This blog is where we share stories, announcements, and insights from around the iGEM community.
Asimov has teamed up with iGEM once again to empower the genetic designers who are building the future – you – the iGEMers who are building new solutions with biology for the 2024 Competition. As a platinum partner for 2024, we are thrilled to give back to the community that has helped inspire, support, and connect students with each other to make synthetic biology the technology that will transform the world.
Meet Eric Herrera, the co-founder and CEO of Maverick Biometals, a finalist in the 2022 iGEM Startup Showcase in 2022 and Y Combinator S22 Cohort. Eric shared his remarkable entrepreneurship journey, starting with a single bench in a Baltimore basement to a 10,000 sq. ft. biotechnology laboratory. With a team of scientists from over 10 countries, Maverick Biometals is pioneering the production of lithium batteries and silicon semiconductors entirely through biological methods
2024 has been an incredible year for iGEM Startups, marked by notable funding trends among iGEM Alumni startups, particularly at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology (SynBio) within our ecosystem. This year alone, seven alumni startups have secured over $95 million in funding—from government grants to multimillion-dollar investments—highlighting the scalability and market potential of these groundbreaking technologies.
Exploring the sector of iGEM Startups 2024. We'd like to identify the key fields of our iGEM Startups Cohort and how this is implicated in the current emerging trends in synthetic biology to understand the evolving bioentrepreneurship landscape.
Ashwin Jainarayanan is a biofounder with a deep-rooted passion for advancing medical science through synthetic biology and immuno-oncology. Ashwin's journey of founding Granza Bio began during his PhD at the University of Oxford, when a serendipitous email mix-up connected him with Ashwin Nandakumar, who was working on another project at a nearby department.
Become a volunteer at the world's largest community of synbio researchers, educators, industry, investors, startups and policymakers in one place to build a better world using synthetic biology.
One of the standout success stories from this year’s iGEM Startups cohort is Paqta, a trailblazer biotech startup from Lima, Peru. Paqta’s co-founders shared their startup story and discussed current milestones with iGEM Startups, while offering their insights on the unique challenges and opportunities within the Peruvian and broader Latin American biotech sectors.
Over the years, different organizational structures have emerged to overcome some of the challenges that are unique to high school teams. In the early years, most high school teams were organized by the high schools themselves or by community labs. In 2020, it came to our attention some high school iGEM teams were being organized by third-party institutions that were building teams for high schools that did not have access to laboratory facilities and/or for high school students who did not have an iGEM program at their own school.
Right now, the world is excitedly watching the Summer Olympics taking place in Paris. For some, the Olympics offer a glimpse of impressive athletes and teams who have committed to their sport to compete at the highest level. In October, there will be another Olympics (of sorts) in Paris, where the participants are no less impressive and no less committed – the iGEM 2024 Grand Jamboree – the World Expo of synthetic biology and the culminating event of the iGEM Competition.
We are thrilled to announce that the iGEM 2024 Grand Jamboree – the World Expo of Synthetic Biology – will once again be held under the High Patronage of Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and the Patronage of Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.
iGEM Startups Summer School helps 2024 iGEM teams to refine their entrepreneurship part in iGEM project and race for the Best Entrepreneurship Prize yet to give them a better idea of what they can do with their project post-iGEM competition.
Get insights in to successful iGEM Competition teams and their projects and learn from them the tips and tricks that can help you have a successful iGEM competition season.
In just a few days, we will celebrate the birth of Gregor Johann Mendel, considered the father of modern genetics. Mendel found that each of the traits he studied were inherited as discrete units rather than blended together at each new generation. Those discrete units of inheritance are now known as “genes”, which are made up of sequences of DNA. Today, over two hundred years later, iGEM teams from around the world are engineering sequences of DNA in ways Mendel would never have dreamed – designing, building and testing biological systems to tackle everyday issues facing the world.
Last year was a banner year for high schools in iGEM, with 119 teams participating, each experiencing the joys, frustrations, challenges, and rewards that come from working on an iGEM project. High school teams have been a part of iGEM since 2011, and their numbers have been growing ever since. Yet, because the iGEM Competition was originally designed for collegiate teams, high school teams have been in a perpetual state of experimentation as the elements and format of competition have been adapted to meet the unique challenges of high school teams. This post is the second of a series where we focus on high school teams in iGEM.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all over the news, and it's making waves in synthetic biology too. At iGEM, teams are leveraging AI as they push the boundaries of synthetic biology to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. To give you some background and perspective on how past iGEM teams have incorporated AI in their work, check out these projects.
In 2011, iGEM began an experiment by opening up the competition to high school students. The idea was to see how well these young, ambitious students might respond to the challenges of the competition. The results have been overwhelmingly positive.
The productive four-week Venture Creation Labs have officially concluded, with 82 startups onboarded from across the region! Over the course of four weeks, our bioentrepreneurs delved into workshops, mentorship sessions, and pitching opportunities, emerging with newfound knowledge and refined strategies to drive their ventures forward.
Imagine a future where most cancers are prevented or even cured, where there is universal access to early detection and treatment, and where most (all?) cancer patients can expect to live cancer-free without trading the quality of life for length of life. At iGEM, teams are working to create such a future using the tools of synthetic biology. Check out these examples.
Due to their inherent safety, simplicity and portability , cell-free systems have become an increasingly important tool in iGEM and synthetic biology more broadly.
Nicolas Krink, CEO BioHalo, joins us for the BioFounders Interview. This series delves into the firsthand stories of iGEMers venturing into entrepreneurship. Documenting challenges, opportunities, experiences, and lessons for other startup founders.
