McGill iGEM is one of McGill’s premier synthetic biology research teams. They tackle a range of ambitious projects involving both wet and dry lab components, granting students the opportunity to lead original research in campus laboratories and compete internationally at the iGEM Jamboree in Paris, France—winning the Grand Prize in the 2025 competition.

The team’s 2025 project, ​​Cohera, exemplifies their technical ambition, opening a new door for cellular architects by allowing them to essentially use cells as building blocks. They engineered a toolbox for scientists to employ controlled cell-cell adhesion, a process necessary for cell networks to maintain the stability and flexibility required to function. Cohera addresses limitations in traditional laboratory adhesion methods, allowing researchers to ensure strong bond strength between cells without limiting which cells they can bond. This technique takes advantage of SpyCatcher and SpyTag proteins—the biological components that form strong, irreversible covalent bonds. 

“These are two proteins which form an isopeptide covalent bond together,” Mollee Ye, U3 Bioengineering student and team co-lead, explained in an interview with The Tribune. “We attach them onto membrane proteins so that when expressed in microbes, these proteins would localize to the surface of these microbes and allow them to adhere together.” 

The team has also demonstrated possible Cohera applications spanning natural rubber production, wastewater treatment, and gastrointestinal therapeutics. Its unbounded implementation can be used for a plethora of needs. One example focused on preventing the body from prematurely flushing therapeutic yeast and bacterial microbes when scanning for cancerous or diseased cells. Cohera addresses this issue through targeted adhesion, which prevents the unwanted removal of microbes. 

“The problem with yeast probiotics is that it doesn’t maintain in your gut very well [.…] So with the idea of adhering cells together, the bacteria would express one part of the adhesion proteins, and the yeast would express a different part,” Salena Sun, U2 Anatomy and Cell Biology student and team co-lead, said in an interview with The Tribune. “That way, the yeast is able to release its therapeutics. And with the protease, [i.e.] the scissors, you’re able to control how long the yeast is maintained in the gut. After it’s done its therapeutic effects, it will be flushed out of the body as it naturally would be.”

Sun noted that subteams are part of the iGEM grading criteria—with subteams including Human Practices, Education, Entrepreneurship, Inclusivity, and Media—and that they are assessed for community impact. Last year, the Inclusivity team hosted queer health case competitions and interviewed math drag queen Kyne for their STEMcast podcast, and the Education team ran miniGEM—a synthetic biology competition for high schools across Canada. One iGEM member even proposed Synbiosis, an art exhibit whose applicants submit synthetic biology-related art, which is now a yearly event.

“For us, we have [team members] integrated. People who are wet lab members [are also] on the education team and on the human practices team, [and] people on the dry lab team who are also involved in media and finances,” Ye explained. “Because of that, people just get a more holistic view of the project and generally also learn a lot more.”

Members describe McGill iGEM as an experience that extends beyond the club’s events and activities.

“A lot of my time is within iGEM. But when I’m outside of iGEM, I also talk about iGEM,” Ye said.

Similarly, camaraderie is forged through other means beyond a shared name. Sun described how shared failure also contributes to bonding.

“In the lab […] you try to successfully clone this construct. And for weeks, it just doesn’t work. And then, when you finally get it, you feel like you have a team of people to really bond over that.”
The team aims to publish Cohera in scientific journals such as Frontiers and looks forward to sharing their foundational advance in synthetic biology and its potential applicability. Beyond science, however, the club offers a community. Commitment to iGEM’s community is inseparable from regular involvement, and it is a devotion that exceeds undergraduate competition. Sun described iGEM as a lifelong identity marked by Patagonia fleeces, sticker-plastered laptops, and immediate kinship with strangers wearing iGEM patches.