This blog is where we share stories, announcements, and insights from around the iGEM community.
All tagged iGEM 2020
“iGEM is about local people solving local problems everywhere in the world, and we see that in the projects that iGEMers do. We see there were problems iGEMers saw that some venture person in Silicon Valley would never pay attention to, but for iGEMers, in their environment and in their world, those were important.”
It’s been over a year since the World Health Organization officially declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic. At that time, we were uncertain whether iGEM 2020 would even take place. Thanks to the dedication of the iGEM community and the resilience of the teams, iGEM 2020 became one of the most amazing seasons, bringing with it new approaches and technologies for making iGEM accessible to everyone, everywhere.
From the COVID-19 pandemic, iGEM has emerged stronger than ever before, with new paths for advancing synthetic biology and making iGEM available to virtually every community across the globe.
If we could choose one word to describe the iGEM 2020 Virtual Giant Jamboree, it’s resilience. In the eight months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, we’ve seen incredibly resilient iGEM team members, instructors, judges, committee members, sponsors and community members emerge as role models and heroes. And their resilience shone throughout the ten days for Competition, Community, Contribution and Celebration at the iGEM 2020 Virtual Giant Jamboree.
In this exceptional year, iGEM teams have journeyed down a path that is different from any previous year, and far more challenging, exciting, and rewarding than any of us could have imagined. As we approach the eve of the 2020 iGEM Virtual Giant Jamboree (VGJ), we invite you to imagine your journey through the 4C’s of the iGEM VGJ: Competition, Community, Contribution, Celebration.
Each year since iGEM began, our community has gathered in-person to marvel at and celebrate the achievements of the teams in engineering biological solutions for global challenges and building the field of synthetic biology. Our in-person gatherings provided a wealth of novel opportunities for conversation, and fostered an easy and candid exchange of ideas and opinions, encouraged by the simple fact that everyone had left their offices and campuses behind.
The iGEM 2020 Global Meet-up celebrated the diversity and international spirit of our community, with more than half of the events and activities organized by the iGEM teams themselves.
The SDGs are 17 goals that are set to be achieved by the global community by 2030, and they represent indicators of technical progress and societal goals that we and others can help strive to achieve. In particular, the SDGs are a way for institutions to align their resources and to open communications and engage with stakeholders in addressing the global challenges we face.
We invite you to join your fellow iGEMers from all over the world to connect, collaborate and celebrate at the first-ever iGEM Global Meet-up. With over 50% of the activities led by iGEM 2020 teams, the iGEM Global Meet-up is your chance to meet and engage with your fellow iGEMers!
Many people, including researchers, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and activists, want to solve global challenges, but are limited because they typically work only within their own institutions and don’t necessarily have access to the right resources.
At Benchling, our mission is to fundamentally transform how biology research is done. We accomplish this through developing software that eliminates busywork and enhances collaboration for all scientists, including iGEM teams.
The 2020 iGEM Season is quite a bit different from previous years, and the Executive Judging Committee (EJC) has made some exciting changes to the medal criteria so that all iGEM teams can participate and achieve medals – with or without lab access – this year.
We know that many teams this year will want to work on COVID-19, and we believe you have much to contribute. In this exceptional year, we want you to be able to do the most important science and engineering possible … AND … we want to make sure you can do that safely and securely.
It feels especially important, right now, to think about how to be a responsible synthetic biologist, the sort who deserves the trust of these friends and family members.
“In a few short weeks, with the hard work and participation of this entire community, we’ve gone from ‘Is iGEM happening?’ to this – an astonishing number of teams (over 300) and the official opening of the competition in a way that has never happened before.”
Many people in the iGEM community are pulling together to create a meaningful and memorable experience, both for returning iGEMers who are continuing their journey and for newly minted iGEMers who are joining a team for the first time.
It’s often been said that iGEM is not easy, iGEM is worth it. And we at IDT believe this is especially true during this time of a pandemic.
