Seventeen undergraduates from SIP-based Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) scooped the silver award in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2018 final recently held in Boston, the United States. Their award-winning solution, a nervous system-targeting exosome device, is expected to benefit lots of patients plagued by central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

The iGEM competition, started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003 to encourage young students to try and solve real-world problems using genetically engineered organisms and machines, has expanded to include divisions for more groups such as high school students, entrepreneurs and community laboratories. This year’s event attracted over 300 teams from more than 40 countries.

The XJTLU students modified human embryonic kidney cells 293 (also known as HEK 293 cells) to increase the production of exosomes so that the resulting therapeutic exosomes can overcome the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which excludes most neurotherapeutics from entering the CNS, and reach patients' CNS with a relatively effective dose in a much safer way.