Navigating iGEM
Learn about how to navigate through iGEM here!
- Read advice on Telling Your Story with some tips on your Team Wiki, Project Overview, Design, and Results, and Poster Presentation
- Have a question about anything related to iGEM? Then contact your HQ Representative today!
- Are you having some problems with cloning? Check out our new Troubleshooting page.
- Do you need more information about safety when it comes to iGEM? Take a look at our Safety Page for details.
- We also have created pages about how to Use the Registry and Submit a Part
Introduction
This page is focused on helping teams navigate through iGEM. The staff at iGEM Headquarters has created a series of pages this year with the idea of helping teams work through some of the more challenging aspects of the iGEM competition. These topics include: understanding and following the safety guidelines, troubleshooting and reporting cloning problems, working on telling your story in a clear and concise manner, and learning how to use the registry and submit new parts. We've also kicked off a new program called the HQ Representative Program to help encourage teams to have regular contact with the staff at iGEM HQ.
It is our hope that these pages will be helpful to all iGEM teams, whether this is your first time participating in iGEM or if you are returning as a seasoned veteran. If you have any suggestions for content or questions, please send an email to your team's HQ Rep or contact us at hq AT igem DOT org!
The iGEM Cycle
The iGEM competition cycle can be seen below. Not all teams follow this cycle (for example, you may start work earlier or later than this shows), but this is the general flow of the major tasks involved with participating in iGEM. This is based on the 2015 season, with the Jamboree taking place in September.
The "Off" Season
October through February
- Assess successes and failures, discuss interest in continuing next year, etc.
- Run informational sessions, post flyers, talk to Professors and fellow students
- This may be a challenge if you're a first-time team, but stay positive! Make sure to talk to numerous Professors in your Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Engineering departments and gauge interest early.
- Advertise that you're looking to find interested students with flyers and/or recruit students from courses
- Email and call local companies, talk to the head of your department or college, investigate other on-campus funding sources like undergraduate research opportunity programs (UROP)
- Decide the final team from the group of interested students
- Many teams will have multiple brainstorming sessions, with and without the team instructors
- This can be challenging, but well worth the effort in the end. A list of high level goals and a detailed list of tasks needed to reach those goals will help your team stay focused on the project
May, June, July, and August
- You should get trained in protocols and follow your school's safety regulations, and start working on your project
- This can be done throughout the cloning process once you have a functional device. Test your device and collect your data.
- Determine which software you need to use to process your data, determine the units you want to display, and make sure you include your controls during data analysis and show them on your graphs/plots
- You should be continually working on your Team Wiki throughout the project. Don't wait to the last minute!
August and September
- Similar to your Team Wiki, you should try to work on the presentation throughout the project. Final touches should be done in September.
- Once you have your final data plotted and ready to show, you should make your poster and practice presenting it.
- Come to Boston, meet other iGEM teams, celebrate your work, and have fun!!
Telling Your Story
We've created a new page this year to help teams tell their story to the general public and to the iGEM community. Telling Your Story offers tips and tricks for how to present your project through your Team Wiki. Topics include writing your Project Overview, explaining your Project Design, showing your Project Results, and creating a Medal Criteria checklist. There are also some general tips for presenting your poster, as well as a link to the Poster Guidelines page that all teams should read.