North Carolina Mini Convention

In August we sent Emma and Adam to represent Duke iGEM at a mini convention held by Gaston Day High School. While at the convention we got to hear from several scientists about how they see synthetic biology developing in the upcoming years and how we can become better involved in the field. This list and more information about each of the speakers can be found below. After some additional team bonding and exchanging of ideas, we decided to collaborate with Gaston Day High School and East Chapel Hill High School on creating a subreddit for iGEM discussion of philosophy and ethics as well as creating a new curriculum for the Building with Bio Mosquito Forum.

The following speakers were in attendance:

Danielle Tullman-Ercek

Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University

Professor Tullman-Ercek discussed the way synthetic biology becomes part of a living system and redefines life. Also talked about the scope of synthetic biology, what it can achieve, and the applications and goals of the field.

Connor McFadden

UNC - Chapel Hill

McFadden discussed the formal definition of synthetic biology, and the subfields and components of contemporary synthetic biology.

Emma Miles

Duke Class 2018; Duke iGEM Team

Miles discussed the ethical implications of synthetic biology related to its applications (human advancement), distribution (biofuel production), and procedure (status of living machines). Also illustrated the importance of bridging the disconnect which makes it hard for the public to accept synthetic biology projects due to lack of communication and education from the scientists in charge of implementation.

So what did Adam and Emma think?!

	"It was great meeting and collaborating with high school teams that were already so serious about iGEM. By the time these guys get to college they are going to be so advanced in synthetic biology!"
"I really enjoyed bonding with the high school teams and working with students who share the same passion for synthetic biology and IGEM as our team members. It was also very fun to hear about other team's projects and discussing the ethical implications of our research."

Team:Duke/Collaborations/MiniConvention