Tokyo Tech team extends gold medal record at iGEM 2017

Comments from participant

Hazuki Hasegawa

Hazuki Hasegawa
3rd year, Bioscience

Tokyo Tech's team consisted of 12 students who worked on establishing a co-culture system for human cells and E. coli. This may sound easy, but during experiments, contaminated bacteria in the human cell culture environment rapidly grow, and human cells die. In our bodies, it seems that symbiotic relationships with bacteria are established in various organs, including the intestines. We believe that this co-cultivation technology can contribute not only to analyzing the "creation" of this symbiotic relationship, but also to the construction of a more life-like living system. We plan to develop devices applying this co-cultivation technology next year and apply it to medical applications as well. In the iGEM competition, creating "something with high social impact" is becoming a prerequisite for winning the category prize and the special prize, and, by developing applied technology and devices based on this year's product, we are aiming for the special award next year.

Participating students

Saki Arakaki 3rd year, Bioscience

Kohei Umedera 3rd year, Biomolecular Engineering

Michio Takagi 3rd year, Bioscience

Hazuki Hasegawa 3rd year, Bioscience

Kazunori Motai 3rd year, Organic and Polymeric Materials

Takuma Yasue 3rd year, Biotechnology

Hajime Fujita 2nd year, School of Life Science and Technology

Kazuya Isawa 1st year, 7th Academic Group

Hinako Kataoka 1st year, 7th Academic Group

Tamon Sato 1st year, 7th Academic Group

Moe Takahashi 1st year, 7th Academic Group