Team:Marburg SYNMIKRO/Happening

From 2012.igem.org

CAS Conference Synthetic Biology - Munich

From July, 23rd to 25th our team went to Munich, Germany, to visit the CAS ([http://www.en.cas.uni-muenchen.de/index.html Center for Advanced Studies]) Conference for Synthetic Biology. This was a great opportunity to listen to highly exciting. E.g. we learned from [http://keaslinglab.lbl.gov/ Jay Keasling] (UC Berkeley) about the latest developments on fuel making bacteria and from Brynne Stanton ([http://mit.edu/voigtlab/index.html Voigt Lab at UCSF]) about chemical wires and logical gates.

From our Marburg Center for Synthetic Microbiology ([http://www.synmikro.com SYNMIKRO]), Lotte Søgaard-Andersen presented her approaches to define modules for regulation of cell polarity. On the second day there was a meeting of all attendees of various iGEM teams. Here we had the first opportunity to exchange ideas with participants not only from Germany but also from London and Wageningen. The conference offered much time to communicate with other iGEM teams and to learn about their experiences and the progress of their projects.

Legoland for scientists - Göttingen

The iGEM team from the Georg-August-University of Göttingen organized an information day on September 7. During this event they presented their project to the public and discussed synthetic biology. For this meeting, our instructor Prof. Michael Bölker, was invited to give a talk on chances and possibilities of synthetic biology. Two other speakers, the journalist [http://www.jb-schnittstelle.de/wer/sascha_karberg/sascha_karberg-3.html Sascha Karberg] and [http://www.ethik.uzh.ch/ibme/team/affiliiert/annadeplazes_en.html Dr. Anna Deplazes Zemp] (Institute of Biomedical Ethics, ETH Zurich) completed the information day by a critical view and considerations of ethical problems connected with synthetic biology.

Afterwards a stage discussion with the invited speakers and a representative of the biotech seed company “KWS” was set up. Thanks to well-prepared questions the audience could enjoy a critical and informative exchange of arguments.

German iGEM teams information day

On August, 25 the German iGEM teams organized the Synthetic Biology Day. Our team participated and presented an information desk on the central Elisabeth-Blochmann-Platz in Marburg. Many people visited our desk where we explained the ideas of synthetic biology, talked about the iGEM competition and explained our project “The Recombinator”. To support our information we prepared a [http://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9c05tkZp0zmWkNjTWdwbmZEekE flyer] on our project and distributed booklets on about biotechnology and a flyer from the Marburg Center for Synthetic Microbiology ([http://www.synmikro.com/en/ SYNMIKRO]). We also offered a quiz with basic questions on synthetic biology.

"Biotechnology 2020+" in Berlin

In 2010 the German Ministry of Education and Research ([http://www.bmbf.de/en/index.php BMBF]) has started a strategy process “Biotechnology 2020+”. This initiative promotes the collaboration of natural scientists with engineers in research and development of innovative products and technological processes. The 3rd Annual Congress of “Biotechnology 2020+” was held in Berlin on June 28, 2012. About 200 experts from science, politics and industry as well as representatives from 11 German iGEM teams were invited to this meeting. The program for the day included speeches, panel discussions and workshops. Two exhibition areas, one presenting the current projects of German biotech research companies, and the second one showing the iGEM-posters, offered an ideal opportunity for the exchange of innovative ideas. The iGEM - participants met for the first time to discuss their projects and their implementation. In a closed session it was discussed how the iGEM competition could contribute to the social acceptance of Synthetic Biology. It was decided to organise a Germany-wide iGEM information day (Synthetic Biology Day) to bring citizens and students closer to the issues of Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology and the iGEM competition. To facilitate communication the [http://www.facebook.com/groups/igem.germany/ iGEM Germany group] on facebook was founded. This group serves the iGEM participants as a platform for exchange of the information and ideas. [http://www.biotechnologie2020plus.de/BIO2020/Navigation/DE/Vision/strategieprozess,did=152728.html Biotechnology 2020+]

ACHEMA, Frankfurt/Main

The iGEM Team Marburg_SYNMIKRO was invited to present his project at at the [http://www.achema.de/index.php?selectedArea=1&selectedItem=1&spkz=E ACHEMA], the world biggest exhibition on chemical engineering, environmental protection and biotechnology to be held from June 18 to June 22 in Frankfurt, Germany. Besides industrial aspects in chemical engineering such as analytical laboratory techniques, instrumentation, control and automation techniques, also research & innovation in pharmaceutical and chemical industry is presented at ACHEMA. In particular, the emerging fields of biotechnology and environmental protection have been central topics during this international exhibition.This year, the iGEM team Marburg_SYNMIKRO was represented on all days of the exhibition by two members. We presented a poster to present our project and talked to interested visitors, investors and other exhibitioners about the iGEM competition and the theoretical background of synthetic biology. Alongside our team, group members from the Frankfurt and TU_Darmstadt teams were presenting their projects. This gave us the opportunity to get in touch and to share information about work progress, motivation as well as experiences with these fellow iGEM teams.