“So what we’re doing is we’re trying to produce light – light with life. And this is a phenomenon called bioluminescence,” explained Gustavo, President of Life Bulb. “And to do that, we want to do it with the power of the sun. We’re using these green microorganisms that are responsible for producing the oxygen that we breathe, so they can produce light and we can expand it and use it in many different areas”. With an eye on the future, a group of Kelowna students set their sights on tackling global warming. “Our choice was the climate crisis, so we’re hoping that by having these organisms take up CO2, we can reduce global carbon levels while contributing more oxygen, kind of like the tree-planting movements that many organisms are moving towards.” said Alyssa Kong, a third-year microbiology student. As UBCO competes in iGEM for the first time, all students share the same goal of taking first place on the world stage in Paris, something their mentor is extremely proud of. “What I can say is that they are making the future for scientists. They spend a lot of time, trying to contact scientists from all over the world, trying to solve the problem themselves. Their perseverance and hard work is truly remarkable,” said mentor Mitra Tabatabaee. The Life Bulb has not yet produced light, but the team is confident that their research will prove that it can be done. “We have done extensive research on the literature in the field to show that all the individual aspects of producing this light are feasible and based on this background research we can reasonably conclude that our goal is a feasible goal that can be achieved” , he said. Ryan Riopel, sophomore biochemistry major; The iGEM competition takes place in Paris between October 26 and 28 with Life Bulb aiming for first place in a competition with more than 7,000 contestants. Life Bulb has a GoFundMe page to raise money for their trip to Europe.
