Eat Me Plz - Biohacking Challenge

 

What is it about?

It is a joint-initiative by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) & Allegrow Biotech Ltd. While many outreach programs have traditionally focused on programming and robotics, a significant gap exists in hands-on bioengineering education. With biotechnology and bioengineering at the forefront of solving society's most pressing issues—from next-generation medicines and sustainable energy to environmental remediation. This program fills that critical void. The BioHacking Challenge is designed to unleash student creativity in a different, and arguably more vital, engineering discipline, providing a platform for the innovators who will shape the future of health and sustainability.

  • Step into a bioengineering lab for a day and become a biohacker. This time, it's not robots — it's real cells, real biology, and real biomedical engineering, powered by AI.
  • Craft artificial bacteria from scratch using biomaterial building blocks: sugars, fatty acids, and some secret ingredients. 
  • Unleash them on live macrophages, our immune defenders whose job is to hunt and eat invaders. Watch and record the battle unfold under the microscope. 
  • Use AI and computer vision to turn what you see into hard data. Showcase your design and results in a science competition. Build, test and present, all in a day’s work.

Format

A one-day, team-based science competition at HKUST. Teams research, design, build, and test modular artificial bacteria, perform AI-assisted analysis, and present their findings to a judging panel.  Full instruction, supervision, reagents, and instruments provided. The competition runs throughout the day — every stage from design to presentation is assessed.

Workshop Schedule 

Date: Friday, 10th July 2026

Time: 09:00 - 17:00

Venue: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 

Quota: 30 students

Target Participants: Secondary School Students from Form 3 to Form 5

 Deposit of HKD 600 per team required (Will be refunded after attended the workshop) 

  • Each school can nominate at most two teams of three students to participate in the workshop. (Whether we can allocate the second team will be subject to availability.)
  • The names of the nominated students can be changed, if requested before the workshop starts.
  • Successful application will be informed to schools by email soon. (First Come, First Serve)
  • Medium of Instruction: English & Cantonese

Competition Structure

Science competition: participate in team-based competition, evaluated on experimental design quality, results, data analysis rigor, and scientific communication effectiveness. Category-specific awards recognize innovation, effort, and compelling presentation.

Certificate of completion: receive official certification from HKUST and Allegrow Biotech.

Teams are assessed across the full day on:
Design rationale: scientific reasoning behind their artificial bacteria formulation
Experimental execution: lab technique, data quality, and proper controls
AI-assisted analysis: effective use of AI tools for literature research and data interpretation
Presentation: clarity, scientific accuracy, and ability to defend their approach
 

Awards for winning teams: Certificates provided to each participating school by HKUST and Allegrow Biotech.

Register Now !

Key Learning Outcomes

Scientific thinking & integrity
  • Master the complete experimental process — from hypothesis formulation through data collection and analysis
  • Develop core competencies in experimental design, control management, observation techniques, result interpretation, and scientific communication
  • Build a foundation in scientific integrity through honest reporting, rigorous analysis, evidence-based reasoning, and appropriate recognition of contributions.
  • Hands-on biohacking: design and assemble artificial bacteria using lipids, sugars, and bioactive molecules to trigger immune cell responses.
  • Hands-on wet lab skills: gain supervised, practical experience in essential laboratory techniques including pipetting, aseptic technique, centrifugation, microscopy, and basic cell culture (BSL-1 level).
AI-Enhanced Scientific Research
  • Conduct comprehensive literature reviews and background research; extract and synthesize actionable insights from complex, large-scale information sources
  • Apply conventional and AI-powered analytical tools to transform qualitative observations into quantitative data
  • Apply data integrity principles and research ethics in data collection, rigorous analysis, and presentation.

 

Educational Value

Cross-curricular: The program spans biology, chemistry, biomedical engineering, data science and scientific communication — all in one single day.

Curriculum-aligned: supports global STEAM learning objectives, with practical skills directly relevant to tertiary study.

Tangible outcomes: students leave with microscope images, quantitative data, and a presented scientific summary that demonstrate real learning. Results are deposited in a shared database with team attribution.

Scientist character building: students experience the full research cycle, from literature review, experimental design, data collection, honest reporting, to peer scrutiny – Instilling the values and habits of real scientific research.

HKUST campus setting: students work in university labs alongside trained mentors, with participation recorded on HKUST outreach records.

Safe, supervised university lab access: all activities fully supervised by trained mentors. Only BSL-1 cells are used, i.e. non-pathogenic organisms requiring minimal precautions.

Clear safety process: Plain-language safety briefings provided.

For More Details ......

Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers, HKUST

Email: abfye@ust.hk

Tel: 3469 2618 

Website: https://abfye.hkust.edu.hk/

 

Allegrow Biotech Ltd.

Email: welovecells@allegrowbiotech.hk

WhatsApp: 9420 7604

Poster