · Tagged with Bangalore Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Cambridge, Genetic engineering, IGEM, India, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, lock-and-key device, Massachusetts, MIT, Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Stanford, Synthetic biology, Technology/Internet
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