Cafe Synthetique

This meeting is now full. Please join waitlist.

Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up

Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic and engineering biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks. Speakers range from students and group leaders to industry professionals and entrepreneurs.

Monday 15 January, 6pm - “Getting Hands-on with Engineering Biology: Team Projects for Real-World Applications”

### Kavi Shah and the iGEM Team Cambridge 2023: BMax, An engineered living biofilm to coat surfaces.

The iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine) competition is a prestigious synthetic biology competition with hundreds of teams competing from different universities worldwide. The Cambridge iGEM Competition Team this year worked on engineering a protective biofilm (a matrix of polysaccharides, proteins, and DNA produced by the bacteria within it) that can prevent surface colonisation by pathogenic bacteria which usually form pathogen biofilms on surfaces. The project was designed towards a use case in animal farms, where bacterial infections cause loss of productivity and animal suffering. In combating such problems, farmers typically resort to frequent use of antimicrobial drugs, contributing to the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance. The team will talk about their biofilm-based solution to this problem. Their aim is for this protective biofilm to be applied to farm surfaces after cleaning and disinfection, creating long-lasting protection against pathogens, thereby reducing the risk of infections and the reliance on antimicrobials for disease prevention. Following the talk by the team, a brief introduction will be given to Cambridge University Synthetic Biology Society, which organises the iGEM competition team at Cambridge every year.

### Lara Allen, iTeams [Development i-Teams – i-Teams (iteamsonline.org)](https://iteamsonline.org/development-i-teams/) Cambridge based i-Team investigating sustainable innovation in the developing world.

It would be great to see the community coming together again with free aromi food available! Drinks available to purchase at the bar. We look forward to seeing you at the Panton Arms, Cambridge.

Places are limited to 35. Please rsvp sign up here. Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up