the igem digest

All synthetic biology and modern biotechnology come with some potential to cause harm. Most of the time, especially for those still studying, these risks are managed by someone else.

As the teams develop and design their projects, they have to consider how their projects affect the world, and how the world affects their projects as part of Human Practices.

In 2016, iGEM Foundation started the After iGEM Delegate Program, for iGEMers to engage in the international policy dialogue on synthetic biology, experience the setting, and learn about treaties and protocols which influence how scientists conduct, share, access, and support research.

As iGEMers, we participate in the iGEM Competition because we believe that synthetic biology is going to change the world. By harnessing the power of biology, we are attempting to disrupt conventional business and manufacturing practices and create new value in medical therapeutics and diagnostics, energy and environment, food and nutrition, and developing new technologies to unlock the full potential of living systems.

It was through attending the Biological Weapons Convention as an iGEM Delegate that I realized how neglected biosecurity issues were and fully embraced the duty that scientists have to engage with policy-makers.

Even though there is a lack of legislation around the world governing biosafety and biosecurity, some teams have taken it upon themselves to make improvements and conduct science responsibly, safely, and securely.

iGEM is many things, but here’s one that matters a lot to me: iGEM is an invitation. For many people, in many places around the world, an encounter with an iGEM team will be their first encounter with synthetic biology. The work that iGEM teams do to make synthetic biology accessible and understandable is an invitation extended: come, join us, tell us what matters to you. Let’s change the world together.

“What do you think of when I say engineering?,” asks Mr. David Doyle, lead instructor for the Shanghai United International School (SUIS) iGEM Team. Students typically respond with areas such as electrical, industrial, or computer engineering, but do not make the connection between engineering and biology.

As we found out explaining a synthetic biology project was not an easy task. The field itself is an integration of disciplines, and relies heavily on metaphors to make it more understandable. In areas where the boundaries between disciplines are a bit bold, it is a challenge to explain the disciplinary overlap that exists within and through Synthetic Biology. But beyond that, we noticed that there is a bigger challenge and that lies in the language, the one which makes the spoken be easily heard.

During iGEM 2017, the pages were so popular that we created the “Meme of the week” challenge, where iGEMers could submit memes and the best one would win the honour of being posted the following Monday. For a short period, iGEM Memes even had more followers on Instagram than iGEM HQ!

It is my privilege to serve as guest editor for iGEM Digest, and former iGEM instructor. I hope the Digest will help recruit new students and mentors to form future teams, serve as a platform to share both success stories and resources to overcome challenges, demonstrate how iGEM can be career-changing or in some cases career-defining, and to remind us that science should be driven by the outward motivation of benefiting others.

An Interview with David Lloyd to hear about his iGEM experience and how an iGEM project led him and his teammates to found FREDsense Technologies.

A synthetic biologist, community organizer, musician, and photographer, he currently serves at the Director of MIT Media Lab’s Community Biotechnology Initiative (CBI) which explores the interface between Biotechnology and Community.

Have you ever dreamed of going to space? Wondered what is it like to be in a zero gravity environment? Last summer, students from 4 universities across Canada were selected for an experience of a lifetime. They were chosen to design an experiment to test in zero gravity.

Shaun Moshasha and the Story of the Resilience he Nurtured in iGEM

Tina Lebar on Snowballing her Love of Research that she Discovered in iGEM

Cindy Wu’s iGEM Journey From Fear of Public Speaking to Company CEO.

A conversation with Peter Cimermančič on his iGEM and After iGEM journey.

A conversation with Tom Knight on his Synthetic Biology journey at MIT, iGEM and Ginkgo Bioworks

MathWorks has been the oldest partners of the iGEM Competition and has enabled iGEM teams to learn and apply modeling techniques in their projects.

How winning the Grand Prize in 2017 led the SynORI team to scale synthetic biology to national level in Lithuania

An ode to the journey of Synthetic Biology in the region and how participating in the iGEM Competition inspired a generation of students to learn, develop and apply disruptive technologies for their people.