The award-winning team.

Project introduction video.

International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) came to an end on November 14. The SZPT-CHINA team, coached by Wei Jingjing and Liu Hongbo, teachers of Fine Chemical Technology Major of Shenzhen Polytechnic, won the gold medal with the project "Self-growing Artificial Skin for Burns", as well as the "Best Therapeutics Project" and "Best Presentation" awards, which are the prestigious single awards in the world.

The SZPT-CHINA team, as the only vocational college participant, competed with 352 teams from well-known universities at home and abroad.The team was nominated for Best Therapeutics Project, Best Presentation, and Best Education, which are all prestigious world-class single awards, and finally won Best Therapeutics Project and Best Presentation, ranking top among the participating domestic universities. All team members fully demonstrate the courageous, innovative, hand-to-mind spirits of Shenzhen Polytechnic.

At present, infection remains the most common cause of morbidity andmortality in burn patients, and there is a risk of vulnerability to infection with drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa during the treatment of patients suffering moderate to severe burns.Based on this, the project team carried out the design and validation of targeted therapeutic schedules. The engineered bacteria were constructed by synthetic biology using acetobacter xylinum as the chassis. The modified acetobacter xylinum produced the cellulose membrane (artificial skin) for wound protection under red light and a drug targeting anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa for treatment under blue light. The project prepared an emulsion-type product for validation, which yielded very good results. After more than 10 months of unremitting efforts and preparation, the Shenzhen Polytechnic team finally stood on the highest international podium after the practicality and feasibility of the project were widely recognized.

It is known that iGEM started in 2003 and is organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), serving as an annual international top academic competition for university students in the field of synthetic biology. iGEM developed into an international event in 2005, with 113 teams competing in 2009, 343 teams in 2018, and a total of 352 university teams from 45 countries and regions worldwide as of 2021, attracting world-class universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, Nanyang Technological University, Peking University, and Tsinghua. iGEM has received attention and special reports fromNature andScience every year.

(School of Material and Environmental Science)