Deputy Premier congratulates synthetic biology students
by Macquarie University (Sidney, Australia)
{An article from 2012 demonstrating the global university push towards transhumanism via guided evolution. There are no controls on this supposed research and the potential to create and unleash unknown life forms on the human population is real. It's another route to Art Kaplan's ''singiularity' at best and at worst the descent of man into animal-human hybrids in the quest for a utopia that cannot exist. It's true potential is the destruction of the human race as it has been known.- ED}
A group of Macquarie University synthetic biology students are competing in the world finals of a prestigious science technology event being held in the US thanks to NSW Government support.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner said the students qualified for the world finals in Boston following a silver medal-winning demonstration of their synthetic biology research project at the Asian iGEM Jamboree held in Hong Kong last month.
He said the NSW Government had provided $8000 through the Government’s Research Attraction and Acceleration Program (RAAP) for the four-member team to compete at the Hong Kong event, which fosters research excellence in the field of synthetic biology.
“The iGEM event draws premier synthetic biology students from around the globe for a jamboree-style competition designed to advance this revolutionary science,” he said.
“Synthetic biology combines engineering and science to construct new biological functions, empowering cells to do things they couldn’t normally do. It is a complicated but very exciting field of science that has applications in everything from medicine to energy production.
“Our NSW team of undergraduates were able to demonstrate an engineered bacteria cell could be switched on and off like a light switch. The demonstrated ability to manipulate these cells could ultimately impact genetic therapies such as cancer treatment.
“I congratulate them for their achievement and am pleased our Government was able to give them some help qualifying for the finals. I wish them well as they compete in Boston this week.”
The team’s successful demonstration at the iGEM event qualified them to take part in the World Championships to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, starting today (2-5 November).
Macquarie University Department of Chemistry & Biomolecular Sciences’ Dr Louise Brown said the team could not have achieved the outstanding result without the support of the Government through RAAP.
“We were the only Australian team competing at the Asian event and one of only 17 teams out of 57 chosen to go on to the world championships,” Dr Brown said.
“We greatly appreciate the support of the NSW Government, which enabled us to experience success on the international stage at the Asian event.
“It was an amazing experience, with 193 teams competing and an outstanding array of synthetic biology research projects presented.
“We are astonished to be in the world championships and the success of the Hong Kong trip got the students’ adrenalin flowing for this week at Massachusetts.”