People may not imagine Santa Cruz, the cozy beach town nestled at the tip of the Monterey Bay, as a hub of technological innovation. But certainly, the team at Santa Cruz Works and readers like yourself understand that this claim is no exaggeration. Groundbreaking startups and a world-class research university work hand-in-hand to create a local culture of ingenuity, one that empowers young minds to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. At the University of California: Santa Cruz (UCSC), students have taken it upon themselves to address an urgent matter affecting millions of families worldwide: national and global formula shortages.

UCSC iGEM team 2024.
Photo by: Carolyn Lagattuta

In 2022, the United States saw infant formula shortages due to a recall of several prominent brands and COVID-19-related supply chain issues, resulting in a concerning spike in stock-out rates. As of May 2022, a report found an average of 74% of infant formula products were out of stock in numerous U.S. stores, with some states experiencing stock-out rates as high as 90%. Although this may seem like a woe of the past, this report finds that people continue struggling to find affordable formula for their infants.

While this may seem like a significant hurdle, the UCSC students on the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team sought to face it head-on. Their groundbreaking idea to create an affordable formula alternative by genetically modifying bacteria earned them a silver medal at the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris this past October. This past Jamboree was the largest synthetic biology gathering to date, bringing together thousands of attendees from research, startups, investment, journalism, and policymaking sectors.

Heavy LiFTing: Redefining Infant Formula with Cyanobacteria

iGEM is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing synthetic biology and education through its community-building efforts. With over 75,000 participants, iGEM provides countless project involvement opportunities in countries worldwide. UCSC has been a part of the iGEM program for 11 cycles, with the 2024 cohort of 16 undergraduate students continuing its legacy of community-based projects with impacts that hit close to home. For these students, the formula shortage wasn’t just a headline they read in the newspaper but a dire reality their friends and family were forced to endure.

In an article published by UCSC, Clare Reyes, co-captain of the project and a biomolecular engineering student, remarked, “UCSC projects always have a direct impact. Helping people out is what we want to do, and that’s the goal we were chasing with the infant formula project. We came up with a bridge between the two — having communities in focus, but making the science do the work.”

The UCSC iGEM team broke down their project formula into three distinct components; first, they sought to develop a baby formula that used spirulina, an algae that is dried and turned into powder, rather than depending on expensive additives. In using spirulina, the students would need to genetically modify the living algae, cyanobacteria, to produce the sugar-lactose compound naturally present in breast milk. This proved to be a loftier task than once anticipated, as cyanobacteria is described as “one of the most difficult organisms to genetically modify” due to its tendency to copy its unedited genome. With the help of Professor David L Bernick from UCSC’s Biomolecular Engineering Department, the team reoriented their goals, looking to tackle cyanobacteria modification in pursuit of making a more affordable alternative to breast milk. They have named it Limnospira-inspired Foundational Technology (LiFT), a method designed to rapidly integrate new genes into cyanobacteria while minimizing the risk of the genome copying unedited sections. This innovative approach ultimately earned the UCSC team a well-deserved silver medal.

The Formula For Success

Over the course of a year, these undergraduate students were able to directly contribute to the growing field of synthetic biology, empowered by a nonprofit rooting for their success.

Reflecting on the Jamboree and her team’s accomplishments, Reyes said, “It was really uplifting to see other young people who care so much about the future, and about being responsible about bioengineering. You see other people who are as passionate as you, but their passion is about something completely different, so you get to learn so much.”

This team, empowered by iGEM, found the formula to success despite the challenges they faced. Fueled by the ingenious spirit of the Santa Cruz community, UCSC undergraduates will leave an indelible mark on their community, nation, and world!

UCSC Students Engineer Affordable Formula Solution