Tracy (second from the left) with her winning team.
USP senior Tracy Koh was part of a team representing NTU at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition held at Boston Hynes Convention Center, USA, from 24th to 29th September 2015. The team clinched a Gold medal, competing against 279 other teams of college students from all over the world, including those from MIT, Yale, and Harvard. Tracy’s team is one of two teams representing Singapore at this international synthetic biology competition, the other team from NUS obtaining a Silver medal.
Under the mentorship of Professor Tan Meng How from the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Tracy’s multidisciplinary team genetically engineered Shewanella bacteria to produce energy to run microbial fuel cells. Their project, SheZaps!, contributes to the global search for renewable and affordable alternative energy sources.
We had a good chat with the Biological Sciences major about her experience.
Q: How did you prepare for the competition?
A: Over the summer starting from late May, we worked in the lab more than 70 hours a week. I would go to school from 8am and leave at 9pm every day.
Q: How did you manage to juggle the preparation with your other responsibilities?
A: I don’t! (Laugh) But seriously, when you have a lot to do, you just have to make the most of your time. We also worked on the project during school term, so I missed lessons. But luckily, there were recorded lectures, so I managed to keep up with schoolwork.
Q: What were your feelings leading up to the competition?
A: I had doubts, like “Are we even gonna be able to produce any results?” It was not easy, given such a short time to prepare. We were excited, anxious, and frustrated too. When you do experiments, many times it doesn’t work and wouldn’t work and you don’t even know why. But when it does work, you feel really good, like your effort was worthwhile. I learned that in doing any experiment, not just in iGEM, when something doesn’t work out, you have to forgive yourself. You have to be hopeful and optimistic about the success of your experiments. It won’t do to wallow in self-pity.
Q: What are your thoughts about the competition?
A: It was a great eye-opening experience, being exposed to the frontline of advances in biological technology and engineering. Beside Engineering which is our category, there are others like Nutrition, Health and Medicine. We got to contribute a few genetic parts to the online open-access Registry of Standard Biological Parts which is available for any researcher who needs them to build biological devices. We also engaged the community in what we do as scientists, talking to the public about our project. It’s a fulfilling experience.
Q: What was the most memorable moment?
A: I think to be able to present your work to the judges and the people over there is one thing that is really fulfilling. You would never expect to be in an international arena and to present your work, but this is one opportunity that you are given. To see the recognition and acknowledgement for the good work that you have done, as a team, is an incredible moment. All the laborious and long hours in the lab paid off, it’s a bonus that we got good results. And the experience itself is something very memorable.
Q: Would you recommend this competition to your juniors? Any advice for us?
A: Yes, definitely. I read a quote recently which I think is really true: “Those who never fail are those who never tried.” If there is something you wanna do, go for it. You have to give our best and push your limit, like overcoming those long lab hours. Even if you tried and failed, it is still better than not knowing how it could have been like just because you were afraid to fail. And most of the time you realize that you could be so much more than you thought. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to get a Gold, but you just have to try before you know.
Find out more about Tracy’s project at this link: http://2015.igem.org/Team:NTU-Singapore
