UCiGEM - Join the Fight Against Johne's Disease: Empower Kiwi Students to Save Our Cows

We are a team of 8 undergraduates from the University of Canterbury competing in a global competition called International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in Paris, France. By sponsoring us you are supporting a young team from the University of Canterbury to get to the global stage while fixing a major problem we face in our beautiful country. We are looking at developing a rapid detection kit for Johne’s disease, one of New Zealand’s most devastating diseases affecting our cattle and costing our economy up to $90 million annually.

The current testing kit takes weeks to return from a lab, causing our farmers to lose valuable time and profit whilst our cows sit in the paddock and suffer until their untimely death. Our detection kit will allow farmers to test by themselves and quickly and accurately diagnose their cattle to determine what is best for them and their herd. As a part of our research, we are participating as the only New Zealand team at the iGEM competition in Paris in October 2024 and taking what we have developed and researched to scientists from around the world in hopes of developing and catapulting our idea into a product that will save our farmers and dairy industry millions.