Aberdeen student inventors triumph at major international science competition

Aberdeen student inventors triumph at major international science competition

A team of University of Aberdeen students secured two trophies and a gold medal at one of the world's leading science competitions for a new diagnostic test they have invented.

The six undergraduates won best team in the 'Health and Medicine’ track, and were awarded the 'Best synthetic biology measurement approach’ at the iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition in Boston.

The team, made up of Ana-Maria Cujba, Konstantin Gizdov James Long, James McAvoy, Joseph MacKinnon, and Martyna Sroka were competing against 260 teams drawn from Universities across the world.

Together they created develop new diagnostic methods for African Sleeping Sickness. The disease, which has the official name Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), is transmitted through the bite of the tsetse fly and up to 60 million Africans are at risk of the disease, which undiagnosed is invariably fatal.

Improved methods for diagnosis are needed because the HAT symptoms can easily be confused with those of flu as in its early stages it is characterised by fever, headaches and joint pains.

If left untreated, African Sleeping Sickness can overcome the body’s defences and can cause more extensive damage to the heart, kidneys and other organs, eventually attacking the central nervous system causing disruption to the sleep cycle, which gives the disease its name.

Without treatment, the disease is invariably fatal, with progressive mental deterioration followed by systemic organ failure, coma and death.

The University of Aberdeen team, who are all undergraduates studying a range of disciplines including physics, biology, immunology and microbiology, engineered bacterial cells to detect whether a person has African Sleeping Sickness.

They engineered an E.coli strain to detect the HAT antibodies in infected patients; the E. coli is then triggered to produce a harmless green florescent protein. This protein can then be detected in a lab to indicate that a patient is infected, following which antibiotic therapy can then be administered, usually with a good prognosis for the patient.

But in many of the places most in sub-Saharan Africa most severely affected by African Sleeping Sickness, laboratory facilities are not readily available, so the team has also designed, developed and successfully tested a cheap electronic device to detect the fluorescent protein output by the E.coli.

The device, made using cheap LEDs and a Raspberry Pi computer, costs less than £60, putting a diagnostic kit solution based on the team's concept potentially within reach of healthcare systems in developing countries. This innovation contributed to the team’s award for ‘Best Measurement Approach’.

In addition to the two trophies, the team were also awarded Gold for the standard of attainment in their project.

Konstantin Gizdov, a BSc Physics student said: "The project is an amazing opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and skills into a real research environment. Not only that, but everyone gets to contribute to a relevant aspect of today's industry and real-world problems.

“To have my team go against world-leading universities and come on top in our designated track really puts things in perspective for everyone - students, supervisors and our University as well.”

James Long, an immunology student, said: "I have been really inspired by the field of synthetic biology and am extremely thankful for this incredible opportunity - we were all delighted when we won two awards and a gold medal."

Professor Stansfield, who helped supervise the work, added: “We are delighted by the success of the Aberdeen team. This is a major coup for the University - the iGEM competition brings almost all the best Universities in the world together to compete, including Yale, Harvard, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Heidelberg, ETH Zurich to name but a few. To have brought home two trophies from the competition is an outstanding achievement.”

 

 

Search News

Browse by Month

2024

  1. Jan
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2024
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2024
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2024
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2024

2023

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2023
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2023
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2023
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2023
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2023
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2023
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2023
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2023
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2023
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2023
  12. Dec

2022

  1. Jan
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2022
  3. Mar
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2022
  5. May
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2022
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2022
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2022
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2022

2021

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2021
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2020

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2020
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2020
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2020
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2019

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2019
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2018

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2018
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2018
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2018
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2018
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2018
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2018
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2017

  1. Jan
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2017
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2017
  9. Sep
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2017
  11. Nov
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2017

2016

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2016
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2016
  12. Dec

2014

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2014
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2012

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2012
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2012
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2012
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2012
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2012
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2012
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2012
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2012
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2012
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2012