iGEM

Please note that this course runs into quarter 1 of the next academic year! (The study guide is not able to display this accurately.)

iGEM, the international genetically engineered machines competition was started in 2003 at MIT, Boston. The objective of the competition is to design and build an engineered biological system using DNA technologies over the course of the summer. The engineered systems (mostly E.coli) will be constructed from standard biological parts (plasmids), called BioBricks in the iGEM community.

The team chooses their own project: It can be a very fundamental project, such as biological information processing, or a more applied project, with uses for medical, environmental or manufacturing purposes. Past projects can be found here: https://competition.igem.org/previous-years

During the course of the summer you will design your experiments, construct parts (plasmids) and validate the constructs using (new) characterization assays. Besides the molecular work an important aspect of iGEM is modeling. Comparable to engineering approaches, the parts' function and/or final outcome are modeled to predict their behavior and foster the understanding of relevant characteristics. Thereby the modeling part is used to gain insight into the project, whether at a basic or applied stage.

Alongside the scientific work, you will be cooperating with scientific and non-scientific communities to promote and communicate your project. The project will be publicized through public relations efforts, social media, and the team’s own wiki page. Funding for the team will be raised by the students from university groups and local industries. The project will also have a policy and practice component, in which the social, legal, and ethical issues of the project are considered, through considerations of the possible risks of the project, interviews with relevant end-users and affected community members, and designing of appropriate safety and deployment mechanisms.

The team will be advised by several experienced faculty members, technicians, and graduate students. A diverse group of students is optimal, with backgrounds ranging from biology and bioinformatics to chemistry, physics, and engineering disciplines. You will have the opportunity to travel to Paris to attend the Grand Jamboree and interact with >250 universities from all around the world.

Performance is monitored throughout the course of the project. There will be a mid-term evaluation and a final evaluation.

Mid-term evaluation:

Go/No-Go

Criteria Go:

Has contributed to the development of the project

Works in line with the Academy's Code of Conduct for Social Safety (found here: https://storage.knaw.nl/2024-03/Code%20of%20Conduct%20for%20Social%20Safety.pdf)

Final evaluation:

The final grade will be composed of 1/3 evaluation by team members, 1/3 evaluation by responsible instructor 1 and 1/3 evaluation by instructor 2. All three evaluations will be conducted independently.

The grading matrix used is adapted from the TNW Master Thesis (MEP) grading scheme, with an emphasis on teamwork. The matrix will be available to students at the beginning of the course.

The following aspects will be assessed:

- Scientific knowledge and understanding

- Team and practical skills

- Competences

- Quality of the output (same grade for the whole team)