{"62514":{"#nid":"62514","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Undergraduate Team of Synthetic Biology Engineers Head for First Competition","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor the first time, Georgia Tech will have a team competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) scheduled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology November 6-8. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELed by advisors Eric Gaucher, associate professor in biology, Joshua Weitz, assistant professor of biology and physics; Mark Styczynski, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; and Richard Joh, a physics graduate student, the group includes 13 undergraduates from the College of Sciences and College of Engineering. The team will compete against 130 other teams from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Canada and Asia. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESince spring 2010, the team has focused on a project designed to synthetically engineer heat- producing bacterial cells in response to exposure to cold environments. By examining various organisms\u0027 methods of heat production, the team has identified a promising candidate in the AOX gene used for thermogenesis in many plant species. Successful engineering of bacterial cells that heat and aggregate in response to cold shocks will facilitate understanding the evolution of cold resistance and the development of biosensors for environmental temperature monitoring. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAccording to Weitz, \u0022The iGEM team embodies Georgia Tech\u0027s commitment to undergraduate research and highlights the importance of biology in shaping research and technological challenges faced by both engineers and scientists.\u0022 \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInitiated in January 2003, the iGEM competition is considered the premiere undergraduate synthetic biology competition. Georgia Tech\u0027s inaugural iGEM team includes the following members: Mitesh Agrawal, Margo Clark, Robert Fee, Christina Graves, Atta Hassan, Scott Holmes, Monica Huynh, Gita Mahmoudabadi. Christian Mandrycky, Debika Mitra, Amy Schwartz, Shadeah Suleiman and Siddharth Tantia.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech iGEM Team Heads to International Event"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor the first time, Georgia Tech will have a team competing in the \nInternational Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) \nscheduled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology November 6-8.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"For the first time, Georgia Tech will have a team competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition."}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2010-11-02 18:33:57","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:42","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"62515":{"id":"62515","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech iGEM Team","body":null,"created":"1449176369","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:29","changed":"1475894541","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:21","alt":"Georgia Tech iGEM Team","file":{"fid":"191484","name":"iGEMteam_photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/iGEMteam_photo_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/iGEMteam_photo_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":199194,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/iGEMteam_photo_0.jpg?itok=Jfyq60ur"}}},"media_ids":["62515"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/2010.igem.org\/Team:GeorgiaTech","title":"Georgia Tech iGEM Team"}],"groups":[{"id":"1317","name":"News Briefs"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11152","name":"iGEM"},{"id":"10860","name":"News brief"},{"id":"171042","name":"synthetic biology engineers"},{"id":"453","name":"undergraduate research"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELisa Grovenstein, 404-894-8835\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}