What Does it Take to Commercialize an iGEM Project? Insights from 2024 Competition Finalist iGEM Aachen
What if you could work on your iGEM project while simultaneously exploring its entrepreneurial potential? For iGEM Aachen 2024, this was no hypothetical question—they embraced the challenge of preparing their project for the iGEM Competition while exploring its commercialization potential through the iGEM Startups program at the same time.
Their project, Oncobiotica, is a groundbreaking approach to precision oncology, targeting tumor-associated microbes rather than traditional cancer cell biomarkers. This innovative therapeutic alternative offers new possibilities for cancer treatment, aiming to address unmet needs in oncology.
The Journey of iGEM Aachen
Building a project and a team from scratch in 2024, the iGEM Aachen team didn't just aim to make an impact in the iGEM Competition. They also wanted to explore the commercial potential of their work, which led them to also participate in the iGEM Startups Program. Their journey began at the BioHackathon, where they emerged as runners-up and continued through the Venture Foundry Program. From the Venture Creation Labs to the Mentorship Program, the team gained crucial insights and industry connections.
With support from experts and resources at Aachen University Hospital, the team gained hands-on experience in therapeutic development. The mentorship they received from their iGEM Startups mentor helped in shaping their commercial approach, and provided them with industry insights that encouraged them to continue exploring their project’s potential.
“Most of us are biotech students, so it’s completely new to us to think about business and that’s what made us interested to try. The program was easy to follow, and we learned so much during the process. Our project as a therapeutic is definitely a long way to market, but it’s very interesting to think about how it will go and to meet people who are willing to listen and see how we could develop this further (...) we still have a good relationship with our mentor. So, that’s been really cool to have someone from the industry believe in us and we learned a lot.”
– Hannah Dorn, iGEM Aachen 2024 Student Leader
Beyond the Lab: Educational Initiatives from iGEM Aachen
While working on their project, iGEM Aachen also made significant contributions to the iGEM community through education. One of their standout achievements was AlphaFold Decoded: iGEM Education Initiative. This initiative includes nine instructional videos, Jupyter notebooks, and Python guides for learning AI from scratch, as well as reprogramming AlphaFold. The project serves as a bridge between biotechnology and computer science, equipping the next generation of synthetic biology students with essential AI skills.
If you’d like to learn more about iGEM Aachen and their innovative project, check out their wiki page.
Considering turning your iGEM project into something with real-world impact?
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