About Us and Our Project: High School iGEM is a 17 member team with 2 advisors that works in an extracurricular setting throughout the year. This year, our team attempted to find enzymes to degrade per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS is a man-made chemical that is extremely hard to break down (Hence the name forever chemical) and is incredibly toxic to humans and other organisms. PFAS contamination affects several water sources and there is no effective solution to this. Our team has utilized synthetic biology techniques to break down PFAS and our project has opened up partnerships with mentors, other iGEM teams, and scientists in the field.