International Research Competition

Hello!

My name is George VanVeckhoven, and I am co-captain of the UF team of an international research competition titled iGEM. We are currently looking for applicants and believe that this is a good research opportunity for the pre-health students at UF. Here is what we have written for the email if you decide to send it out:

Applications are now open for the University of Florida iGEM research team! The iGEM Competition is an annual, worldwide synthetic biology event aimed at undergraduate university students, as well as high school and graduate students. The iGEM Competition gives students the opportunity to push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world. Multidisciplinary teams work together to design, build, test, and measure a system of their own design using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques. For more information on the iGEM competition check out their website: https://competition.igem.org/participation/introduction

 

For the 2023 iGEM cycle the Univeristy of Florida's student-run team is excited to recruit qualified and motivated members with the hopes of going for Gold at the Grand Jamboree in November, which will be taking place in Porte de Versailles, Paris. This year we are prepared to perform with lab space located in the Herbert Wertheim Laboratory for Engineering Excellence and the Nuclear Sciences Building under Dr. Jing Pan. Dr. Pan does research on the forefront of the crossover between engineering and biology and will be our guide through this process. The lab space includes 4 benches and 2 cubicles in the student bullpen on the 3rd floor. With these resources, we are a

 

This year, our project entails Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC) technology, a cutting-edge biomimetic system that allows for in-vitro modeling of disease progression and drug response without harming animal or human test subjects. We plan to investigate the pathophysiology of sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection that triggers a cascade of harmful immune response and organ failure, through a bone-marrow OoC system. We hope to introduce self-monitoring biomarkers and immunoassays to this microfluidic tissue system to help understand the interplay of the kinase cascade and coagulation in sepsis to present in the competition.

 

We have positions available for all team divisions, which are listed below:

-Wet Lab

-Dry Lab

-Human Practices

-Finance Team

-Wiki Team

 

Our application is linked below and is due at 11:59 on Friday, January 27th. Selected applicants will be notified via email provided in the google form. If you have questions, please send them to ufigemteam@gmail.com

https://forms.gle/oSCG4z5c2VYXNFUJ6 "

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George VanVeckhoven

Undergraduate Student | Math

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

University of Florida