SUNY Oneonta's 2022 iGEM Team Conducts Research

SUNY Oneonta's campus is anything but quiet this summer, with 40 students engaged in research projects covering a wide array of disciplines, from anthropology to sport sciences.

Inside a Physical Science laboratory, the seven members of SUNY Oneonta's 2022 iGEM team are hard at work on their project "CyanoSpectre" - engineering a cyanophage "toolkit" that other synthetic biologists can use to make it easier to genetically engineer and build beneficial properties into cyanobacteria. Their faculty mentors are Associate Professors Kelly Gallagher and Jill Fielhaber and Professor Bill Vining.

The team - made up of biology, chemistry and biochemistry students - will travel to Paris in late October to compete in the iGEM Grand Jamboree, an annual event showcasing the projects of more than 400 multidisciplinary teams from 40 countries around the world. Until then, their progress can be followed on the college's iGEM website.

This is SUNY Oneonta's fourth iGEM team and third time competing in the Grand Jamboree.

This is the most robust and discipline-diverse Summer Research Fellowship Program the college has ever offered, according to Kathy Meeker, director of the Grants Development Office. Nearly $90,000 in Student Research Grants was given to support students in their research. Through financial support from the College at Oneonta Foundation, 30 student participants received stipends of up to $3,000 each, in addition to project-related funding and campus housing. Students will present their findings during a special showcase Sept. 8-15 in Hunt Union.

"Being able to engage in experiential learning like summer research is a life-changing opportunity for students because it's a chance to use their knowledge in a real-world setting," Meeker said. "Many of these students will have their research published and go on to become experts in their field. It also helps them decide whether they want to pursue higher education after graduation and facilitates indispensable relationships with faculty mentors, as well."