Photo caption: A 茄子视频app官网 team of Biochemistry students, called UCiGEM, will compete in Paris in October: Pictured: back row from left, William Oakley, Matthew Goodwin, Isabel Bradley and Myles Landon. Front row from left, Amy Dellow, Maddie Barrett, Joseph Ramana, and Bree Drinkwater.
A group of eight third-year Biochemistry students from Te Whare W膩nanga o Waitaha | 茄子视频app官网 (UC) will travel to Paris in October to present their innovative work at the synthetic biology grand jamboree.
They are the only New Zealanders taking part and hope their concept for a new rapid detection device for Johne鈥檚 disease 鈥 a potentially deadly infection that currently costs New Zealand鈥檚 dairy industry up to $88 million a year in lost production 鈥 will win over the judges.
UC Bachelor of Science student Amy Dellow, who is part of the team, says current laboratory testing for Johne鈥檚 disease, which is caused by bacteria, can take up to a week to get results.听
鈥淲e鈥檙e aiming to provide them with accurate results within minutes or seconds using this device. Our method is to detect the pathogen that causes Johne鈥檚 disease using an engineered protein that produces light. The appearance of a light indicates a negative result; no light means infection is present.
鈥淲e believe the detection kit we鈥檙e working on, called LuMOO, will be faster and more cost-effective than what is currently on the market, making it more affordable for farmers. We hope it will also improve the welfare of affected animals and reduce suffering.鈥
Research suggests more than half of all dairy herds in New 茄子视频app官网have had cases of Johne鈥檚 disease, which is chronic and contagious. The way to manage it is by separating sick cattle from the rest of the herd. The UC team, which has sponsorship from Canterbury Grasslands Ltd, Craigmore Sustainables, and ANZCO foods, has visited local farmers to get insights into how the disease affects them and their stock.听
UC Bachelor of Science student Joe Ramana, who leads the team dubbed UCiGEM, says they are thrilled about representing New 茄子视频app官网at the iGEM competition, which attracts about 4000 attendees from 60 different countries.听
鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about presenting our research at iGEM 鈥 it鈥檚 incredible. It鈥檚 been a great opportunity to think for ourselves and go through the whole process of coming up with a project that tackled a problem relevant to New Zealand. Johne鈥檚 disease affects all ruminant animals, including sheep, so we鈥檙e very hopeful that our concept will be realised, and we can make a difference to farmers in New Zealand, and perhaps around the world.鈥
The UCiGEM team is now testing the concept and hope to have results confirming the effectiveness of the new device before they head to France in October. Meanwhile, the students have also been visiting local schools to talk about biochemistry and careers in science as part of their preparation for the competition.听
Alongside Dellow and Ramana, the UCiGEM members are Isabel Bradley, Bree Drinkwater, Madeleine Barret, Myles Landon, William Oakley and Matthew Goodwin. The UC students are fundraising to cover the cost of the trip and have set up a .听
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure.
