iGEM 2019
I’ve spent the last several days at the iGEM Giant Jamboree in Boston. iGEM is the international Genetical Engineered Machines competition. This synthetic biology symposium began with 5 teams in 2004 and has since grown to over 350 teams from over 40 countries around the world. Teams attend the Jamboree to present their work, find new collaborations, and connect with fellow iGEMers.
The Giant Jamboree is first and foremost a competition. High
school, undergraduate, and overgraduate teams have 20 minutes to present the
project they’ve been working on over the summer before taking questions from a
panel of 5 judges. They also present a research poster explaining the major
components of their projects. The Jamboree ends with an awards ceremony in
which each team receives a medal based on the criteria they were able to meet –
not only in their poster and their presentation but in the website (or “wiki”)
that they created to explain the biology, engineering, computational modelling,
and communication they completed over the summer. There are also special track
prizes for categories like “Manufacturing” or “Therapeutics”, prizes for communication,
and prizes for new DNA sequences known as “biobricks” that teams have added to
the iGEM registry.
In addition to the competition, the Jamboree includes a career
fair where iGEMers can network with representatives from DNA synthesis companies
(like IDT and Twist), former iGEM projects that have become businesses (like
Gingko Bioworks), biosecurity specialists from the FBI, etc. There are
workshops from companies like Benchling that develop computational tools to
make synthetic biology and biological engineering more easily accessible. Panel
discussions on topics like human practices or diversity and inclusion are also featured.
Because the Jamboree is in Boston, there’s plenty to do outside
of the convention center. Our team walked the Freedom Trail from the Boston
Common to Quincy Market. We toured MIT’s Synthetic Biology center and took a
quick lap around Harvard Yard. We finished our Boston experience with a team
lunch at Legal Seafoods.
I’m so honored to have been an instructor for the 2019 UCL
iGEM team. At the Giant Jamboree this past week, the team was awarded a gold
medal. In addition, they received the prize for Best New Basic Part, nominations
for three other prizes (Best Therapeutic, Best Wiki, Best New Composite Part),
and a shout out for their safety and security work. Demonstrating efficacy of
their encapsulin DARPin system for targeted breast cancer therapy was a huge
accomplishment. Even better, their modular design means that future iGEM teams
can engineer this system for new applications. I’m so proud of the 2019 UCL
iGEM team and I can’t wait to see what they do next!
