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Israeli undergrads engineer bacteria to halt chemotherapy hair loss

The Technion team made the top 10 in their category at the prestigious iGEM competition

November 10, 2022 05:41
Technion's team of 12 students celebrating their groundbreaking discovery. Standing from right to left: Iser Snoyman, Amit Nelkin, Nova Noiman, Baraah Rashed, Matan Hoory, Ran Benayoun and Yasmin Habib; Sitting: Irina Shkalikov, team head Maya Lerman, Mazal Faraj, Reut Laufer and Yana Shklovski.
2 min read

Israeli students have impressed judges at a prestigious science competition, after engineering a bacteria that can halt hair loss during chemotherapy.

Last month the team of twelve undergraduate students from the Technion synthetic biology team took off for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, held in Paris. 

The group had been working on engineering a bacteria capable of producing an industrial substance to deter hair loss, which can be added to regular shampoos and other hair care products.

This year’s team, which included a dozen students from across four faculties, also received a special “Impact” grant awarded to a slim number of the teams based on their “projected benefits to humanity”.