iGEM 2009 this weekend was an incredible experience (I was a judge). Over 100 teams from all over the world competed to produce a new synthetic biology project, submit new genetic parts to the registry, and then present it through a wiki, poster, and presentation. All of the teams worked incredibly hard this summer, learning the practice and tools of synthetic biology, and having a lot of fun!
There will be a lot of other blog posts elsewhere on the details of the excellent projects of the winning teams so I wanted to highlight some of the teams that weren’t as successful but did an incredible job starting up not only an iGEM team but actually building a molecular biology lab from scratch at their schools.
The Gaston Day School, a high school in Gastonia, North Carolina became the first high school to independently participate in iGEM (Lincoln High School in San Francisco has been participating with the UCSF team for a few years with great success). The kids built their lab, working long hours all summer on building a biological detector of nitrate contamination in the environment, a serious problem in their community due to runoff from industrial agriculture. They’re hoping to keep at it and come back next year and I hope so too!
City College of San Francisco is the first Junior College team to participate in iGEM. They designed and set up a really interesting solar powered biological fuel cell with the goal of producing self-sustaining electricity. They didn’t have a dedicated lab space, pushing their fuel cell and donated thermocycler around to different rooms on carts, often doing PCR in closets and other less-than-ideal spaces, but despite that they learned a lot about synthetic and molecular biology, built a neat contraption that may some day produce sustainable electricity!
Another great team was ArtScience Bangalore, a group of art and design students from India who worked on a project to make E. coli smell like fresh rain. They started with no experience in science and ended up building their own gel boxes and microscopes, designing a synthetic biology pathway, doing molecular biology experiments, and submitting a new gene to the registry. I’m really excited by the collaborations between artists and scientists that have been going on in synthetic biology and bioengineering, and I hope that more artists will get involved in the future!
Congratulations to all the teams and everyone who participated in iGEM this year! You are all amazing! Keep at it and I hope that there will be more new and inspiring teams next year!
