iGEM Project - Cellfiefuge

In 2016, I co-initiated the first iGEM team at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. The iGEM competition (International Genetically Engineered Machines) is a global synthetic biology event that brings together student teams to design and build biological systems using standardized genetic parts.

Our project, Cellfiefuge, aimed to reduce infrastructure demands in biomanufacturing by engineering bacteria that could both autoinduce protein expression and autoaggregate at the end of production—eliminating the need for costly centrifugation during downstream processing.

Project poster
IISc article on our team’s legacy

Highlights

• Concept: A synthetic biology solution to simplify protein production workflows—particularly relevant for low-resource or field-deployable applications
• Outcome: Pioneered iGEM participation at IISc and laid the groundwork for future teams, which have since gone on to earn awards and global recognition
• Collaboration: Partnered with student researchers, mentors, and sponsors to develop and present a full project at the iGEM Giant Jamboree in Boston

Fundraising & Grants

As part of the founding team, I was involved in successful fundraising efforts, including:

• iBEC Grant for Indian iGEM Teams (2016)
  ₹1,000,000 grant from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India

• India Alliance (Wellcome-DBT) Travel Grant (2016)
  ₹600,000 grant from India Alliance to support travel to the iGEM Giant Jamboree

• Research Grant – Govt. of Karnataka (2016)
  ₹600,000 grant from the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, to fund research activities

This experience sparked my long-term interest in microbial engineering and exposed me early on to collaborative, cross-disciplinary research. It remains one of the most formative projects of my academic journey.