Students from Ashesi and KNUST have won a silver medal at the 2022 International Genetically Engineered Machine Foundation (iGEM) competition in Paris, France. 

The award-winning design is a biosensor that detects gold in soil and makes prospecting more efficient for small-scale miners. The project will also reduce cost, land degradation and the loss of lives during the gold mining process. 

The Ashesi student research team was made of eight (8) Ashesi students and two (2) visiting students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The iGEM competition is an annual, worldwide synthetic biology competition that allows student researchers to design, build, and test their system using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques.