Welcome to Cornell's premier synthetic biology project team.

Our Current Work

Our Current Work

This year, Cornell iGEM aims to produce 7-methylxanthine and paraxanthine for treating chronic respiratory conditions, highlighting the transformative potential of synthetic biology. By offering a cost-effective alternative to conventional production methods, ENERGEM seeks to lower costs, increase return on investment, and improve the availability of methylxanthines to individuals who need them.

ENERGEM has two primary focuses: engineering enzymes and producing methylxanthines. The first focus starts with the production of relevant caffeine metabolizing enzymes via E. Coli. After optimization and isolation of these enzymes via directed evolution, we move on to ENERGEM's second focus which is the designing and implementation of a cell-free immobilized-enzyme reactor for the high-efficiency production of 7-methylxanthine and paraxanthine. Through a methodical iterative design process, we aim to develop a strong proof of concept for industrial scale-up.

Past Projects and Achievements

Sponsors

cornellcrest biobasic
corning InstituteBiotechnology genscript idt mathworks neb mendeley-logo
snapgene thermo fisher vwr DNA Atlas KS