Timeline
International Genetically Engineered Machine (Old Website)
WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Jan 31, 2022):
This is our old website. As iGEM enters its 20th year, we are transitioning from our old Mediawiki infrastructure to new modern software. We expect to complete the migration to our new websites in March 2022:
iGEM (igem.org) ; Competition (competition.igem.org) ; Projects (projects.igem.org) ; Community (community.igem.org) ; Technology (technology.igem.org) ; Responsibility (responsibility.igem.org) ; Startups (startups.igem.org) ; Leagues (leagues.igem.org) ; Jamboree (jamboree.igem.org)
Students designed biological systems to make cells blink.
Austin Che’s - Registry goes live
The iGEM Summer competition is introduced!
Originally called SBC - Synthetic Biology Competition
Human Practices begins at iGEM
Becomes a true international competition
with Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and Toronto participating
13
Teams
125
Parts Submitted
4
Country
iGEM HQ hires its first employee
Wikis are introduced
32
Teams
724
Parts Submitted
14
Countries
First robot to do automated assembly at HQ
First Jamboree that needed parallel sessions
The Registry implements quality control program
First iGEM Team Video
Medals are introduced to the competition
Safety considerations are formalized in the team projects
88
Teams
1387
Parts Submitted
23
Countries
Environment
Food & Energy
Foundational Advance
Health & Medicine
Manufacturing
New Application
Software Tools
Tracks are officially introduced to help give teams a focus for their project
Cambridge team develops E.chromi
One new Track is introduced:
Information Processing
Introduced pSB1C3
as the shipping backbone for all Part submissions
26
Countries
High School Division is introduced!
Exceeded the capacity of MIT
Regional Jamborees are introduced!
Teams compete in their Region before a selection of those teams advance to the World Championship!
World Championship held at MIT
The iGEM Foundation
iGEM graduates from MIT and becomes an independent nonprofit organization
165
Teams
1355
Parts Submitted
24
Countries
190
Teams
1708
Parts Submitted
34
Countries
Team Colombia hosts a forum between the Colombian government and local scientists
Team Groningen develops a spoiling-meat biosensor
The iGEM Foundation leaves MIT
and finds a new home at One Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA
5 Regional Jamborees
Team Tokyo Tech develops a Romeo and Juliet to represent cell to cell comunication
Competition sections are introduced - Overgrad and Undergrad
Team Imperial College develops Plasticity engineered bacteria to turn non-recyclable waste into bioplastic
The first Giant Jamboree
is held in Boston, eliminating the Regional Jamborees.
All participants are once again invited to participate in one grand event!
Five new tracks are introduced:
Art & Design
Community Labs
Measurement
Microfluidics
Policy & Practices
Team Heidelberg introduced The Ring of Fire, a method of heat stabilization of proteins by circularization
Chairman's Award is introduced Team Sumbawagen becomes the first winner
Team NCTU Formosa worked on Operation Debug, to attract and trap harmful insects using their own pheromones
245
Teams
1981
Parts Submitted
34
Countries
Food & Energy is broken into two separate Tracks:
Team UC Davis created an Enzyme Based Electrochemical Biosensor Developed for Olive Oil Quality Control
With 2300 participants, the 2014 Giant Jamboree was the largest gathering of synthetic biologists to date
The High School Division
is combined with the main collegiate division and all high school teams participate at the Giant Jamboree
Special Gallery Exhibition Space is given to teams to showcase their Hardware, Art & Design and Software projects
The iGEM Diversity committee is formed
Team TAS Taipei developed To Granzyme B or Not to Granzyme B: Protecting Extracellular Matrix Proteins
First Career fair connects iGEMers with potential employers
Team BGU Israel worked on The Boomerang system – engineering logic gate genetic device for detection and treatment of cancer
280
Teams
2500
Parts Submitted
38
Countries
Microfluidics track is replaced by the new Hardware track
Team William and Mary developed the Measurement of Promoter-Based Transcriptional Noise for Application in Gene Network Design
Over 2,700 attendees joined us the Giant Jamboree
300
Teams
2449
Parts Submitted
42
Countries
Community Labs Track becomes a team type
Two new special prizes are introduced:
Best Hardware and Best Advancement in Plant Synthetic Biology
Team LMU TUM Munich created biotINK, a project that focused on using 3D printing to make tissues
The Health & Medicine Track is split into two new tracks, Therapeutics and Diagnostics
HQ Representative Program is introduced as a way to better connect teams with staff members of iGEM HQ!
Team Imperial introduced E.colibrium, a framework for engineering synthetic biology co-cultures
Team HSiTaiwan worked on Herb Tasters, a biosensor used to dectect toxins in Chinese herbs and medicines
After iGEM program launches to support our international network of 30,000+ academics and industry professionals beyond the competition!
310
Teams
2618
Parts Submitted
44
Countries
Foundational Advance is the noteworthy track of the year, selected by all three finalist undergraduate teams
218 teams from 35 countries participated in the fourth international InterLaboratory Measurement Study!
AshesiGhana and Georgia State both win the Chairman's Award
Team TAS Taipei focused on nanoparticle removal from wastewater systems with their NANOTRAP project
Team TUDelft developed a device enabling farmers to test a cow on-site for infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Team Vilnius-Lithuania created SynORI, a framework which allows scientists to build a multi-plasmid system in a standardized manner
The First After iGEM Summit was held after the Giant Jamboree, gathering iGEMers in career development workshops and talks
Team Valencia UPV created Printeria an intuitive, affordable bioengineering device that opens the field of synthetic biology to artists, educators and others.
2018 Team Technical Highlights
340
Teams
3000
Parts Submitted
40
Countries
Team GreatBay engineering mCATNIP, the active ingredient in Catnip, useful for compassionate control of stray and feral cat populations
OLS Canmore Canada won the Chairman’s Award by working on the question of disabilities and making the lab space more inclusive
Team Marburg developed a toolbox to engineer Vibrio natriegens, the world’s fastest growing bacterium
The first edition of the iGEM Digest is published; collecting stories from iGEMers all around the world
Type IIS
iGEM officially supports Type IIS compatible parts
352
Teams
--
Parts Submitted
45
Countries
Teams no longer submit samples to the Registry, thanks to DNA synthesis by iGEM partners
Team EPFL develop ViTest, enabling farmers to detect plant diseases causing environmental and economic damage across Europe
Team UCopenhagen win iGEMers Prize for Ovulaid, a hormone-sensing chewing gum empowering women to detect their fertile window
Team GreatBay SZ create SPIDERMAN (SPIDroin EngineeRing with chroMoprotein And Natural dye) for biosynthesis of colored spider silk
The iGEM from above photo becomes a video!
2019 Technical Overview
Team NCKU Tainan engineer CreSense and CreSolve to measure and reduce p-Cresol in patients with chronic kidney disease
