On August 4-5th, we collaborated with the Gaston Day School team to host the Southeastern iGEM Mini Convention for iGEM teams geographically close to us. Although there were not as many teams present as we would have hoped for (just Gaston and Duke), this event gave each of us the opportunity to get closer with all teams and focus our time and energy into giving thorough and in-depth feedback and analysis on each other’s projects. We were in charge of contacting guest speakers in the Biological Engineering field who would be willing to give a lecture on the emerging and flourishing field of synthetic biology, including its ethical implications. After sending out over a 100 emails, we finally got positive responses, thus finalizing the schedule for the first day of the convention.
-Danielle Tullman Ercek, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University: 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: Discussed the formal definition of synthetic biology, and the subfields and components of contemporary synthetic biology.
-Emma Miles, Duke iGEM : 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.
All three teams brainstormed collaboration ideas such as the “Building with Bio Revamp”.
There were also many fun and lighthearted activities for all of us to partake in. For example, the Duke iGEM team conducted an interview asking us questions like “Why do you love science?”, “What is your favorite piece of lab equipment and why?”, “If you could say something to any microorganism what would it be?”, etc. We socialized over a dinner consisting of pasta and salad from Olive Garden, ice cream, and a movie to kick off the night.
