Swallowing jitters and marshaling a semester’s worth of research, 11 teams of local high schoolers arrived at Boston University on a recent spring day to pitch products to a panel of BU faculty and affiliates playing the part of skeptical investors. It was the second annual Synthetic Biology Shark Tank Competition, which was held at the BU Life Sciences & Engineering Building April 26.
Mentored by undergrad and graduate students from BU’s College of Engineering, the 28 seniors from Boston’s diverse New Mission High School conceived of, and fleshed out, synthetic biology solutions to real-world problems. Among the products they pitched: crops modified to survive unseasonable cold snaps; marine bacteria engineered to clean up oil spills; and a microorganism that warns mountain climbers of impending altitude sickness.
