Team Leiden wins iGEM Award with hydrogel against burns: “A real surprise”

A team of eleven Leiden students won the prize for 'Best Manufacturing' in Boston this month at the annual meeting of iGEM, a synthetic biology competition for students. They received the award for their research into a way to replicate the suckerine protein. This protein, derived from the Humboldt Squid, can be used as a hydrogel against burns.

We spoke to Maarten Lubbers, Masters student in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology at Leiden University and also relationship manager of the team supported by Medical Delta.

Congratulations Maarten. Did you expect this?

No, it was really great. You sign up for a number of categories in which you think you have a chance. Those categories passed and we didn’t win. That was no problem, participating in iGEM is already very cool. You meet people from 360 international teams and they are all busy with very different interesting things. But then came the category 'Best Manufacturing', a kind of general price, for which the results of all categories are added together. There were suddenly two teams on the screen, including us. That was really a surprise. Yes, and then winning is fantastic.

Why did you eventually become the winners?

You are assessed on a number of things, such as the social impact of the product. The social relevance of our project is great. Worldwide there are 300,000 deaths from burns every year and part of it is caused by the wound gets infected. An inflamed burn can lead to sepsis (blood poisoning, ed.). To prent sepsis form spreading further through the body, sometimes amputation is the only solution. Inspired by the studies on spider silk, among other things, we started looking for a protein that is strong and flexible enough to be used in the treatment of burn wounds. We ended up with suckerine, a protein derived from the Humboldt Squid. We now know the DNA sequence of this protein and can replicate it with the help of bacteria.

The social relevance of our project is great.

But we have not only been in the lab during the course of the study. For example, we have also dealt with 'public engagement'. To this end, we spoke with end users and organized an open discussion evening on the ethical side of synthetic biology, among other things. The end users of our product are burn patients with third-degree burns or higher. Our hydrogel can help to heal it in the early stages of a burn. For our product we have spoken with them about what they need. In addition, we have spoken to many burn specialists at the LUMC and the burns center in Beverwijk.

And you started a crowdfunding campaign?

Yes. On the one hand by writing to companies asking whether they could assist us with knowledge or financially. Medical Delta is one of the organizations that helped us. In addition, there was a crowdfunding for private individuals. With that we raised 10,020 euros - a record for iGEM Leiden and enough to do everything we had in mind within the scope of this project.

Science seems to move more and more from inside to outside the lab. Is that right?

I think there is a shift from curiosity driven to society driven. There is nothing wrong with curiosity driven. Antibiotics, to name but one example, came partly from curiosity. But it is also interesting to think in advance about what we will gain from it.

Our team consists of eleven different students. You learn a lot from each other. One comes from biology, the other is more technically or chemically skilled. In addition, we all have our own personal talents and therefore our own task. I myself was a public engagement manager and I was also involved in entrepreneurship. For this research, for example, I wrote the business plan. You see that it is no longer just companies that develop, but also the universities themselves. And the great thing is that it gives everyone access to knowledge.

What will happen to the knowledge that you have now acquired?

There is an iGEM database, where everything is shared. This would allow other teams to continue. I would really love that. Furthermore, I expect that some of our team members will continue with the protein and its application. It depends on many factors whether our product will eventually come onto the market and that will certainly take another ten years. But of course I hope so!

And you?

In the short term I want to continue with 'After-iGEM' . Such a route is really a fantastic roller coaster and I wish that for the teams that come after us too. In the iGEM community I can help new teams in the field of entrepreneurship. I will also start an internship next week in which I will do research into new antibiotics, for example from snake venom. In the long term I want to become a professor in Leiden.

Does it necessarily have to be Leiden?

Well, of course we have to see how things are going. But I fell in love with this city. It has such a long and especially interdisciplinary research history. That collaboration makes Leiden very interesting.

More information can be found on the site of iGEM Team Leiden (click here).

Medical Delta supports student teams such as iGEM Team Leiden. In this way Medical Delta stimulates interdisciplinary research with social impact by young scientists.

Dutch television NOS made a report about this research (click on the image below).