NIS students won a silver medal at the iGEM 2025 International Competition

At one of the most prestigious international competitions in the field of synthetic biology, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2025 in Paris, the NIS–Kazakhstan team won a silver medal and raised the name of our country.

This is the only school team from Kazakhstan. The competition was attended by students from two Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in Shymkent (Karatau and Abai districts), as well as students from NIS and other secondary schools in Petropavlovsk and Turkestan.

In its project, the NIS-Kazakhstan team raised the issue of determining the safety of cosmetic products and drew public attention to this area. The proof of concept system developed by the team was developed based on genetically modified HEK293T cells, which makes it possible to detect hydroquinone in cosmetic substances.

The next stage of the study is the assembly of a portable biosensor that allows consumers to independently check the composition of cosmetic products.

Thus, NIS students demonstrated the country's potential in the field of biotechnology in the international scientific arena, and showed a vivid example of innovative thinking and scientific research.

The iGEM competition is one of the largest scientific competitions, bringing together young researchers involved in solving global problems using bioengineering and gene technologies. This year, about 400 teams from more than 60 countries took part in it, including universities and postgraduate-level laboratories.