Yogyakarta, Indonesia — The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) UGM 2025Team represents Universitas Gadjah Mada in the annual international synthetic biologycompetition held in Paris, France. The UGM iGEM Team was first established in 2021 and hascontinued to grow ever since. In 2025, the team is were supported by Anandita Amalia (Biology),Salma Rohmaniah (Biology), Erwinda Dwi Chofifah (Biology), Tsaqifa Zuhayra Emery Bagus(Biology), Nauval Rajwaa Raysendria (Biology), Geraldine Yara Amritarashmi (Biology), TanRendy (Biology), Shainna Nur Sharfina (Biology), and Pamastadewi Pryankha Hijrianto(Biology) in collaboration with 11 other people from faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy,Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, and Faculty of Agriculture.
Despite their impressive gold medal win at the iGEM Grand Jamboree 2025, the team’s journeyhas been long and full of milestones since 2024. That year, the UGM iGEM Team participated inthe Bioinformatics and Synthetic Biology Competition (BIOS) 2024, organized by synbio.id.They entered two sub-teams — Team Phytovac and Team Gamanthrax — both of whichachieved remarkable success. Team Phytovac won Best Presentation, Best Website, and theGrand Prize Winner, while Team Gamanthrax earned the Best Poster award. Both teams proudlybrought home gold medals, reflecting their dedication, teamwork, and perseverance.
Not stopping at the national level, the UGM iGEM Team also competed in the Global OpenGenetic Engineering Competition (GOGEC) 2025, an international synthetic biologycompetition. At GOGEC, the team won several distinctions, including Runner-Up for BestWritten Communication and Best Project Value, and took home the title of Best ComputationalProject.
Their molecular farming research to produce a Dengue vaccine was thoroughly documented andtransformed into a science dissemination video, earning the team a digital learning contentdevelopment grant in 2025. The proposed video, titled “Tobacco, the Heritage of theArchipelago: From Cultural Rituals to Dengue Vaccine Innovation”, was led by apt. SetyowatiTriastuti Utami, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
With all the achievements they’ve accomplished, the UGM iGEM 2025 Team stands as a symbolof passion and creativity in advancing synthetic biology. The team hopes that their innovationscan be applied widely and inclusively across Indonesia, creating a meaningful impact andcontributing to the advancement of science and prosperity of Indonesia.
