IGEM at IU

Latest revision as of 05:14, 3 March 2009

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) is coming to Bloomington. It is a contest built on a set of standards that enable students to design novel organisms for engineering purposes with minimal capital and training.

The most fascinating projects I have found are:

• E. Coli that generates peppermint smell when it is growing and banana smell when it stops
• Another organism that emits a red dye if it is in arsenic laced water; providing a cheap arsenic test.
• Photosensitive E.Coli; literal biofilm. In the attached flier, you see a print of the classic "Hello World". There can be no more overt demonstration of the intent to turn biology into engineering/programming.

These are organisms engineered by students! The callout next Thursday is to recruit a team to participate in iGEM2009. Bioengineering experience is not required. It was started at MIT and in four years has grown from 5 to 84 participating schools from around the world.

Meetings Tuesdays at 5:30 COB (Classroom Office Building) 118

And for your browsing pleasure:

• iGEM 2008 is the most recent contest:
  • http://2008.igem.org
• The Registry of Standard Biological Parts, in which a 'part' is a gene that has been modified to suit the easy-to-work-with BioBrick standard:
  • http://partsregistry.org
• OpenWetWare provides tech support:
  • http://openwetware.org

Best, -seth