On July 9, 2022, the first SynBio Challenges of China was held in the Mingzhu Campus of SIAT University (preparatory), sponsored by the Synthetic Biology Branch of the Chinese Society of Biotechnology. The competition aims to provide a platform of exchange, innovation and creation for young students, and cultivate reserve talents for synthetic biology, life science and inter-disciplines. The event involved a total of 27 teams from 21 universities across the country, and was watched by an audience of more than 2.2 million people online and offline. It was not only a brainstorm and collision of ideas among the young students, but also a relay of the spirit of scientists and innovation by the “pathfinders” and “practitioners” of synthetic biology. It was a grand event for the young generation to promote the synthetic biology.
A group photo taken at the site
Launched by top institutions, commented by academicians
The event was launched and supported by 28 organizations such as the School of Synthetic Biology of SIAT University (preparatory), the Synthetic Biology Institute of SIAT, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, the Synthetic and Systems Biology Center of Tsinghua University, the Quantitative Biology Center of Peking University, the Department of Life Science and Medicine of University of Science and Technology of China, National Synthetic Biology Technology Innovation Center (the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), the “Everest Project” Synthetic Biology Science Center of the Ministry of Education (Tianjin University), the School of Life Science and Technology of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the “Belt and Road” Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) and DeepTech.
The judge panel consisted of nearly 30 synthetic biology experts, including members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Medicine and Bioengineering, the European Academy of Sciences, and the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences. The experts were from top universities in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and the United States. Experts commented on and guided the entries, providing students with the updates at the academic frontier and explaining to dispel their doubts. The competition also invited popular Up anchors of the Bilibili as special guests to comment on the event, adding elements and highlights to the event.
Pooling of ideas in the innovation of the competition system
As a competition for young students in the field of synthetic biology in China, the event encourages all participating teams to “create a future rather than expect one” and creates a new landscape of synthetic biology in China.
The competition adopts an innovative mode of “online preliminary examination plus offline competition”. The expert panel will conduct an online evaluation of all teams, before they come to Shenzhen to participate the PK. The competition sets up four links: preliminary, semi-final, repechage and final. The preliminary showed the highlights with a fast tempo; the second round and the repechage tested the professional foundation of the contestants; the repechage increased the suspense as it could reverse the ranking; the final brought more surprises: all the teams made an impromptu speech on the questions raised by the experts, which not only tested their professional foundation, but also tested their thinking openness and emergency response.
The competition practiced the concept of “creation for knowledge and use” in synthetic biology, showing the characteristics of multidisciplinary integration. The competition entries covered advanced diagnosis and treatment, new energy, tumor treatment, biosynthesis of high-value products, microbial environmental management, antibiotics replacement and other directions... the topics selected by the teams covered a wide range of conceptions. The team of “WHU-mNucleoside” from Wuhan University won an award for innovation. The team’s research took Escherichia coli as a cell factory and designed and transformed the Escherichia coli based on the concept of synthetic biology, and achieved a green, efficient biosynthesis of pseudouridine. Their related achievement promoted the basic research and industrial application of pseudouridine and its related modified nucleoside.
The “BIT” team of Beijing Institute of Technology won an award for the most popular after online voting. The team aimed to realize POCT for early screening of cancers and build a “flexible capture” system: a miRNA detection system based on LAMP-CRISPR coupled sliding chip and smart phone. The “flexible capture” system was portable and simple to use, enabling detection with a high sensitivity and high-throughput. Fourteen teams including “MESB _ TJU” from Tianjin University and “FAFU” from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University won a gold medal, and 13 teams won a silver medal. The competition also set seven individual awards, namely the award for the best component, award for the best modeling, award for the best website, award for the highest vitality, award for the best team, award for the most popular and award for the best defense.
Researcher Liu Chenli, executive director of Chinese Society of Biotechnology, deputy director and secretary general of the Synthetic Biology Branch, and president of Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, delivered a speech at the closing ceremony. He expressed gratitude to all the expert judges, presiders, volunteers and organizers who made contributions to the competition online and offline. He hoped that the SynBio Challenges and the American iGEM would promote each other and advance the development of global synthetic biology, and boost the sustainable development of bioeconomy and society. Finally, he hoped that all the students could embrace a brighter future.
Liu Chenli delivers a speech
Teams pose for a photo with the staff