Requirements
Bronze
Competition Deliverables
We successfully completed and documented the following Competition Deliverables: Wiki, Presentation Video, Judging Form and Judging Session.
Project Attributions
We accurately and honestly described our team members' work and other people's efforts for our project using the standardized Project Attributions Form.
For more detailed attribution content, please navigate to this page.
Project Description
We specifically described the inspiration, background and design of our project.
Please see description.
Contribution
Our team made and documented a series of practical, well-structured contributions to support future iGEM teams in advancing sustainable fashion solutions, which are systematically categorized into three core areas: Wet Lab, Model, and Human Practices.
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Silver
Engineering Success
Through iterative Design-Build-Test-Learn cycles, we successfully established and optimized a complete platform for the temperature-controlled one-step synthesis of colored bacterial cellulose. This achievement was built upon the parallel development and refinement of four core modules, enabling temperature controlled synthesis, pigmentation, and waterproofing of cellulose. This coordinated system demonstrates a novel path for creating sustainable textiles, where the resource-intensive and polluting steps of dyeing and finishing are replaced by biological synthesis, dramatically reducing the environmental impact and hazardous chemical use associated with fast fashion.
If you are interested to learn more, please visit the Engineering Success page.
Human Practices
We demonstrated that our project is responsible and beneficial to the world through our Double-Helix Model, which intertwines technological development with social reflection. Throughout the design process, we engaged with stakeholders to identify real needs, ethical boundaries, and practical challenges in applying bio-based textiles. These insights guided the refinement of our goals and experimental priorities, ensuring that our technical design remained meaningful and applicable beyond the laboratory. By continuously integrating societal feedback into scientific progress, we shaped a project that not only advances research but also responds to human and environmental values.
To explore our practices in more details, please click the link below:
Gold
Best Model
Our team constructed an integrated modelling framework combining biology and mathematics to guide the overall project design. By integrating experimental results with biological and mathematical models, we achieved efficient synergy between theory and practice. During collaborative wet-lab' s experiments, the modelling team predicted key protein structures and optimised fusion protein designs based on performance analysis. Through literature review, we quantified the relationship between RNA strand-breaking processes and temperature, providing theoretical underpinnings for the experiments.
Addressing the typical biological challenge of microbial co-culture, we established a co-culture model using experimental data and developed an interactive visualisation tool. The relevant code has been open-sourced for subsequent teams to utilise, sharing NAU-CHINA's modelling and data processing methodologies. Furthermore, guided by the concept of "fashion", we explored entirely new possibilities for synthetic biology from both environmental sustainability and aesthetic perspectives, thereby expanding its application boundaries.
Best Education
Our team made strong efforts to advance public understanding of synthetic biology through our ATGC framework — Analyze, Trigger, Generalize, and Consolidate. From hands-on craft workshops to game-based classrooms and culturally integrated activities, we engaged learners of all ages across China and extended our outreach to international audiences. Each activity encouraged mutual learning and dialogue, allowing participants to explore synthetic biology in ways relevant to their daily lives. By collecting feedback in real time, we continuously refined our approaches, ensuring that our programs were thoughtfully designed and inclusive. We also developed reusable educational resources, including "The Science Handbook of E. coli ", the ICII website, and the "The Use of Synthetic Biology in Clothing, Food, Housing, and Transportation" series of articles, enabling others to build upon and adapt our materials. Together, these efforts established a sustainable education system that inspires curiosity and empowers more people to engage with synthetic biology.
To explore our education works in more details, please click the link below:
Best New Composite Part
Our team has constructed several new composite parts in compliance with Registry guidelines, developed by combining existing biological components. We have thoroughly documented these parts in the Registry, covering key aspects including design, experimentation, characterization, application, and discussion. To verify their functionality, we performed numerical simulations and conducted extensive experimental tests. Among them, BBa_25ECYPMT is robustly validated by comprehensive data, including successful protein expression, significantly enhanced enzymatic activity upon optimization, and quantitative kinetic characterization. This optimized system provides immediate practical utility for efficiently dyeing bacterial cellulose and holds great potential for broader biomaterial applications. BBa_25K8XDBD based on the latest literature (doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145775.) was designed to function as a biodegradable and recyclable hydrophobic coating for bacterial cellulose. We innovatively combined Bacillus subtilis biofilm-surface layer protein A (BslA) with a double cellulose-binding module (dCBM) at its C-terminus. When applied via spray-coating, BslA-dCBM binds efficiently to cellulose fibers through dCBM, forming a uniform protein layer which significantly enhances textile hydrophobicity.
In conclusion, The experimental results of our new composite parts are impressive, in line with expectations and have been verified to be correct through model tests, providing the iGEM community and the fashion industry with a sustainable solution that integrates functional aesthetics with environmentally conscious design, backed by solid experimental validation and promising application potential.
Please click the link from the Registry and explore more.
