Bioengineering cells to create an alternative fuel has left a University of Alberta team feeling on top of the world.

"We were pretty pumped," said ButaNerds team member Justin Pahara.

"We were mainly happy that we showed Alberta that in the first year of having a team - like we had to found a team and get everything set up - that we could bring back an award."

Since last spring, the ButaNerds have been working on a proposal to bioengineer cells to create butanol, an alternative fuel they believe could replace gasoline.

Over the weekend, they took their project down to the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

They didn't win the grand prize but did take first place in the energy category and won gold medals for their contributions to synthetic biology.

Around 60 international teams were at the competition.

"It was definitely exciting. We didn't win the whole shebang but we beat out a lot of world-class universities," said Pahara.

Butanol is produced by some bacteria, but it's an inefficient process. The ButaNerds have been working to take the genes that create butanol and splice them into a harmless strain of E. coli, which can be used to create butanol more efficiently .

The team has been working on mathematical models so far but hope to have a working system within weeks.