Four of EUSynBioS Steering Committee members - Louis, Içvara, Joana and Stephen - joined the iGEM 2023 Grand Jamboree in Paris last November and participated in different activities with different roles. iGEM, International Genetically Engineered Machinery, is a synthetic biology competition where students from all over the world take part by bringing innovative and out of the box ideas to solve real life challenges. With topics ranging from climate crisis to diagnostics and food nutrition. This year was even more special, as iGEM turned 20…let’s see how our members were involved in the event! 

Representing EUSynBioS

Presentation

We were invited by the iGEM community to join the Synthetic Biology Society showcase. During this event, our previous president Louis Marlow joined SynBio groups from around the world to platform the amazing work ongoing at EUSynBioS and to learn about the exciting developments ongoing in other global communities. While presenting EUSynBioS, Louis announced our plan to launch SynBioBrewery, an ideas hackathon for teams across Europe to work together to find synbio enabled solutions to some of the pressing global challenges. Louis was also excited to discuss our participation in the 7th Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe (ASBE) conference being hosted in the city of Brno in 2024 which coincides with EUSynBioS’s 10 year anniversary!

We were really proud to join global SynBio society representatives Aditi Mankad (Synthetic Biology Australasia), Enrique Asin-Garcia (SynBioNL), Sakti Subramanian (Great Lakes SynBio), Gracie To (CCiC), Gustavo Nascimento de Araujo (SynBioBR), Carina Küstner (German Association for Synthetic Biology), Fran Antequera (ATG Synbio Spain), Muhammad Farhan Maulana (SynBio Indonesia) & Daniel Dominguez Gomez (ALLBIOTECH). We were inspired by the range of support SynBio has from organised communities all over the world. A huge thanks particularly to the absolutely amazing iGEM Community and Startups leads Cibele Zolnier Sousa do Nascimento and Marcel Wittmund as well as everyone at iGEM for the kind invitation to participate and for their hard work organising such an incredible event this year.

Interview 

Furthermore, EUSynBioS together with SynBioNL and GASB were interviewed by Martha Carolina Elizondo Cantú for the iGEM TV program. Içvara joined the interview and had a lovely exchange with the other associations about our motivation to connect SynBio in our countries and across Europe. We explained our past and future projects to achieve this goal. Then, we shared the different personal reasons we engaged in these communities, such as keeping and expanding the iGEM family in our countries or the feeling of a lack of connection and support for synbio in our own institutions or countries. To conclude the interview, we strongly encouraged the people wishing to build such communities in their country to do it. Do not be shy and hesitant to connect with others, we are happy to help you and to welcome you to our different associations! 

Judging Experience

Joana and Içvara had the opportunity to be Judges for the first time and what an amazing journey it was. It was a privilege to evaluate such amazing teams and projects. We not only guided the next SynBio generation but also learned from them! The competition challenges the students to develop projects with real-world applications, always keeping sustainability and social responsibility in mind. After witnessing the team’s talent, dedication, and energy, and seeing the enthusiasm in their eyes as they envisioned a better future, we left with the feeling that we are in good hands. Additionally, we had the pleasure of meeting and sharing knowledge with many other Judges who work in SynBio all over the globe, from scientists to entrepreneurs. 

Overall, seeing all the young students but also PIs and researcher gathering together to showcase their work as well as to share their experiences, made us proud to be part of this community. It has been inspiring to see how SynBio is advancing and its growing potential to contribute to science and society.