iGEM Pasteur Paris Project
The iGEM component of the DfB Center is organized with Parisian universities and Engineering schools. This competition stems from an initiative of the MIT (Boston, USA) around 2004 to address the increasing possibilities of applying molecular biology tools to solve societal issues.
Students undergrad/grad (Master’s I, II) from different backgrounds (Biology, chemistry, maths, design, law..) meet about twice per week to prepare/discuss a project they wish to pursue in the fields of health, environment, or microbiology in general, that can be a new proposal for iGEM.
Then during the summer they proceed with the experimental part in the Education department training labs. In the fall, along with fundraising, and sponsorship search, the project is presented at the iGEM jamboree in Boston where more than 300 other teams from around the World gather.
The Pasteur Paris Team has participated twice in the completion since 2015, with the Plasticure plastic degrading device and Mos(kit)o arboviral infected mosquito trapping and detection device in 2016 respectively. For the latter participation, the Mos(kit)o project obtained a Gold medal, the best Diagnostic, best Applied design and best Entrepreneurship awards at the iGEM competition in 2016.
Innovative Research in applied biology
The innovative applied biology research section of the DfB comes as an extension of the visionary topics undertaken in the iGEM project, or collaborative efforts initiated as a part of the iGEM projects. This is spin-off which acts as an exploratory platform for identifying new exciting topics to undertake as research subjects.
Thus prototype adjustments, or transition to functional units, extra biochemical validation and microbiology constructions are tested and built.
The Fab-Lab
The multidisciplinary approach of the DfB center leads to projects that span basic science onto device machining to give rise to a functional prototype. Thus a Fab-lab will be added to the DfB with 3D printing, tools for machining and polishing, and CAD will be soon part of the setup. So please stay tuned !