iGEM Competition June Newsletter
Look below for more in competition news, highlights, and announcements:
- Giant Jamboree Registration Now Open
- Three deadlines coming up: June 29
- How to Connect with the iGEM Community
- Apply for the 2018 Mentorship Program (Apply by June 24)
- New partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks
- Upcoming dates to consider
Message from iGEM Headquarters
With teams starting work all over the world, June is the month of making connections! Meetups are being planned, collaborations are forming, and teams are sharing their excitement on social media. Connecting with other iGEMers around the world is an important part of the iGEM experience - take advantage of all that your peers have to offer.
We also launched the HQ Rep Program this month; you may have received an email from a contact at HQ recently. This program is for us at headquarters (the iGEM experts!) to help teams navigate the complexities of the competition and maximize your success. If your team needs more personalized support, consider joining the recently launched 2018 Mentorship Program, an initiative from After iGEM (Applications are due June 24!).
In this newsletter we have some exciting news to share about the Giant Jamboree, our new partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks, and information about the key deadlines coming up at the end of this month! Read on to learn more.
Check out our News Archive to see what else has been happening this month.
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Community/News_Archive
Giant Jamboree Registration Now Open
Register to attend the Giant Jamboree! Taking care of registration early means avoiding late fees and other headaches. It is also a good chance to start planning your trip to Boston.
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Giant_Jamboree/Register
Don't forget...
If you're traveling internationally for the Giant Jamboree, apply for your visa as early as possible! Information about travel visas and instructions on accessing the iGEM visa application letter system are available on the Visa Help page.
June 29 - A day of Deadlines!
Safety Form (Preliminary): The purpose of this form is for everyone, including the iGEM safety committee, to know you are doing your project safely and securely. An initial version of this form, with as much information as possible, is to be provided by the team by June 29. Any team member may fill this in and save the form for submission. The form does not need to be signed off by the PI until September 7.
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Safety/Final_Safety_Form
InterLab Sign-up: The InterLab study is an optional activity that can count towards your bronze medal criteria this year. To participate, you MUST sign up by June 29. Data is due on July 27, and late submissions will not be considered.
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Measurement/InterLab
Project Descriptions: Your wiki is your team's way of communicating your activities with the outside world. The project description is used to provide some background on what your team has been working on so far and what you hope to accomplish. The description should be posted on your Team Wiki home page by June 29 (example URL: http://2018.igem.org/Team:TeamName).
This description will not be used to judge your project, but sharing your project on your wiki gives you the opportunity to find other teams with similar projects for collaborations or troubleshooting; iGEM is more fun when teams work together!
Connect with the iGEM Community
Collaborating with fellow iGEM teams is part of the iGEM experience - and part of the Silver medal criteria. There are few different ways that you can connect with other teams to set up collaborations.
Team Map: Look here to find which teams are near you that you can contact for potential collaborations.
Meetups: We already have 12 meetups on the calendar before the Giant Jamboree... and the list is still growing! You can check out if there are any meetups organized near you to attend, or post about your own meetups.
Collaborations Bulletin: Look for collaborations being offered by other teams, or advertise a collaboration of your own.
Social Media: Connect on Social Media! Join us on Facebook, Instagram (@iGEM_HQ), and Twitter (@iGEM)! (Be sure to tag your photos with #iGEM2018; we'll be collecting them to show off at the Giant Jamboree.)
Apply for the After iGEM Mentorship Program
The After iGEM Mentorship Program provides a means for teams to learn how the iGEM competition works and for iGEM alumni to give back to the community. iGEM is all about working together to make biology fun and easy to engineer. We hope that the Mentorship Program will bring teams and alumni together so everyone can meet their goals for iGEM 2018. Apply by June 24.
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Community/Mentorship
Sponsor News
We are excited to welcome Ginkgo Bioworks as platinum sponsors to iGEM this year! Ginkgo’s five co-founders have a long history with iGEM. After participating in iGEM’s early days, Ginkgo was founded in 2008. Ten years later, they are excited to give back to their roots and seed the next generation of leadership in synthetic biology.
Together, Ginkgo and iGEM can’t wait to see what you will do next - both this year and After iGEM.
View the press release.
Don't forget...
- IDT is giving FREE 20kb of custom DNA through synthesis OR Alt-R® CRISPR Genome Editing products to ALL teams
- GenScript is offering 20% off synthesis and cloning services to all teams
- Promega is supporting all teams with free technical support all year
- Mathworks is giving complimentary MATLAB software (includes 13 products) and technical support to all teams
- Opentrons is offering $2000 off a team's first OT-2 Robot (equivalent to 50% off)
Upcoming Dates
- June 24: Mentorship Program Sign-up Deadline. More...
- June 29: InterLab Sign-up Deadline (optional activity). More...
- June 29: Project Descriptions Due. More...
- June 29: Safety Form Part 1 Due. More...
- June 30: Next round of judging applications evaluations. More...
- July 27: Interlab Data Due (optional activity). More...
Direct Link: http://2018.igem.org/Calendar
Best wishes,
The iGEM Headquarters Team
