The winner of the GENIUS competition

13 April 2026

We are happy to announce that the GENIUS competition has concluded and the winners of this first edition have been announced.

The first-place team was composed of Līga Blumfelde, Stefānija Dārta Graudiņa, and Alise Roze Zālīte from the University of Latvia, who submitted a proposal titled “Biosynthesis of Brassicasterol in Bacillus subtilis for Anticancer Applications“. The proposal was evaluated based on criteria such as the innovative scope of the approach, excellence, impact and implementation.

The winning team of this edition therefore secured the €1,000 prize provided by MI-DNA DISC, as well as the opportunity to participate in a mentoring and training program on topics related to the business development of their idea. This program will be offered by Day One, an innovation studio and venture builder member of the MI-DNA DISC consortium.

Overall, the first edition of the GENIUS (Genetically ENgineered Ideas for Unconventional Solutions) competition proved to be an excellent opportunity to engage—in the spirit of open innovation—more than 80 students and researchers from across Europe. Their ideas contributed to charting a creative and alternative development path for the innovations resulting from the MI-DNA DISC project. The second edition of the competition is scheduled for the second half of 2026: more information will be released in the coming months.