The competition iGEM was founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2004 to  to provide an opportunity for students to present their innovations in the field of synthetic biology and being evaluated by a professional jury. Meanwhile the competition has become internationally known: this year eleven german university teams take part. In the field of synthetic biology creative minds came up with innovative ideas and methods which could be able to reduce the use of animals.

For example, the students´ project from the University of Potsdam, led by Katja Arndt and Kristian Müller, deals with the production of antibodies in hamster ovary cells (CHO cells). In contrast to the previous production process, the team wants to achieve that not only the production but also the maturation of antibodies takes place in the cell line. As a result, this will scale up the production of antibodies and reduce the number of animal experiments. In the process a library of genetic information of antibody fragments is inserted into a selected cell line. Further an enzyme called AID, which provides a so-called somatic hypermutation, is added. This process randomly generates antibodies. The students hope that a desired antibody is amongst them.

The students´ team from the University of Tübingen is intending something else: in order to detect hormonally active substances in the water much faster, easier and cheaper, they are equipping budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with the so-called mPR receptor which binds a number of hormone-active substances. Being able to detect the bound contaminant on the
receptor a fluorescent molecule is attached. The genetic information for the production of the receptor derives from either the zebrafish or the African claw frog (Xenupus laevis). The findings shall be used to advance the detection of hormone-disrupting chemicals which affect the aquatic fauna.

To the site of the Potsdam team: http://2012.igem.org/Team:Potsdam_Bioware
To the site of the Tübingen team: http://2012.igem.org/Team:Tuebingen
Source (in German): http://www.biotechnologie.de/