Video contest

Create a video about the ‘iAds’ European research project and enter the competition to win an iPad, tablet or laptop worth 300.€

What is “iAds”?

iAds is the acronym of an ongoing research project at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Montpellier (CNRS/University of Montpellier). iAds stands for ‘Intelligent design of adenovirus vectors’.

iAds is funded by the European Union. Every year, the European Union invests hundreds of millions of euros in research to improve the lives of Europeans.

Some of these funds are used in ‘biomedical’ research, i.e., research that could have a direct impact on health. An international team comprising four university laboratories and two private companies from five countries will spend four years developing intelligent ‘gene transfer vectors’.

What is a ‘gene transfer vector’? How can it improve the health of Europeans?

Some diseases are caused by gene mutations. These diseases can be ‘treated’ by providing cells with a gene with no mutation. This approach is known as ‘gene therapy’. The ambitious aim of gene therapy is to tackle the cause of a disease and not just treat its symptoms.

However, it is not easy to introduce a gene into the cells of a person’s body. Over the last 40 years, scientists have been trying to find the best way to do this.

One way is to use viruses, which have been evolving in nature for millions of years to carry nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) to cells.

Over the last 30 years, scientists have learned to remove certain parts of the virus’s ‘genes’ and replace them with human genes.

However, the use of viruses for ‘gene therapy’ still needs to be improved. The aim of scientists working on iAds is to design a better ‘adeno’ virus that could be used in gene therapy to treat heart and brain diseases, as well as in vaccines.

What exactly will we be doing over the next four years?

• Intelligently designing adenoviral vectors that infect cells safely and effectively.

This means eliminating all the parts of the virus that prevent efficient dissemination or cause human bodies to reject the vector.

• Design vectors that infect heart and brain cells more effectively.
• When designing these adenovirus vectors, we must constantly check that they can be easily produced at reasonable cost.
  

If the project is successful, the results will help improve the lives of people all over the world.

Conditions for participating in the competition

Who can participate in the contest?

• Class 3ème (college, 14-15 years) in Montpellier metropole
  

How do I participate ?

• Enter the competition by sending an e-mail to contact@intelligentadenoviruses.eu with the names of the participants and the name of the college.
• Create a video of no more than 3 minutes explaining the aims of iAds and send it before 31 August 2024 (the deadline has been extended).
• Videos should be uploaded to YouTube, and links to videos should be sent to contact@intelligentadenoviruses.eu

An international jury (French, British, Spanish, Hungarian and American)
of scientists will select the winner and runner-up.

Participants may enter individually or in groups (there is no limit on the number of people per group), but a maximum of 2 prizes (tablets or iPads) will be awarded to the winning team. No student may be a part of more than one team.

All teams that submit a credible video will receive iAds T-shirts.