In collaboration with the Queen's, Cornell, and Costa Rica iGEM teams, we created an illustrated book showcasing different iGEM teams' favourite bacteria. This idea came from the fact that most iGEM teams work extensively with a certain type of bacteria throughout their project and would, therefore, be nice to observe the different microorganisms used across teams.
Information about the different bacteria were collected through a survey. It contained questions such as:
These questions helped us create a profile for each bacterium. Our role in this collaboration was to design highly stylized illustrations of bacteria based on their properties to engage with the audience in a fun and accessible way.
Not only does our lookbook educate readers about different types of bacteria and their unique properties, but it also showcases iGEM on an international stage.
In collaboration with Concordia and Cornell iGEM teams, we organized a conference to bring more members of the iGEM community together.
Set on August 20 to 21st, the in-person/online conference aimed to help teams all over the world to prepare for the Grand Jamboree. During the event, judges listened to our presentations and gave us feedback on the biological, computational, and social aspects of our projects.
An in-person event open to teams in Eastern Canada/US was hosted at Concordia University in Montréal, Québec, Canada, while a parallel online event was hosted by Cornell iGEM where international teams were free to attend.
We kicked off the conference with talks by synthetic biologists in industry who spoke on the potential of bioengineering and its applications.
Then, the participating teams presented their projects in front of our judging panel, followed by mixer sessions teams could meet one-on-one for feedback. The day ended with a competitive game of trivia between the teams!
The second day had the goal of helping teams socialize with each other, as well as spark casual synthetic biology conversation.
The in-person/online hybrid model gave teams an opportunity to get acquainted and prepare for the Grand Jamboree in October. In addition, it allowed teams to meet in person for the first time since the pandemic, and also allowed members who could not afford to go to Paris to attend an iGEM event near their home.