Among the top 10 in the world

BioSoil, the synthetic biology project led by recent graduates from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), has reached the global Top 10 in Red Bull Basement 2026, whose international final took place this week in San Francisco (USA).

The team, comprising Alejandro Aymerich, Clara González and Hugo Lluch, represented Spain after winning the national final, held last May at La Harinera, a space linked to the City of Valencia's innovation ecosystem and the Valencia Innovation Capital strategy.

In the San Francisco final, the team from the Universitat Politècnica de València competed against 43 international projects selected for the global phase and qualified among as one of the ten finalists, who presented their proposals to a jury, investors, the ten finalists, who presented their proposals to a jury, investors and representatives of the international technology ecosystem. Furthermore, the team achieved sixth place in the public vote.

A solution to regenerate agricultural soils

BioSoil proposes a synthetic biology-based solution to help restore degraded or contaminated agricultural soils. Its proposal is based on the development of microbial consortia capable of combining two functions: reducing or transforming pollutants in the soil whilst simultaneously improving soil fertility to promote crop growth.

The initiative arose from a local concern: the impact of the DANA on Valencian agricultural soils. Building on this local problem, the team designed a proposal with potential for international application, focused on restoring agricultural ecosystems and reducing dependence on chemical inputs.

"The project combines biotechnology, microbiology, mathematical modelling and computational simulation. We aim to apply synthetic biology to the design of microbial systems that can contribute, in the future, to the recovery of degraded agricultural soils," say Alejandro Aymerich, Clara González and Hugo Lluch.

The project was supervised by Alejandro Vignoni and Yadira Boada, researchers at the Research Institute for Automation and Industrial Informatics (ai2) at the UPV, and received support from the Vice-rectorate for Students and Entrepreneurship and the IDEAS UPV Entrepreneurship Unit. It also received backing from the City Council of Valencia, through Valencia Innovation Capital.

After winning the national final, the team also received support from Juan Fuentes, director of the GSIC Testing Lab Powered by Microsoft in Valencia, who organised a rehearsal before the trip to San Francisco so that the team could practise their presentation, refine their pitch and prepare to defend the project before an international jury.

Projects with real impact

"BioSoil reflects an idea we believe in at the UPV: that when young talent, applied research and a can-do culture come together, projects with real impact can emerge," says Alberto Conejero, Vice-rector for Students and Entrepreneurship at the UPV. "Often," he adds, "we talk about knowledge transfer in the abstract, but here, precisely, what is interesting is the journey: how something that begins in classrooms and laboratories ends up evolving into an entrepreneurial initiative with social and environmental potential."

Throughout this journey, the mentorship of Yadira Boada and Alejandro Vignoni has been key; they highlight "the uniqueness of BioSoil, which links students' education with a distinctive approach to synthetic biology and control engineering".

For Hugo Lluch and Alejandro Aymerich, the experience in San Francisco has also marked a personal and entrepreneurial turning point: "It was an opportunity to meet people, improve the idea, and it gave us the confidence to make the project much bigger than we had imagined. Undoubtedly, something we will never forget".