UrbanTundra-Edmonton began their project as a high school iGEM team and competed in Boston as UofA students. Their project entitled "Sustainable living on Mars: Turning toxic soil into Oxygen" was inspired by the movie the "Martian" They successfully created a strain of E. coli that, when induced, was able convert the highly toxic compound chlorite to oxygen. The team won the awards for Best Presentation, Best Poster and Best Wiki (a Hat Trick) amongst a field of over 300 participants in the high school category.