The infectious disease Avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, has impacted 167 million birds in the U.S. since 2022 and has recently become more effective at crossing species. 

Earlier this week, our neighbours to the south announced they were pulling more than $770 million in funding for the development of a vaccine for bird flu. 

Not a vaccine- but a group of UCalgary students are developing a new detection system for that same flu, hoping to outsmart bird flu before it outsmarts us. 

UCalgary’s 2025 iGEM team is developing a device that will detect the presence of the flu in water sources. Picture a rectangular box full of scientific odds and ends, capable of sending a text message, alerting owners when a water source becomes contaminated.  

The team believes their device’s use will expand past farmers, even into rural communities, ensuring that their limited water sources do not become contaminated. 

Applications and interviews for the student-led club happened in late 2024. Research began in January 2025, when all 11 team members pitched a research idea they’d like to explore. Ultimately, the team landed on the bird flu device they continue to develop today.  

“Something really engaging about iGEM in particular is that we are controlling the whole experiment workflow,” said Hazem Eldelebshany, a neuroscience student and dry-lab lead for the team. 

“We’re deciding how to respond to big issues, rather than just being told by a professor.” 

One of the larger scale issues that the team faced came when the University of Science and Technology of Beijing released a paper containing a nearly identical device as they were originally planning, a single-use water testing kit, like a COVID-19 rapid test. 

“Basically, our goal was to create an RNA sensor that was cheap, fast and sensitive,” cell biology student and wet-lab lead for the team, Santiago Pineros, said. 

“But then, this paper was published that described the technology that was an RNA sensor that was quick, cheap and very sensitive.” 

Pivoting to automated technology

Pivoting to an automated system was no accident. In fact, many aspects of the new design were hyper intentional. 

“They have a single use detector; we made ours continuous. Theirs is manual, we made ours automated,” Eldelebshany said. 

 The new and current format will detect if wild birds infected with the flu have interacted with a body of water. 

“One of the most common ways for poultry or chicken in farms to get infected is by contact with wild birds or contaminants like feces from wild birds,” said Pineros.

“The idea would be that on chicken farms or cattle farms as well, we could have systems set up near lakes or other bodies of water nearby.” 

Bird flu, no longer exclusive to birds, has been detected in cats and cattle, according to Eldelebshany. If the virus continues to mutate and becomes transmissible human-to-human, it could become a “COVID level risk.” 

“We want to reach the first point of contact, which in most cases is these farms,” he said. 

“By accessing the waterways that they use for their flocks, we can now determine where and when the risk of the first case is.” 

Another team member, Omar Amer, a biological science student and entrepreneurship lead for the team, said even as the virus is now, when a flock becomes infected, it impacts more than just the sick chicken. 

“A lot of the times when their flock gets infected, it’s not just you lose out on your entire flock. Most of the time those barns sit empty for months, losing monthly income and even disrupting the market,” he said. 

“The Canadian government only provides insurance for the lost flocks, but they don’t provide insurance for the mortgages the farms have to pay, the workers they have to pay.” 

Amer said that in 2023 in B.C. alone, the impacts of bird flu meant 87 million fewer eggs. 

Presenting findings in Paris

Come October, the team will head to Paris for the iGEM Grand Jamboree. 

By that time, they plan on having a physical prototype available, while ensuring it is airport-security approved, they said. 

At the Jamboree, the team will host a 10–15-minute presentation in front of teams from across the world, including educators and investors, among others.