IISER Pune Team competing at the 2020 iGEM Synthetic Biology Contest

Students from IISER, Pune participating in the International Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition 2020 are exploring solutions to malaria. iGEM is an annual competition that is geared at helping high school and college students solve real world problems using synthetic biology.

Students from IISER Pune have participated in the iGEM competition in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and have won multiple accolades.

According to WHO statistics, there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2018 and 4,05,000 deaths.

The Pune team’s approach to addressing this is two-fold, a statement said. One part of the project was about development of a set of drugs against malaria and the second part was the development of a better diagnostic tool, which would allow for easier diagnosis for malaria.