The delegation SZPT-China from Shenzhen Polytechnic won the top prize at the 16th International Genetically Engineering Machine Competition (iGEM), which concluded recently in Boston, the United States. Their project, focusing on the effects of probiotics in reducing blood pressure, had its feasibility recognized by the jury and was nominated for the best food and nutrition project at the competition. The team is comprised of 14 students from the food science and engineering, food biotechnology, and food nutrition and detection departments of the chemistry and biology school at Shenzhen Polytechnic. Initiated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), iGEM is a top-level academic competition attended by biology and chemistry students from universities across the world. The 16th edition of the competition witnessed a line-up composed of more than 4,000 contestants from 375 teams. Some of them were from top schools such as Harvard University, MIT, Peking University and Tsinghua University. SZPT-China was the only team made up of students from a polytechnic school among the 128 Chinese teams at the competition. (Wang Haolan) | 