Congratulations to the 2021 UFlorida iGEM Team for earning a silver medal for their work on addressing antimicrobial resistance by creating alternative selectable markers to antibiotic resistance genes. The iGEM Competition is an annual, world wide synthetic biology event that gives students the opportunity to push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world. Over 4000 teams from across the globe compete of which approximately 240-win medals.

This year’s team was led by Team Captains Julie Mallinger, UF Biomedical Engineering and David Murcia, Biology. Team members included students from eight departments in five colleges! Dr. Christopher Reisch served a faculty mentor, guiding the team to this award. They were also mentored by Ph.D. students Layla Schuster and Jithran Ekanayake.

UFlorida Team Members:
Celeste Wilson, Biology
Ryann Thelwell and Sarah Bahsoun, Microbiology and Cell Science
Lejla Ramic, Abigail Hirshberg, and Garrett Fullerton, Biomedical Engineering
Alessio Barca, Biochemistry
Nick Blumenthal, Applied Physiology and Kinesiology
Jordan Hanson, Computer Science Major
Jacob York, Sustainability and the Built Environment
Alex Daves, Chemical Engineering
Shawn Robertson, Chemical Engineering
Vedic Sharma, Aerospace Engineering

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education and competition, and the development of an open community and collaboration. This is done by fostering an open, cooperative community, and friendly competition.