In spite of choosing a risky topic, William & Mary’s 2024 iGEM team topped all other undergraduate teams from the United States in the world’s premier synthetic biology competition, the iGEM Grand Jamboree, in Paris Oct. 23-26. 

The team tackled an understudied area of synthetic biology – satellite phages – to earn a gold medal and finish in the top 10 out of approximately 275 undergraduate teams from all over the world.

Additionally, the team was nominated for Best Project in two categories — Best Foundational Advance Project and Best Software Tool — an accomplishment that perfectly aligns with the Data Initiative of William & Mary’s Vision 2026 strategic plan.

Understanding of data-related concepts provides new opportunities for discovery and innovation. To prepare students for effective careers in an increasingly data-intensive academic and economic environment, W&M is committed to expanding data fluency throughout the curriculum.

“Being part of the 2024 W&M iGEM team and competing at the Grand Jamboree in Paris was one of the most challenging yet inspiring experiences of my life,” said Namit Nallapaneni ’26. “I was pushed to quickly learn new coding languages and develop a software tool that supported our project’s goals in ways I had never imagined. Being in Paris, meeting leaders in synthetic biology and witnessing our team’s work being recognized made this an unforgettable journey.”

Margaret Saha, Chancellor Professor of Biology, has mentored W&M iGEM teams since 2014.

“While it was spectacular to see William & Mary flash up as one of the top 10,” she wrote, “it was equally rewarding to watch this outstanding team discuss their science with such expertise and professionalism from 9 a.m. through 6 p.m. to a nonstop crowd of other synthetic biologists (some really famous!).”

The W&M iGEM team performs cutting edge synthetic biology research and has a demonstrated history of performing well at the Grand Jamboree. Each year, the team conceptualizes a project intended to tackle a real-world problem, then designs, builds and tests a genetic circuit based on that goal.

The iGEM project culminates in the Grand Jamboree, a highly competitive international event in which teams from around the world present their research to academic, industry and government professionals, as well as other students.

Satellite phage research

iGEM teams are interdisciplinary and include members from a wide array of STEM fields such as Engineering Physics and Applied Design (EPAD), biology, chemistry, neuroscience and Computational & Applied Mathematics & Statistics (CAMS). 

The 2024 W&M iGEM team members (and their majors) are team leader Emma Small ’25 (EPAD and CAMS), Emma Holley ’25 (CAMS),  Josh Levin ’26 (EPAD), Rachel McCarley ’25 (chemistry and CAMS), Namit Nallapaneni ’26 (CAMS), Caden Sanko ’25 (CAMS and public policy), Keertana Senthilkumar ’27 (neuroscience), Sophia Stagarescu ’27 (CAMS), Kira Stotts ’25 (biology and kinesiology) and Rebecca Zheleznyak ’26 (CAMS).

Saha explained that this year’s project was novel and somewhat risky, but aligned with the team’s goal of solving global challenges and taking technology into the field. The students chose to study satellite phages, which are phage-like particles that parasitize actual phages.

W&M iGEM has a previous connection with these particles. During a 2018 outreach project, high school students worked with the team to find a novel phage. What they discovered were satellite phages.

“They behaved so differently,” said Saha. “Initially we didn’t know what they were. They wouldn’t grow easily, so we placed them on a back burner for a while because they were so difficult to work with.”

This year’s team decided to further explore these mysterious entities. After reading a study about the potential use of satellite phages for biotechnology, they wanted to see if they could determine useful roles for satellite phages in synthetic biology.

The team named their project SaPhIRES: Satellite Phage: Integrated Real-world Engineering Solutions.

The project was designed to address the necessity for new and better parts to make biological circuits. Satellite phages are prevalent in the world, but, except for a few limited species, researchers don’t know much about them. Out of more than 20,000 parts available for use by synthetic biologists, fewer than 10 of them are from satellite phages.

Because most satellite phages remain undiscovered, they have a potential treasure trove of unexplored parts.

“Could they harbor the new CRISPR system?” said Saha. “Could they harbor other biotechnology elements? We just don’t know.”

Most of the proteins in satellite phages that have been identified are hypothetical, so researchers don’t yet fully understand their functions.

“For example,” said Saha, “the satellite phages that we have at W&M are able to overcome prophage immunity, which is a huge problem in phage therapy. We’re also able to use them as delivery mechanisms, and they should be easier to engineer, because they’re much smaller than normal phages.”

To encourage increased use of satellite phages in synthetic biology, the team developed a unique software tool, SaPhARI, that allows synthetic biologists to identify novel satellites by their specific systems from complex genomic data. They also developed experimental approaches to physically isolate satellites in order to better make use of their unique genetic machinery.

Additionally, the team sought to tackle some of the challenges involved in establishing synthetic circuits in natural environments by testing satellite phages mathematically, in the lab and in simulated environments that mimic conditions in soil and the colon, as these are areas in which the circuits would need to function in the natural world.

A few adjectives that the team used to describe the research are rewarding, challenging, inspiring, fulfilling and unforgettable.

“Getting to share our research and see the research of so many brilliant young people at the Jamboree made all of our hard work well worth the effort,” said Sanko. “I am grateful to be able to represent W&M and show that our relatively small school can reach parity with other premier research institutions from around the world. We punch above our weight in iGEM and undergraduate research more broadly — that’s because of the talented students we attract and the diligent faculty and staff who support us.”