Universidad de Los Andes won Biodesign Challenge with a project that makes ice at warmer temperatures.
From left: Universidad de Los Andes winners of Biodesign Challenge Laura Calderón, Paola Camacho, Isabel Pulido and Juan AnguloOver two days the halls of Parsons School of Design and the Museum of Modern Art teemed with groups of college students rehearsing presentations and discussing projects they had spent months perfecting for Biodesign Challenge, a program that partners university and high school students with artists, designers, and biologists to reimagine biotechnology.
Their project, PseudoFreeze, is a refrigeration system that harnesses energy from proteins from Pseudomonas syringae, a bacteria that infects many species of plants. “It’s a refrigeration system that can be implemented in many contexts,” Camacho said. “It also reduces the consumption of electricity, its first application is in transporting vaccines.”
“It’s an education program in the guise of a competition,” Grushkin, who is also cofounder of GenSpace, a nonprofit community biology lab, told. As a field, biodesign applies the rules governing naturally efficient systems to manufacturing and industry. Of the 36 teams that presented, nine took home prizes. Fashion Institute of Technology’s team, Flora Fur, won the Stella McCartney Award for Sustainable Fashion for a biodegradable fur alternative made from milkweed and flax linen.
This year’s competition had 50 judges from MIT, Harvard and Cornell, and featured leading biotech companies and innovators including Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of Faber Futures, a biodesign lab, and former designer in residence of Ginkgo Bioworks.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018: The Full List of WinnersRestaurant awards season continues apace, with the World's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony taking place tomorrow. Here's a refresher on last year's winners
Read more »
How Makeup Taught Me to Celebrate My Naturally Thick BrowsI never thought thick, bushy brows like mine would ever be in trend...but then they were.
Read more »
How 'Bohemian Rhapsody' & 'Wayne's World' Made Queen a Streaming ChampionThanks to some very big films giving its catalog major boosts, Queen is leaving fellow legacy artists in the streaming dust.
Read more »
Half the world is dissatisfied with democracy, survey findsDemocracy is falling out of favour with a large number of people around the world, while Western Europeans are growing increasingly pessimistic, finding democracy no longer democratic enough, a German study argues.
Read more »
Dogs vs. Cats: Why Pet-Friendly Hotels Are Warming to FelinesThough pet-friendly hotels have traditionally focused on pampering dogs, they increasingly view cats as more manageable guests
Read more »