Our 2026 event had glowing reviews and an average rating of 4.9/5.0 from attendees!

“It was a pleasure attending and speaking, thanks for having me, nice job to the organizers for putting on a great day!”
—Jeff Bouffard, Postdoctoral Researcher at Concordia University

“Nicely organized, great job!”
—Natalia Romanova, MSc

Congratulations to the awardees!

Best Synthetic Biology: Aller-Genie (Annabelle Beaumier, YeEn Kim, Moriah Campbell)

Best Sustainability: RhizoRescue (Mansour Abou Chedid, Eric Gojan, Augustin Pawlak)

Best Presentation: BioFetchr (Ali Najjar, Julianna Bede, Juan Manuel Rocha Angel)

Program

8:30 – 9:00

Registration and Welcome

9:00 – 10:00

Student Presentations – Health

Aller-Genie: A Modular Synthetic Biology Platform for Prophylactic Prevention for Anaphylaxis via Synergistic Barrier Reinforcement and Allergen Degradation
Bioengineered MSC Scaffold: Engineering Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Delivery Systems for Glial Scar Mitigation in Spinal Cord Injury
ICE-Microbiome Therapy for ASD: Engineering ICE-Mediated Microbiome Modulation to Restore Thiamine Metabolism in Autism Spectrum Disorder

10:05 – 10:45

Student Presentations – Tools and Methods

BioFetchr: Content-Addressable File Retrieval using CRISPRi and Strand Displacement for DNA-Based Archival Storage
Hashimoto Biosensor: A Synthetic Bioelectronic Platform for Hashimoto-Associated TPO Autoantibody Sensing

10:45 – 11:00

Coffee and Snack Break

Voting Session!

11:00 – 12:00

Guest Speakers – Healthcare

Dr. Jeff Bouffard, Postdoctoral Researcher at Concordia University

Anthony Shin, R&D Scientist at Eli Health

Dr. Claudia Penafuerte, CEO and Co-Founder at Cura Therapeutics

12:00 – 12:45

Lunch Break

Voting Session!

12:45 – 13:45

Student Presentations – Environment

RhizoRescue: Engineering Drought-Resistant Extracellular Polysaccharide Biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis for Climate-Responsive Crops
Engineered Coral Probiotics: Engineering Temperature-Responsive Pseudoalteromonas Symbionts to Enhance Coral Antioxidant Defense, Antimicrobial Protection, and Nutrient Cycling Under the Ocean Warming Threat
Mycoremediation: How to Engineer a New Fungus Capable of Degrading Antibiotics in Wastewater Lines?

13:50 – 14:30

Student Presentations – Food & Technology

Control of Banana Ripening: Engineering a CRISPRi Circuit for Feedback Control of Ethylene-Driven Ripening in Musa acuminata
Progurt: CRISPR-Engineered L. bulgaricus for Intrinsic Lactose-Free Yogurt Production

14:30 – 14:45

Coffee and Snack Break

Voting Session!

14:45 – 15:45

Guest Speakers – Sustainability and Manufacturing