Panja Vij, right, of Great Falls, a student at the College of William and Mary, wins one of the biggest prizes in synthetic biology. Photo contributed
An interdisciplinary team of William and Mary students have brought home one of the biggest prizes in synthetic biology, an honor that has been called the World Cup of Science.
Panja Vij, ’17, of Great Falls, was part of the eight-member team that won the Grand Prize in the Undergraduate Division at the iGEM Grand Jamboree held Sept. 24-28 in Boston. Vij is a neuroscience and computer science major at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.
More than 250 teams from five continents entered the competition, and William and Mary’s was the only North American entry among the finals.
The winning team worked on their project throughout the summer under the mentorship of Chancellor Professor of Biology Margaret Saha and William Buchser, visiting assistant professor of biology.
The team also included Andrew Halleran, ’16, who is working on a double major in mathematical biology and biology; Caroline Golino, ’17, a computer science major; John Marken, ’17, a mathematics major; Elli Cryan, ’18, mathematical biology; Taylor Jacobs, ’16, chemistry and biology; Michael LeFew, ’16, mathematical biology; and Joe Maniaci, ’18, chemistry.