Best Pitch
Tech Trade Trio – Rundle College
Ever had old technology that you had no idea to do with so you threw it out? Well you just contributed to the fifty million tons of global e-waste and threw out rare minerals and resources with it. But if you want to save the environment and help get those minerals to good use we have the solution for you. The new and innovative app called Tech Trade will allow users to buy, sell and trade any used electronics or parts. We can also implement a system for local waste pickup which will be sorted into parts, repairable tech and waste which can be donated or resold. The goal of the project is to limit the amount of electronic waste in the environment while also helping people get used technology cheap and fast while the seller is happy and helping the community.
Runner-Up
Team OLS – IN THE BOX
When compostable materials end up in landfills they produce methane due to the lack of oxygen. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases contribute to one of the modern world’s greatest problems: the enhanced greenhouse effect and the resulting accelerated climate change. Project “In The Box” aims to keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere in three steps. 1) It aims to keep compostable waste out of landfills and reduce the need of transporting it, thus lowering methane and CO2 emissions. 2) It harnesses the energy stored in the biofuel waste and transforms it into thermal energy to heat water. 3) It allows for the capture of the carbon dioxide to be used as feedstock for accelerated growth of plants or even in the creation of pearl ash for soap as in Alberta’s very own CleanO2 (and CarbinX). Team OLS plans to keep CO2 “In The Box” (while avoiding nasty methane) to help make our future cities more sustainable.
Recognition Award for Feasibility & Impact
GreenEarth
Everyday we see some kind of wasted food everywhere, at homes, on the streets, sidewalks, in public transportations, stores, restaurants, workplaces and schools. It’s an important issue that we have to tackle to save our planet- Earth. Tones of foods such as bread, milk, vegetables and fruits end up getting wasted annually due to being expired, or simply just not being able to use them, filling up in landfills and contributes to the greenhouse gas effect. The 2.3 million tons of food Canadians waste is equal to 2.1 million cars on the road, emitting 6.9 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. What can we do about this preventable food waste issue? Our solution is – an app – SmartConsumer educates users about food waste and the importance of being responsible consumers through fun and engaging games. As a consumer one simple behavior, a better decision can make a big difference for a better world.
EcoBottle – Rundle College
Welcome to EcoBottle! EcoBottle uses the idea of reverse vending machines to save the environment. With these machines, people can dispose of their bottles as easily as buying a bottle from a vending machine – just in reverse! The purpose of this project is to make our world a cleaner and less polluted place. These machines will feature a camera to allow the machine to recognize what type of bottle has been used and give out the amount of money required in the form of cash or store credit.
Migraine Mate – Rundle College
Suffering from migraines? Our app is here to help. We want to design and build an app which uses machine learning and data to identify triggers for migraines and helps warn the user when a combination of factors may lead to migraines. Improving our general health and wellbeing, this app is targeted at migraine sufferers. Further development of this app may extend to predicting other ailments.
Advanced Teams
Best Pitch
CholesterLock – UofC iGEM 3
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, nearly 2 in 5 adults suffer from high cholesterol levels. This is especially significant since high cholesterol is the driving factor behind cardiovascular diseases and strokes due to the buildup of plaque in the arteries. However, current medications for high cholesterol are burdened by adverse effects that range from cumbersome to detrimental. The most common cholesterol-lowering medications, such as statins and ezetimibe, both cause patient discomfort and have been linked to drug-induced liver diseases. To provide a better alternative to these issues, we present CholesterLock; a novel modified protein capable of lowering LDL cholesterol levels by inhibiting a mediator protein for cholesterol absorption called NPC1L1. CholesterLock will be designed with a cholesterol-modified end that will bind NPC1L1 using a lock-and-key mechanism to block further collection of cholesterol and prevent it from moving into the cell. As a protein-based therapy, synthetic biology tools will be incorporated into CholesterLock to ensure high specificity and reliable localization to the small intestine, significantly reducing the potential side effects common in other cholesterol-lowering drugs. CholesterLock can also be expressed in probiotic bacteria which will reduce costs associated with pharmaceutical manufacturing. Altogether, CholesterLock will become the ideal alternative cholesterol-lowering treatment, ensuring accessibility and a higher quality of life for the patient
Runner-Up
RHS Calgary
Fabric waste is a major environment issue in our world. PET is one of the main plastic polluter found in clothing. Our project aims to degrade PET while producing energy. For this we are using genetically modified bacteria that are able to degrade PET and its byproducts which include MHET, BHET, TPA, ethylene glycol. Furthermore, we will be running our BL21 strain of E. coli through a three chambered microbial fuel cell. This will allow us to produce energy through the degradation process, making our projects more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
CCHS SynBio Team
As water sanitation becomes more and more critical to protecting life on Earth, scientists need an effective, timely way to determine the toxicity of water bodies. A photosynthetic microbe called Cyanobacteria produces harmful toxins that threaten organism and ecosystem health. CCHS SynBio is designing a portable water test kit for these bacteria and their toxins using the properties that make them so dangerous. We aim to engineer E. coli cells to identify and differentiate between types of toxins on-site.
ANAlyze – Lethbridge HS
Over 900,000 Canadians have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. In fact, Alberta has the highest rate of MS in Canada. These autoimmune diseases result in the development of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) that can be used as a method for diagnosing patients. The current methods for detecting ANAs involve ELISA and Western blot tests, which can be time consuming, labour-intensive, prone to false negatives, and create excessive medical laboratory single-use plastic waste. Our solution will be to create a rapid easy-to-use test that can detect ANAs earlier than conventional testing and reduce single-use plastic medical waste.
ULethbridge iGEM Team
Farmers around the world are facing a pathogenic problem known as Clubroot. This pathogen infects the Brassicaceae family, including cabbage, cauliflower, kale, turnips, and canola. It ruins crop yield by infecting said fields and depriving nutrients of its host. Our project, Club^2, is to create a diagnostic kit to detect the early formation of the infecting spores produced by clubroot. If this is successful, the plan would be to move towards a mitigation plan where we would use Pedobacter heparinus (a symbiotic bacteria with Canola) and insert a plasmid via transformation that would disrupt the lifecycle of clubroot. Our goal is to help our farmers to save money and limit the hurdles they have to go through.
NeurAlberta Tech – UofLethbridge
Growing up in Lethbridge, Canada, I’ve played hockey for most of my life. However, I ended up quitting after I myself got concussed right around the time that I had my high school exams and volleyball provincials not too long after, which I ended up playing through. As Canadians with such an identity rooted in this sport, I think we’re all aware that athlete health is compromised by contact sports such as hockey but might not be sure what to do about it. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the type of injury that occurs when an external force, such as a blow to the head or a sudden jolt, causes damage to the brain. A concussion is the most common (mild) type of traumatic brain injury. A systematic review of the application of camara based human-pose estimation showed promise towards the fields of sport and physical exercise, so we took this idea and ran with it. Our project, Open RehAIb, is an AI powered solution that combines our team’s neuroscience background with pose estimation to facilitate traumatic brain injury diagnosis and rehabilitation.
Gluessel – UofC iGEM 1
The prevalence of diabetes in the lowest income group are 2.1 times higher than other demographic. With the growing concerns over economic and health stress, it is imperative to provide the community with accessible, sustainable, and cost-effective personal health management tools. Glussel offers an innovative approach that combines recombinant mussel adhesive protein and microneedle technology to create a minimally invasive and budget-friendly glucose monitor. By reducing inequality and promoting well-being, this technology can help improve the overall health of the community.
Chito-Zing – UofC iGEM 2
Our project aims to create a topical wound dressing comprising of a chitosan base and 6-gingerol embedded fibres to provide patients with chronic open wounds a new, antibiotic alternative that is long lasting and requires fewer replacements. This dressing can be used in conjunction with other topical treatments that can be ‘soaked’ in the chitosan fibres or pockets to provide longer lasting relief without frequent hospital visits!