Revolutionizing Health Monitoring with DetectiMOL
DetectiMOL is designed to measure "stress molecules" in the body, specifically cortisol. Inspired by glucose patches used by diabetics, this innovative patch provides a reliable method for monitoring cortisol levels.
Cortisol, known as the stress hormone, is crucial for managing stress and bodily functions. DetectiMOL's patch utilizes glucocorticoid receptors (GR) produced in E. coli cells. The interaction between cortisol and GR changes the electrode's impedance, allowing users to measure cortisol levels accurately.
Practical Applications for Addison's Disease
This project holds significant promise for individuals with Addison's disease, as it could help them monitor their cortisol levels and adjust their medication accordingly. Addison's disease is caused by the destruction of the adrenal cortex tissue, resulting in decreased production of adrenal cortex hormones, with cortisol being one of the most important.
The iGEM Competition: Creativity and Innovation
The iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition is an annual, worldwide event where student teams tackle global challenges using synthetic biology. The UiO team has the opportunity to apply their creativity and problem-solving skills in combination with community collaboration for this student-driven project.
Encouraging Innovation at UiO
Throughout the iGEM year, the UiO team engages in a research-oriented and innovation-promoting environment. All master’s students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at UiO are encouraged to join this initiative to create a better world. Participation of iGEM teams at the University of Oslo is organised in the form of a 10-credit point course at the Master's level.
Celebrating Excellence
Winning the gold medal at the iGEM contest in Paris underscores DetectiMOL's significant potential in advancing health monitoring technology and demonstrates the UiO team's excellence in applying synthetic biology to solve real-world problems.
Insights from the UiO iGEM Team
When our iGEM team won the gold medal at the international contest in Paris, we asked the students about their insights from the experience. Three of its members—Marianna Khodabandehlou, Marlene Elisabeth Metz, and Michelle Vera Castellanos—share their reflections on this achievement, how it contributed to their personal growth, and why they recommend iGEM to fellow students.
Marianna Khodabandehlou
The Significance of the Gold Medal
The gold medal means that all the hard work we have done was worth it in the end. The medal for me shows that all the tears and long nights of writing and brainstorming were not in vain! Our gold medal shows that a small team of 7 people can do as well as a team of 15+ members, if everyone works hard to achieve excellence in any important science project.
Personal Growth and Opportunities
The iGEM project gave me the opportunity to search for an important community issue that I can work with and try to solve problems that I have never thought about before. I have been given opportunities that would not have been possible without iGEM. I have made good friends both from my Norwegian team, but also international friends and contacts that I gained from being part of iGEM and traveling to the Grand Jamboree in Paris. I feel lucky to have been with such a wonderful group of people who listened to all my ideas and supported me throughout the project. It was so uncertain whether I could join at the beginning since I am at the end of my master's, but I am so happy that I took the risk and invested in this important project and my team.
Lessons in Patience and Collaboration
iGEM has taught me to be patient and work harder than anyone else if I want to achieve my goals. iGEM has taught me how important it is to collaborate across fields of study and programs in order to work with important social issues that would not have been possible without us coming together. I feel I have learned how to be part of the team and how to best cooperate with people who are so different from me, but who have the same ambitions as me. iGEM has taught me that there are so many people out in the world who care about similar issues that my team and I care about, and that everyone wants to solve the important societal problems that are still at stake.
Highly Recommended for Students
Through iGEM, I got to meet experts who inspired me and helped me with my own research and education. iGEM gives you so many important contacts that you can take with you further for both research and job opportunities. Through the iGEM project, you will work hands-on with a project that is completely your own, from start to finish, learn how to collaborate with others, do your own experiments and publish your own research, which is very important for the future of the students. I strongly recommend iGEM to all students regardless of age, experience, field of study, program or year to apply.
Marlene Elisabeth Metz
Comprehensive Learning Experience
I decided to take the course to learn how to plan and conduct a research project from start to finish with all important aspects such as literature search, idea development, experiment planning, or fund applications, etc. This project gave me more than this: I learnt to take initiative and responsibility, and a lot about teamwork and management.
Rewarding Project Development
I found it amazing to see how my idea slowly took shape over the course of the past few months. In February I started pitching the idea to the other team members, and now 8 months later we have a full wiki publicly available on the iGEM wiki sites about this project and everything we did along the way. Knowing that everyone in the world can now access our work is quite compelling.
Recognition of Hard Work
The gold medal shows that we as a relatively small team were able to compete in the same category as many teams with often double or triple our size. iGEM is a lot of work, but we managed to fulfill the gold medal criteria nonetheless. I am proud and relieved to see that our work paid off this way.
An Opportunity to Learn and Grow
Joining iGEM meant for me to learn specifically the things I wanted to learn about and contribute to, which was first and foremost how to pitch and develop an idea from the start, to find the gap we want to fill with our project. I made some amazing friends along the way, learnt about so much more than anticipated and got to meet many great people from various academic backgrounds.
Michelle Vera Castellanos
Broadening Horizons in Synthetic Biology
Crucial concepts regarding Synthetic biology, but also to think outside the box and consider different approaches for a research project. I enjoyed my time working on the lab the same as I enjoyed working on ways to properly and actively communicate about our goals and future perspectives with the project
Valuable Hands-On Experience
I recommend it entirely, as it is a constant Hand-on-work experience, not only on the wet lab but also on everything before: How to properly design and explain a project pitch, how to properly organize and design in silico our ideas to be materialized in the lab, how to be organized and efficient in the lab, how to consider all the failures as opportunities to grow and improve your work. I would also recommend the experience if the person has the commitment and desire to had a proper and efficient teamwork.
Acknowledgment of Commitment
For me, is a recognition of all the hard work that we did collectively and the commitment that we shown with the project. Is also proof that we had a long time working on different aspects of our proposal, that we had to invest a lot of time, efforts, frustration and constant improvement on the project to be able to present everything that we had learnt and our hopes to keep doing a good work.
Bridging Academic Interests and Friendships
To learn more about synthetic biology and how to start working on a different topic that I'm used to. I joined iGEM to have hands-on experience on a completely different topic that I had studied so far, in part inspired by the work of previous and current professors on this area.
For me it has also meant friendship, as I made invaluable friends along the way in our constant path of working on a project we believed in and on better ways to communicate our ideas and opinions. It also means an opportunity on looking forward for different research topics and questions.