Shumvobi Mitra’s Perspective: RhizeUP - From iGEM Project to Real-World Impact

My name is Shumvobi Mitra and I am currently both a high school student and the founder of RhizeUP, a startup based in Maryland in the United States. I first got involved with iGEM in 2023 with the iGEM Team East Coast BioCrew. What started as a competition project has now grown into RhizeUP, a startup tackling fertilizer runoff and supporting sustainable agriculture. 

A Weekend Inspiring Future Entrepreneurs - Summer School 2025

Every year, the iGEM Startups Summer School brings together iGEM teams from across the globe for two days of workshops, panel discussions, case studies and networking. This year, we were joined by 251 participants belonging to 110 iGEM teams (Figure 1). 

This was a great opportunity for aspiring 2025 iGEM teams to explore their entrepreneurial potential and the possibility of winning the Best Entrepreneurship Prize at the iGEM Competition!

In Conversation with Shumvobi Mitra: High School Biofounder Wins $50,000 USD Grant to Fight Fertilizer Runof

Meet Shumvobi Mitra, a high school founder of RhizeUP based in Maryland, in the United States. She began her journey with iGEM Team East Coast BioCrew 2023, engineering rhizobia bacteria to combat fertilizer runoff and protect waterways. After the iGEM Competition, she joined the 2024 iGEM Startups Venture Foundry Program to officially launch RhizeUP. 

From the iGEM Competition to xyna.bio: Adrian Romberg’s Journey

For many iGEMers, the competition is more than just a project showcase, it’s a launchpad to the next step in their synthetic biology journey. The people you meet, the roles you take on and the networks you build can take you into the many corners of the field, including the startup ecosystem.

At the 2024 iGEM Grand Jamboree, we caught up with Adrian Romberg, formerly working in Product Management at xyna.bio, a startup based in Mainz, Germany, focused on making powerful computation tools and bioinformatics intuitive and accessible.

From Brașov to Warwick: Tudor Onose’s Synthetic Biology Journey

Tudor Onose’s journey into synthetic biology began with iGEM. As a team member in 2020 and 2021, and later as a mentor to the 2024 Warwick team, he’s seen the competition from two sides. Now a Ph.D. student at the University of Warwick, Tudor studies bacterial electrophysiology, and reflects in this interview with Andreea Cernei about team-building, mentorship and the future of synbio in Romania.

From Idea to Impact: Highlights from the 2025 Venture Creation Labs

The 2025 Venture Creation Lab (VCL), held from April 21st to May 16th, hosted by iGEM Startups, brought together aspiring biotech entrepreneurs from around the world to take their first concrete steps toward building a synthetic biology startup. Following the momentum of the BioHackathon, the VCL provided a four-week program designed to turn early ideas into viable venture concepts through lectures, workshops and personalized mentorship.

Understanding Impact Investing and Navigating as Early-Stage BioTech Entrepreneurs: Insights from Jonty Corrin

Jonty Corrin started his career in academia as a bioscientist, but his entrepreneurial journey began during his final year of undergraduate work. While his first startup didn’t thrive, it sparked a passion for early-stage startups and their growth. Along the way, he connected with Nucleate UK, a student-led, nonprofit organization that helps early-stage biotech founders translate academic research into real-world startups with dynamic support. 

Yizhi ‘Patrick’ Cai: An iGEMer who is unraveling nature’s design rules to create synthetic life

Professor Yizhi ‘Patrick’ Cai, of the University of Manchester, credits iGEM for introducing him to synthetic biology and giving him the experience, colleagues and connections necessary for a successful academic career. Here, Professor Cai describes his many and varied iGEM experiences that helped shape and influence his career, and offers insights into the future of synthetic biology for the iGEMers of today.