This blog is where we share stories, announcements, and insights from around the iGEM community.
All tagged iGEM experience
Starting an iGEM team and getting a project started in the iGEM Competition can be a challenge, even for returning teams. We have prepared this guide to help you understand what to expect throughout the iGEM Competition Cycle, whether this is your first time participating, or you are returning as a seasoned veteran.
In the first post on “What is iGEM?” I asked you, the readers of the iGEM blog, to share what iGEM means to you. One of the common themes in the responses received so far is: iGEM is the pioneering organization of synthetic biology.
Bolivia’s need for scientific innovation inspired the formation of iGEM Bolivia, a student organization that seeks to create both a scientific community and a movement to advance bio-innovation in Bolivia. Students from four different regions of Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca) expressed interest and took the critical and important first step of finding and recruiting other students who were interested in learning the intricate details and methods of synthetic biology. Together they formed a team of more than 57 students who are eager to develop synthetic biology-based solutions in the near future that solve local challenges.
La necesidad de innovación científica de Bolivia inspiró la formación de iGEM Bolivia, una organización estudiantil que busca crear tanto una comunidad científica como un movimiento para avanzar en la bioinnovación en Bolivia.
It happens every year … and it always comes too soon … and you meant to finish earlier … and you wish you had more time … and you just now thought of a better way to show something … and you didn’t realize how many things could go wrong … and then …. it’s one minute to midnight Eastern time and … the iGEM wiki freeze happens!
It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on the meaning of iGEM. When I first joined the iGEM Foundation, I asked you, the readers of the iGEM blog: “What does iGEM mean to you?” In compiling the responses, I learned that iGEM means many things to many people.
We are pleased to announce the iGEM 2021 Jamboree Meetups, November 12-14, all around the world! These in-person satellite events to the Giant Jamboree are about celebrating with the iGEM community locally and, in parallel, connecting all iGEMers globally.
It's no easy task talking about failures or blunders, even within the scientific community, a field wherein failure is a feature and not a bug. So, as assumed, writing this article was not an easy assignment. Our mistakes, failures, and blunders taught us invaluable lessons. But it was, just like our mistakes, a part of the journey, and the journey proved to be as crucial as is the destination.
Currently, Africa is responsible for only 1% of scientific research output. By getting young student scientists involved in iGEM, we are facilitating the contribution and progression of research. By starting so early we are hoping this allows the developing countries across Africa, and across the world, to actually contribute and be an integral part of this revolution, rather than being a spectator for a while and becoming involved later on in the process.
Do you remember the first time you ran a successful PCR? Was it in the last few months? The last few years? Or so long ago you don’t want to admit it? For high school students, that first successful PCR might have resulted on work from this year’s iGEM project. Let that sink in for a minute…
I did iGEM as a student and for the first time my work had a user. We had a concrete problem we were trying to solve; we had to think about a platform for our user to interact with our biology. I was working on a team of engineers, programmers, designers. iGEM forces you to take a wholesome approach to solve a problem, and that's just a perfect taste of the real life.
Good teammates make you learn and grow. We had gone from being a team to being a family. Deadlines were approaching. Summer passed. Classes began at the university, and we worked to make our course loads as compatible as we could with the final experiments we needed for our iGEM project.
If you have been following iGEM for a while, you’ve probably already heard about Ginkgo Bioworks,…
How winning the Grand Prize in 2017 led the SynORI team to scale synthetic biology to national level in Lithuania
![[ES] iGEM Bolivia: Un movimiento científico para el acceso a la bioinnovación](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c0571c05cfd7950e5a84c99/1647014622675-3PCP8K96CKOFVLR32VWP/T--Bolivia--Team.png)
