IGEM

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The International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition is an annual, worldwide competition that involves undergraduate and graduate students in synthetic biology. It differs radically from most high-level educational experiences in that the participants often begin with limited backgrounds in science (many are first- or second-year undergraduates).

Randy Rettberg, the director of the iGEM competition, likes to say that iGEM addresses this question: "Can simple biological systems be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells? Or is biology just too complicated to be engineered in this way?"

The only way to answer this is to actually try to engineer biological devices. The iGEM competition facilitates this by providing a library of standardized parts (called BioBrick standard biological parts) to students, and asking them to design and build genetic machines with them. Of course, students are welcome to make their own BioBrick standard biological parts as well. Successful projects produce cells that exhibit new and unusual properties by engineering sets of multiple genes together with mechanisms to regulate their expression.

Information about BioBrick standard biological parts, and a toolkit to make and manipulate them, is provided by the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, or simply, the Registry. This is a core resource for the iGEM program, and one that has been evolving rapidly to meet the needs of the program.

Beyond trying to answer the question above, broader goals of iGEM include:

  • To enable the systematic engineering of biology.
  • To promote the open and transparent development of tools for engineering biology.
  • And to help construct a society that can productively apply biological technology.

iGEM 2006 from above iGEM 2006 from above

iGEM has grown rapidly, from five teams in its first year (2004) to 34 teams and more than 400 students in 2006. Projects in 2006 included (1) using bacterial lawns to create images and dynamic patterns, (2) programming bacterial cells to create computational logic devices, (3) developing systems for controlled movements of bacterial populations, (4) creation of systems to detect important environmental chemicals (arsenic, hydrogen or metals), (5) programming differentiation of mouse stem cells, and (6) modification of human cell lines to resist sepsis, (7) reprogramming of bacterial odors to produce new scents such as banana and wintergreen. iGEM’s dual aspects of self-organization and imaginative manipulation of genetic material have demonstrated a new way to arouse student interest in modern biology and to develop their independent learning skills.

The 2007 iGEM Jamboree was held November 3–4, 2007. The 2008 competition started in May, 2008.

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