What's New
Plant Agriculture Grad Student Leads Team at MIT Competition
November 13, 2008
Heading off blindness in children, especially in the world's poorer countries, is the goal of a student project that recently won a bronze medal at an international science competition -- the Massachusetts Institute of Technology annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition held in November.
Led by David Johnston Monje, a PhD student in the department of Plant Agriculture, the team used genes taken from common soil bacteria that make lots of carotenoids, including beta-carotene, an essential nutrient found in carrots, potatoes and squash that the body converts to vitamin A. Stitching those genes into the gut microbe E. coli causes the latter to produce beta carotene.
This is the first time a Guelph team has entered the iGEM contest, which challenges university students to use biotechnology, including a standard toolkit containing bits of DNA, to make cells with new and unusual properties.
