After a year full of theorizing and testing, a group of University of Calgary students took their findings to the world stage. Ultimately, the team did not place inside the top 10 worldwide, but did not come home empty-handed.

The UCalgary iGEM team’s 11 members focus on using synthetic and molecular biology to solve real-world issues. This year, the team has been targeting avian influenza through a biosensor that detects the viral genome. 

“It basically looks at the RNA of the virus, and it tests its presence in a sample,” Anna Zeng, Safety Lead and Wet Lab Member, said.

The team divided and conquered its needed research, tailoring the studies to each member’s expertise. Experiments were also separated, allowing everything to run in parallel to each other on one timeline.

“Once we got everything separated, we just had to combine it, and we also had to validate everything. That was hard,” Zeng told LWC.

Throughout their process, the team knew they’d need to present their findings come the fall. As the date inched closer, preparing by the book proved to be the best course of action.

“How our team works is literally just following the rubric,” Zeng said.

“I have to say that we don’t try to overcomplicate things; literally whatever the judges want from us, we give to them.”

According to iGEM rules, not every team member is required to speak. Knowing that, the team practiced together, with half presenting and the others listening and giving feedback.

“It was a lot of teamwork and going back and forth for refinement,” Zeng said.

After working on their presentation skills, their data, and refining their device itself throughout 2025, the team took their findings to Paris in late October for the annual iGEM Jamboree.

Manar Bairq, media lead and Wet Lab Member, said that in the final 25 minutes before their scheduled judging session, the team sat together, trying to find any last-minute swaps or wording changes that could improve their pitch.

“I believe we did overall fine,” Bairq said of the presentation. 

“We did run out of time, but I think this was great; it was definitely stressful.”

During the lengthy question period post-presentation, the team was overall confident in their work and answers.

“The reason that it’s such a long question and answer rather than a (longer) presentation is because they have access to our whole wiki, which is a big website about our project that’s available to them, so they have a pretty good idea of our project already,” Zeng said.

“The presentations are just adding on anything we didn’t get to put on that wiki and reminding them what our project is.”

Even after using their whole five-minute time slot, the team’s extra slides came in handy.

“After hearing all the questions, it was everything prepared for in the extra slides that we had. I was really happy when that was happening,” Bairq said.

“We were well prepared for that. I think the questions were fair. We don’t have our scores at the moment; we just got their raw feedback and impression.”

During the award ceremony, UCalgary’s iGEM team had modest expectations, feeling their data was lacking compared to their competition.

The team left Paris without being recognized in the top 10 amongst all projects worldwide, but did come out on top of the safety and security category.

Final feedback is supposed to be shared with the team come December.

Paris away from science

With an itinerary that Zeng helped create, the team got to forget about science and enjoy French landmarks during their time overseas.

“We actually started off in Paris with (visiting the) Louvre,” Bariq said. 

“We concluded Paris on our last day, visiting the Palace of Versailles, which was also fun. Well Done by Anna.”

Zeng said that the trip to Paris was a first for all but one team member.

“The trip as a whole, plus iGEM and being able to go for a few days of free time and also be able to go for science, something related to our field, I think that’s a really great experience and opportunity to have,” she said.

“We were just very excited. But obviously, as travelers, we had a lot of learning experiences on the way.”

Rocky road ahead: Big decisions coming for UCalgary iGEM

After creating a business plan with their entrepreneurial members, the team is admittedly a ways away from an actual functional prototype. 

“It will take a while to actually get a functional product. I have to say we’re nowhere near a product that is able to go on the market or anything, but we’re definitely getting somewhere,” Zeng said.

iGEM projects typically take one of two paths after presentation. First, the team can opt to let their data and research go, opting for a new project and disbanding the team. The second option involves more uncertainty and patience; Zeng called it the entrepreneurial route.

“That would be making a startup out of the project, like a biotech company,” she said.

“Now, we’re in the midst of deciding where that’s going to go. We’re deciding whether or not we should actually go all out with this and make a startup, or should everyone go their separate ways.”