„NCLOSE“ Wins Gold in the iGEM Competition

Whether it’s innovative project ideas or international competitions: The proRWTH association provides support that allows students at RWTH Aachen University to reach their full potential. It not only supports the student associations themselves, but also the higher-level structures such as TechAachen e. V. and the Collective Incubator e. V., which create space for these innovations to be developed. As a result, student initiatives repeatedly give rise to projects that attract attention far beyond the University—as we can clearly see in the example of the successful iGEM team from RWTH.

The iGEM competition (“International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition”) is the world’s most important student competition in the field of synthetic biology. Every year, over 400 teams from all over the world develop innovative solutions to face the current challenges in medicine, industry and agriculture. Their ultimate aim is to be recognized at the Grand Jamboree that takes place in Paris. The Aachen iGEM teams have been involved since 2014 and proRWTH helps them to implement their projects.

The RWTH iGEM Team 2025 was awarded one of the coveted gold medals for its “NCLOSE” project at the final in Paris. Gold medals are awarded to teams that achieve outstanding results in biological engineering and in their chosen specialization. The team also received nominations in three categories: Best Agricultural Project (Undergrad & Overgrad), Best Human Practices (Overgrad) and Best Wiki (Overgrad).

Nitrate Pollution in Soil and Groundwater

In their “NCLOSE” project, the 15 RWTH biology and biotechnology students worked on a globally relevant topic: nitrate pollution of soils and groundwater. A central cause of this pollution in Europe is over-fertilization in agriculture, which is largely being caused by the use of liquid manure. The team developed a biotechnological method in which bacteria living in liquid manure are used to produce the biopolymer polyglutamic acid (PGA). This polymer can bind ammonium in the liquid manure, which reduces the amount of it that is lost through conversion to nitrate. This in turn leads to lower levels of leaching or volatilization. After the manure has been applied, the bound ammonium is gradually released and natural biological processes distribute it into the soil once again. This creates a three-stage retention mechanism that contributes to the stabilization of nitrogen in the soil.

It was only thanks to the generous support of proRWTH that the team was able to take part in the 2025 competition and to attend the final in Paris as a team.

– Authors: iGEM Aachen 2025 and Jeannette Schwerdt