iGEM by Boas Pucker

This is a collection of papers generated as part of the synthetic biology competition iGEM (https://igem.org/Main_Page).

iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine Competition) is a competition for students from all over the world. It is the most internationally renowned competition in synthetic biology and unique in its form. Until 2013 the final was held at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge, USA. Due to the annually growing number of participants, it was moved to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston in 2014. In 2019, over 350 teams from numerous countries joined iGEM. In addition to the scientific work, the overall concept is also essential for successful participation. Therefore, the teams have to deal with the different aspects of their project. These include not only benefits for humanity but also compliance with biosecurity standards. Taking into account the responsibility of modern biology, dealing with bioethics is as much a part of the competition as communicating with the general public. In this way, the teams contribute to the public perception of synthetic biology and can also raise awareness for their respective projects.