iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine and is an international competition in synthetic biology. During the competition, students create a team, plan and perform their laboratory project, and later present it. The project is mainly student-driven where the planning is done during the spring and the practical parts are done full time during the summer. During autumn the results are compiled, a website is created and the team presents their project at a conference in Boston where teams from all over the world are gathered. The team can consist of students from multiple programs and years. At Uppsala University students have the possibility to connect iGEM with a 15-credit course called “Projekt i laborativ syntetisk biologi”. This enables the students to receive financial compensation from CSN. iGEM has an association in Uppsala and on their website you can learn more about the competition and look at what previous teams have achieved! The website can be found here.
