The CRISPR Clear team receives cheques from Marcus Remmers of DSM. © Carina Nieuwenweg
Angelina Horsting, Martijn van Galen and Resource blogger Carina Nieuwenweg designed a cheap, portable gadget that can detect potential biological weapons within an hour. It can also be used to track down a number of diseases outside the laboratory.
The jury was impressed by the gadget’s wide range of applications and thought the design by the three Wageningen students of Molecular Life Sciences was ‘creative’ and ‘socially relevant’. The team, CRISPR Clear, beat three other teams. The team members were awarded 1000 euros each at the national chemistry conference, Chains 2017 on 6 December.
The sensor the team developed can detect whether an organism has been modified with a Crispr-Cas9 gene drive. This is a technique with which you can cause a precisely targeted mutation to the DNA. The three students presented their gadget to people from the ministry of Defence, says Carina Nieuwenweg. ‘They want further discussions on the possibilities.’
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