Following our debut last year which earned us a Silver Medal, we persevered and were honored to attain the Gold Medal in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition 2025.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most ubiquitous types of cancer in Hong Kong, with approximately 10,000 new cases annually. Our project, ColoTrace, targeted on creating a diagnostic tool to detect early CRC. Our team successfully engineered toehold switches in bacteria to detect the CRC-related microRNAs, suggesting high clinical potential for CRC diagnosis. Competing against over 400 university and high school teams from over 44 countries, our joint-school team eventually attained the Gold Medal and we presented our project at the Paris Expo in 2025.

The iGEM competition is a global synthetic biology competition that aims to solve authentic problems by genetic engineering.

Photos: WYK & iGem 2025