This blog is where we share stories, announcements, and insights from around the iGEM community.
All in iGEM Blog
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.
In designing your iGEM project, we encourage you to consider: Who is included in your project design? Who benefits from your research? Will anyone be disadvantaged? Although you may want your iGEM project to benefit society, even your best intentions can have unintended consequences, especially for groups that are already disadvantaged.
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.
The iGEM competition should be a challenging, fun, and rewarding experience. But like all science and engineering, every iGEM project has some potential to cause harm. And so iGEM has a number of policies in place, as well as dedicated committees, to help teams do the best science and engineering possible – maximizing benefits for the world while at the same time minimizing any chance of harm.
iGEM is a unique space for a diverse range of students because iGEM actively attempts to encourage and support students from around the world to participate in its competition and community. But for the mentors or instructors in the room, what do you do actively to ensure that a diverse range of students in your program feel welcome and included?
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.
The crisis was completely fictional, but the responses necessary for developing clear containment and communication strategies to address that crisis were real. And the insights, knowledge and training shared at that conference are prescient as we face the global COVID-19 pandemic today.
In 2019, iGEM remained the leading pipeline for talent in synthetic biology, inspiring thousands of students to work in teams and use synthetic biology to solve local problems and tackle global challenges.
Hyasynth was founded in 2014 with a set of cofounders who had all participated in iGEM before. Our idea didn’t come from an iGEM project, but our first year of starting up looked a lot like an iGEM project.
Each year after the iGEM competition comes to a close, the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of iGEM teams continue on – building upon the proofs of concept tested during the competition, turning prototypes into innovative products.
I have trained for and completed ten half marathons, but nothing has been able to physically or mentally prepare me for the iGEM Giant Jamboree.
It is my privilege to serve as guest editor for iGEM Digest, and former iGEM instructor. I hope the Digest will help recruit new students and mentors to form future teams, serve as a platform to share both success stories and resources to overcome challenges, demonstrate how iGEM can be career-changing or in some cases career-defining, and to remind us that science should be driven by the outward motivation of benefiting others.
Our Cornell University-based global communications initiative seeks to empower champions across all fields to create a global network of farmers, scientists and other advocates who support science-based decision-making.
As 2019 draws to a close, all of us at iGEM HQ wish to express our appreciation for the many people who have dedicated their time, work and support in helping advance the use and development of synthetic biology for the benefit of future generations.
