This blog is where we share stories, announcements, and insights from around the iGEM community.
Radhakrishna Sanka, better known as Krishna, is a Computer Engineering Ph.D. candidate at Boston University. This blog post highlights the importance of entrepreneurial ecosystems and the impact one involved member can have on their creation and success.
“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.
iGEM is many things, but here’s one that matters a lot to me: iGEM is an invitation. For many people, in many places around the world, an encounter with an iGEM team will be their first encounter with synthetic biology. The work that iGEM teams do to make synthetic biology accessible and understandable is an invitation extended: come, join us, tell us what matters to you. Let’s change the world together.
“What do you think of when I say engineering?,” asks Mr. David Doyle, lead instructor for the Shanghai United International School (SUIS) iGEM Team. Students typically respond with areas such as electrical, industrial, or computer engineering, but do not make the connection between engineering and biology.
As we found out explaining a synthetic biology project was not an easy task. The field itself is an integration of disciplines, and relies heavily on metaphors to make it more understandable. In areas where the boundaries between disciplines are a bit bold, it is a challenge to explain the disciplinary overlap that exists within and through Synthetic Biology. But beyond that, we noticed that there is a bigger challenge and that lies in the language, the one which makes the spoken be easily heard.
During iGEM 2017, the pages were so popular that we created the “Meme of the week” challenge, where iGEMers could submit memes and the best one would win the honour of being posted the following Monday. For a short period, iGEM Memes even had more followers on Instagram than iGEM HQ!
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.
The iGEM Foundation and Benchling share many similar goals — empowering scientists, building community, fostering collaboration, pushing the envelope in biology.
iGEMers continue to innovate and build upon the ideas and proofs of concept they tested in the competition. And to foster this innovation, iGEM is officially launching its own Entrepreneurship Program.
The Giant Jamboree is the culminating event of iGEM’s annual synthetic biology innovation competition for collegiate and high school students, and the largest synthetic biology innovation event in the world.
