At an International competition, a project done by a group of Biotechnology students of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering has won the college an award. The students participated in the competition for developing a synthetic biological system to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infection.
A total of 18 students from the UG and PG classes of Biotechnology Department participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition and won bronze medal.
The concept the students took up was to create an alternative to chemical antibiotics that could be administered to counter resistance. 
Most of the experiments were performed in college’s Biotechnology department. The organisation iGEM provided the college the technology to make mini cells.
“With DNA database of many organisms now available what we need is a method to fight antibiotic resistance. The students developed synthetic mini cells and added a toxin gene obtained from the DNA database, also provided by iGEM. This cell is then introduced into the human system which has developed resistance to the disease-causing bacteria. The toxin helps in killing the bacteria,” he said. “It was a collective idea from students and I mentored them,” explained S. Shivanandam, director of research at the college.
An added attraction is the system could be used to solve the problem of scaling (known as bio-film formation) in industries, said Nalinkanth V. Ghone, associate professor and instructor for the team. As part of the project, the students have taken up creating awareness about synthetic biology in schools and colleges, college officials said.
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