SynBERC was a proud sponsor the fourth annual Bears Breaking Boundaries contest at UC Berkeley, which encourages student teams to propose the next generation of research, education, and service activities on the UC Berkeley campus. Out of 146 submissions received, a total of 33 student proposals were funded at $85,000. SynBERC helped to encourage and adjudicate synbio-related technical and policy proposals. Among this year’s winners:

• Engineering health-conscious E. coli: Probiotics that reduce saturated fats - W. Roger Lowe
• Sunlight to electricity: Combining the photosynthetic properties of cyanobacteria and the extracellular organization of electrocytes in E. electricus to produce energy via repeating action potentials - Jay Garg
• Synthesis of coral-like material - Susan Chen

The students also receive other support (advice, research resources, etc.) for creative, high-quality student projects. With SynBERC, the program ultimately hopes to build the student synbio community increase the role that UC Berkeley students play in shaping the next generation of research, education, and service activities in the field.

More about Bears Breaking Boundaries at http://contest.berkeley.edu