Blogpost: iGEM - thinking big, creativity, community-building and great science!
One of the events that mark the synthetic biology calendar every year is the iGEM Giant Jamboree. iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. Since 2004, this event calls for the participation of students in the field of synthetic biology. The aim of the competition is to educate, share and present ambitious scientific projects through teamwork and collaboration.
by Konstantinos Vavitsas.
One of the events that mark the synthetic biology calendar every year is the iGEM Giant Jamboree. iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. Since 2004, this event calls for the participation of students in the field of synthetic biology. The aim of the competition is to educate, share and present ambitious scientific projects through teamwork and collaboration.
I have always believed in the importance of creating a synthetic biology community, introduce new generations of scientists to this discipline, and teach them how to work on all aspects of a project—from conception and design to outreach and societal impact. This is the reason why I have always also considered the notion of a student competition, as the iGEM, a tremendous idea. However, my support till now had been somewhat theoretical, as I had never actively participated to one of these events. This changed this year when I accompanied the University of Copenhagen team ‘CosmoCrops’ to this year’s Giant Jamboree as an instructor.