Leiden students build smart antibodies with protein 'Velcro'
Nine students dove into a challenging iGEM project this summer. With their idea, they aim to make antibodies more efficient - and in the meantime learn at least as much about collaboration, creativity and their own future.
While most students were enjoying summer holidays, nine Leiden students spent their break working on an ambitious synthetic biology project for the international iGEM competition. Their goal? Develop a faster, cheaper way to produce a key component of antibodies—proteins crucial in both medicine and diagnostics. We speak with Julianna, Louke, and Adriana about their experience, that blends science, creativity, and personal growth.
‘I don’t feel like I’m trading my summer; I feel like I’m gaining something,’ says Julianna, a Master’s student who joined the team to make her final year unforgettable. ‘I’ll have many more summers, but never another iGEM summer.’
‘I’ll have many more summers, but never another iGEM summer’
The challenge: giving antibodies the right “gloves”
The group of bachelor and master students work on a synthetic biology project, that they called splinteins, a hint to the protein building block that are the project’s main characters. The proposed method make antibody production better and cheaper.
Antibodies are Y-shaped molecules your body uses to fight disease. For therapeutic and research use, they need sugar molecules attached—a process called glycosylation. Think of it as putting gloves on the antibody’s arms. The right “gloves” improve performance, but the current method is slow and error-prone, stitching sugars on bit by bit.
The Leiden team proposes a smarter solution: make the full “gloves” first and attach them using Velcro-like proteins called split inteins—hence their project name, splinteins. This modular approach could speed up production, reduce errors, and even cut reliance on animal cells. ‘If successful, this could advance fundamental research and therapies,’ says team member Louke.
More than science: a crash course in collaboration
The team is as diverse as their roles. Julianna, whose first choice wascoding, discovered a passion for outreach and science communication. ‘It made science fun again—and showed me I can bring my personality into it.’
Adriana, meanwhile, dove into coding from scratch. ‘I’d always wanted to learn, and now I’m building our website,’ she says. She is now even considering an internship in which she has to code.
Despite having clear roles, collaboration is key: students jump in to help with finance emails, patents, and more. ‘The enthusiasm is contagious,’ Louke adds.
‘The enthusiasm of the team is contagious’
Beyond the lab: art and ethics
The project has also pushed the team to think beyond traditional science. Julianna recalls reaching out to an artist as part of their outreach activities. ‘She told me, ‘We’re all proteins,’ and that made me think beyond the lab mindset. She also reminded me that yeast cells are living organisms, which sounds obvious, but I’d never really thought about it that way.’
For Adriana, these discussions raised ethical questions: ‘If yeast can replace mammal cells, what does that mean for how we value life?’
Looking ahead to Paris
The journey will culminate at the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris at the end of October, where hundreds of teams showcase their innovations. ‘We’re looking forward to that immensely,’ says Louke.
Team iGEM Leiden
The Leiden iGEM team consists of nine bachelor and master students, mainly with a biology or biomedical background. Each team member has his or her own task, which the team members have divided among themselves. The official title of the project is Splintein. Team members are:
- Vera van Neer – Teamleider – MSc Biology
- Julianna F. Hoffer – Human Practices - MSc Biomedical Sciences
- Gelijn Brandjes – Entrepreneurship - BSc Biology
- Louke D. Nieman – Design- MSc Biology
- Adriana A. Anguelova – Coding- MSc Biology
- Kimberly Zaal – Modeling- MSc Biomedical Sciences
- Iris Niestadt – Wiki- BSc Biology
- Xavian van Loon – Lab Manager- MSc Biology
- Tijn Looij – Lab Manager-BSc Biology