Sep 15

Sep 15 iGEM 2021 LATAM Festival: Celebrating Growth, Unity and Friendship

Ana Ruth Quintero & Samantha García Arias

by Ana Ruth Quintero and Samantha García Arias,
2021 After iGEM Ambassadors to Latin America

Latin American Festivals are indeed the stuff of legends, celebrating the rich cultural heritage of one of the most colorful and diverse regions of the world. And there is nothing quite like an iGEM LATAM Festival: from reveling in the milestones reached and appreciating the stories of fellow iGEMers, to learning what may lie ahead and rejoicing in our multiethnic diversity – we know how to celebrate!

Teams from Latin America have been participating in the iGEM competition for the past 16 years, including teams from Mexico and Colombia (since 2006), Peru (since 2008), Brazil (since 2009), Panama (since 2010), Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica (since 2012), Honduras (since 2015), and Puerto Rico (since 2019). This year, for the very first time in iGEM’s history, the Design League was launched to expand the impact of synthetic biology in Latin America, and create a new experience to introduce more Latinos and Latinas to the synthetic biology ecosystem.

We are pleased to announce the first iGEM LATAM Festival, September 23, 24 and 25!

Now, we are pleased to announce the first iGEM LATAM Festival to bring together our Latin American iGEM community, including all Latin American iGEM 2021 teams, Design League Teams, and Alumni. This 3-day event will be held September 23, 24 and 25, and will provide many opportunities for networking, learning, and having fun together with your fellow Latinos and Latinas.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Features include:

Catch-Up - How is your iGEM project doing?

This space will allow you and your team to share the progress of your project and get prepared for the final version of your presentation. Your team will have the chance to present your progress to a panel made up by PIs, judges, advisors and specialists, who will be glad to help you out.

Latin Cinema

When visiting a new country, what better way than to have a local person showing you all the wonders of their country. Together, we will create and share short movies by country, featuring interesting aspects of our culture such as foods, traditions, idioms, tourist attractions, music, and festivities that will help to discover our region even better.

The iGEM effect - Storytelling

Every iGEM alumni has a story to tell (good or bad)! Join this space to share your story and hear the anecdotes of other iGEMers as they share their good stories or failures (but learnings) during their participation in the competition.

Acing the Wiki Workshop

Get your Wiki to the next level. The Acing the Wiki workshop will give you and your teammates the opportunity to get some hands-on help from iGEM alumni who went through the same experience that you will go through (and even managed to face the dreaded wiki freeze!).

Design for Non-Designers Workshop

Are you not a design expert? Don’t you worry! And even if you are a design expert, we know how difficult it could be to design the visual identity for a scientific project.

LATAM Party

Are you ready to show how much you really know about your Latin American community? Share your knowledge at the LATAM Party where we will celebrate together as part of the closing activities. Prepare your team and take one of the surprises we have (as a hint, you can show it off on your Wiki!)

The iGEM LATAM Festival is a significant new opportunity to support the growth and unity of our diverse iGEM LATAM community! More than a chance to give and obtain feedback on your project or improve your soft and hard skills, the iGEM LATAM Festival will open the door for networking and building long-term relationships with your fellow iGEM Latinos and Latinas, and to celebrate and become better acquainted with Latin culture.

If you are a member of a Latin American iGEM team or Design League team or a Latin American alumnus, we look forward to welcoming you to the first ever iGEM LATAM Festival. Check out the schedule, and if you are interested in joining feel free to reach out to any one of your LATAM Ambassadors at LA_ambassadors2021 [AT] igem [DOT] org. Also, if you are part of the iGEM community as a PI, instructor, mentor or alumni, and you are interested in supporting the LATAM teams, please register here.

We're here to support you, and we can't wait for you to experience the iGEM 2021 LATAM Festival!

Ana Ruth Quintero & Samantha García Arias

Samantha is a biotechnology engineer from Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Her iGEM journey started in 2016 as a team member. In 2019 she served as an advisor for a Costa Rican team, and in 2020 she joined the After iGEM Industry Committee and participated as judge in the Virtual Giant Jamboree.

Ruth began her iGEM journey in 2019 as co-leader of ITESO Guadalajara team, RUBISCO, and later joined the WiSTEM initiative of After IGEM, where she co-coordinates the Data team activities to promote and empower the participation of women in science. This year, Samantha and Ruth represent the LATAM community as part of the After iGEM Ambassadors team, and together have organized the first iGEM LATAM FEST.