Team banners - due September 1

Be sure to send us your team banner designs by tomorrow September 1! This is an optional opportunity for teams to showcase their project in a creative way. iGEM HQ will print the banners and they will be displayed throughout the Hynes Convention Center. At the end of the Giant Jamboree, you will be able to take yours home!

For information and specifications, please see the team banners page.

Apply to present at the Human Practices Showcase -- Deadline Sept 7

On Saturday afternoon at the Jamboree, the Human Practices committee will be holding a special session dedicated to hearing your feedback about the Human Practices aspects of the iGEM competition. We are excited to hear your views! iGEM teams and advisors will be invited to give 5-minute talks. More information and application instructions. Apply by Sept 7!

New Blog Post: Gender Diversity in iGEM

Check out Traci's blog post, "Gender Diversity in iGEM", on the iGEM blog! It goes over the 2013 Paris Bettencourt study on gender balance, and gives you a sneak peek inside two great Giant Jamboree workshops: a Women in Science panel event, and a Gender Diversity Brainstorming Room!

Practice Session Sign-up Now Open

The Practice Session schedule is now available for Thursday, September 24th. Sign up is on a first come, first served basis, so make sure to sign up your team soon!

Final Safety Forms due Aug 28

Be sure to mark your calendars for August 28! Your team's final safety form is how you tell us all about your project, the organisms/parts you are using, the potential risks of your project, and what you are doing to reduce those risks. Students are encouraged to complete the form, but you will need an instructor to sign and submit the form.

Complete your team's form here, and feel free to email safety(at)igem(dot)org if something is unclear!

New Blog Post: Preparing for the Giant Jamboree

The Giant Jamboree is coming up quickly! How should you be preparing? How will teams be evaluated? Check out Kim's blog post for advice and tips on what teams can do to prepare!

You can also check out the Telling Your Story page for more advice on how to share your project and improve project clarity!

New Blog Post: All about iGEM Safety

Our safety program is a critical part of iGEM. How do we do things, and why? Check out Kelly's new blog post on the topic, and remember to subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't miss any blog posts from iGEM HQ!

Press Release Announcing the Giant Jamboree

See the latest iGEM press release, Synthetic Biology Students Compete in iGEM 2015 Giant Jamboree.

Track selection, and project title and abstract

Teams can now submit their track selections, and project title and abstract through their team profile page. Any approved team member will be able to submit or edit this information. Be sure to submit these materials by Friday August 7 to ensure they appear correctly in the Giant Jamboree program booklet!

For the complete list of upcoming deadlines, see the Calendar of Events.

Regular registration has ended

Regular registration for the Giant Jamboree is now closed. Late registration is open until September 11. Have questions? Email us at: registration (at) igem (dot) org.

Jamboree team registration ends July 31

Regular registration for the Giant Jamboree ends this Friday July 31 at 11:59PM Boston time! Teams will need to register and submit payment before this deadline in order to reserve a presentation slot and poster location for their team, so be sure to register today if you have not already.

Please also take into account that payment methods of check or wire transfer will take longer to process. Have questions? Email us at: registration (at) igem (dot) org!

Team banners

Showcase your project and design skills by designing a banner for your team! We will be printing team banners and displaying them at the Giant Jamboree for all attendees to see. Send your banner design to banners (at) igem.org by September 1, and see the team banner page for design specifications.

After the Giant Jamboree, each team will be able to take home their banner as a souvenir!

Partner Special Offers

Partner Special Offers are designed specifically for iGEM 2015 teams and are available to all registered teams, so be sure to take advantage of them! The following iGEM Partners are providing special offers to teams:

• Agilent
• IDT
• Mathworks
• Synenergene

iGEM By The Numbers

For an at-a-glance overview of iGEM 2015 activity, check out the new iGEM By The Numbers page! It contains statistics on team activities, such as safety forms, Giant Jamboree registration, submissions, and more!

Project descriptions

Be sure to post your team project descriptions to your team wikis by the end of today, July 15! The project description is a preliminary description of the team's project for iGEM 2015 that should be placed on the front page of the team wiki or on another page of the team wiki that is easily reached. The description does not need to be sent to iGEM Headquarters. For more information, see the project descriptions page.

For additional deadlines, see the complete Calendar of Events.

The iGEM Blog!

We're reviving the iGEM Blog! We'll be posting more detailed updates and discussions about what's happening at iGEM Headquarters. Read, comment, and subscribe to participate in the conversation!

Project Keywords

We're looking at new ways to capture information on team projects so that the iGEM community can easily see what teams have worked on. We will be collecting project keywords from teams. Since this is a new experiment for iGEM, we're keeping it informal. Submitting keywords is not a requirement, but the submission deadline is September 18.

For additional information on how to submit your keywords, see the Keywords page.

Jamboree sponsors

DEADLINE: In order to be PUBLISHED in the Giant Jamboree Program Book, your sponsorship must be processed by August 7. Please contact us before then if you are interested in sponsoring the Giant Jamboree. You may sponsor at any time up to the Jamboree but after August 7, your sponsorship will not be featured in the Giant Jamboree Program Book.

For additional information on Jamboree sponsorship, see the complete Sponsorship page.

Project descriptions

Be sure to submit your team project descriptions by July 15! The project description is a preliminary description of the team's project for iGEM 2015 that should be placed on the front page of the team wiki or on another page of the team wiki that is easily reached. The description does not need to be send to iGEM Headquarters. For more information, see the project descriptions page.

For additional deadlines, see the complete Calendar of Events.

Judging Handbook online

The 2015 Judging Handbook is now available online, and includes information about medals, special prizes, new tracks, and more.

Tomorrow: Safety Office Hours on Skype!

Join us for Safety Office Hours on Skype, at 12:00 noon and 9:00pm EDT! Ask questions, discuss safe and responsible engineering, chat with other iGEMers from around the world! Instructions here.

Remember, the "About Our Lab" and "About Our Project" questionnaires are due on Friday June 26. Now is a good time to get help on these questionnaires!

InterLab: Late Registration Open Until June 30th

We have extended the sign-up deadline for the 2015 InterLab Study to June 30th. We currently have 72 teams signed up, which is absolutely amazing!
If you are excited about measurement, can measure GFP (or something similar), then please sign up!
Send us an email at measurement AT igem DOT org by June 30th (11:59pm EDT)!

Safety Questionnaires due June 26

The "About Our Lab" and "About Our Project" questionnaires are due on Friday June 26! The "About Our Lab" form is for you to tell us about your laboratory space and safety equipment, and the "About Our Project" form is for you to tell us about your primary project idea, what organisms and parts you will use, and what your project will do.

To complete your questionnaires, please see the Safety Hub. Questions? Email safety (at) igem (dot) org!

Other teams' content showing up in your wiki?

There is a problem with some team wikis, where content from the wrong team appeared by accident.

Please do not edit other teams' wiki pages! Instead, just remove their content from your wiki page, and add your own.

If you want to get a "clean copy" of the blank wiki, you may copy from the Example2 wiki. Remember to change "Example2" to your own team name whenever it appears!

AlumniGEM Mentorship Program

Do you want to mentor a team this year? Are you in a high school or collegiate team and interested in mentorship? AlumniGEM is running a mentorship program to match iGEM alum and current high school/collegiate teams together. Check out the Mentorship page and apply today! The application deadline is June 19th and we will announce the teams and mentors soon after.

InterLab Measurement Study

So far, we have 11 teams signed up for the 2015 InterLab study! Many thanks to the following teams for being excited about measurement!

Teams so far: Carnegie Mellon, Czech Republic, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, OUC China, SYSU Software, TecCEM, TecCEM HS, TU Delft, UCLA, and Waterloo!

Are you excited about measurement in synthetic biology? Can you measure GFP or another fluorescent protein in your lab? Then join us! Sign-up for the InterLab study by June 19th by emailing us at measurement AT igem DOT org.

Visa Application Day

If you haven't already, be sure to apply for your travel visa today! Visa applications can and do often take longer than expected to process. You can get a customized invitation letter to use when applying for your travel visa through the online visa invitation letter system. Instructions are available on the Visa help page.

Giant Jamboree attendees should apply for B-1 travel visas, which allows the visa holder to present at conferences.

Giant Jamboree registration

Registration for the Giant Jamboree is now open! The attendance fee for each iGEM team member will be $695 (reduced from last year!) during regular registration, which is open until July 31 at 11:59PM EDT.

See the Attendance fee page for the registration link and additional details.

Contribute your Human Practices story!

Did you participate in iGEM in the past? Do you have a great story about your Human Practices and how it enriched your project? We are collecting stories for the Practices Hub! Email hq (at) igem (dot) org to add yours!

Be sure to register for the MATLAB webinar - May 27

The MATLAB webinar on May 27 will provide iGEM teams with an introduction to modeling, simulation, and analysis with MATLAB and SimBiology, with examples from synthetic biology literature. The webinar will be from 9:00AM to 10:00AM EST.

To register for the webinar, or request the MathWorks complimentary software kit for your team, see the MathWorks sponsor page!

Safety Office Hours tomorrow

Join us for the first set of Safety Office Hours on Skype, at 12:00 noon and 9:00pm EDT! Ask questions, discuss safe and responsible engineering, chat with other iGEMers from around the world! Instructions here.

280 Teams!

280 teams have officially registered for iGEM 2015!
You can see the complete list here and the world map here.

Announcing iGEM's new Cloning Troubleshooting Hub!

Our new iGEM Science and Technology Fellow, Traci, has created a Cloning Help page! This is a new page for the 2015 season and we hope you take advantage of it.

Do you have a cloning related question you want to ask iGEM HQ? Are you struggling with a technique used in your cloning process? Are you looking for some general tips and tricks for various wet lab techniques? Then come on over to the new Cloning Help page, check out our Transformation tips and Restriction Digest and Ligation tips, and submit your questions throughout the competition!

Be sure to register for the MATLAB webinar - May 27

The MATLAB webinar on May 27 will provide iGEM teams with an introduction to modeling, simulation, and analysis with MATLAB and SimBiology, with examples from synthetic biology literature. The webinar will be from 9:00AM to 10:00AM EST.

To register for the webinar, or request the MathWorks complimentary software kit for your team, see the MathWorks sponsor page!

Judging Application Deadline: June 1st

Do you want to judge at the iGEM Giant Jamboree? Apply now! The deadline is June 1st. Please complete our Judging application form to be in our database.

The first group of judges will be announced on July 1st. A second round will be announced at a later date based on the number of teams attending the Jamboree.

InterLab Study Deadlines are Posted

The 2015 InterLab deadlines have been updated! Please see the InterLab page for more information. All iGEM teams are welcome to participate!

Teams need to sign up for the InterLab by June 19, 2015 by emailing measurement AT igem DOT org and data for the InterLab is due on August 28, 2015. The Calendar of Events also has these dates posted.

Safety forms are open!

The 2015 safety forms have been published! Please see the Safety page for information, deadlines, and resources.

The "About Our Lab" and "About Our Project" questionnaires are due on Friday, June 26.

Synenergene call for proposals

Get funding for your Human Practices work! Work with institutional partners from Europe and around the world, to promote responsible research and innovation! The proposal due date is May 15. This opportunity is open to all iGEM teams.

For application information and additional details, see the Calls for proposal page.

Don't forget to Register - Webinar this Wednesday, April 29th!

Register here and join us this Wednesday, April 29th for a "iGEM Success Using High Quality Gene Fragments" webinar at either 9:00am CDT or 1:00pm CDT where we will present examples of past iGEM projects to illustrate how gBlocks Gene Fragments can help your team.

Late registration deadline

There's only one more week to register for iGEM 2015! Be sure to complete all the registration requirements by next Friday May 1.

Visa invitation letters

The visa invitation letter system is online! If you will be applying for a travel visa in order to attend the Giant Jamboree in the fall, you can use this online system to generate a visa invitation letter for your application. See the Visa help page for instructions on how to obtain your invitation letter. Be sure to apply as soon as possible, since the visa application process can often take longer than expected.

Giant Jamboree attendees should apply for a B-1 travel visa, which allows the visa holder to attend and present at conferences.

Standard Wiki Pages

We're introducing a big change to how team wikis will be evaluated this year. We have created standard pages with static links for all awards and for most medal criteria. If your team wants to be evaluated for an award, you will need to document your achievements related to this award on a standard page. For more information and all the template page links, see here: Standard Pages.

2015 DNA Distribution Kits

The 2015 DNA Distribution Kits have shipped! All registered and accepted iGEM teams will receive a kit. Don’t know if your team has been accepted? Look for your team name in blue on the Team List. Not accepted? Something may be missing from your application.

Platinum Partner Sponsor Google

Google is proud to sponsor iGEM as they work to advance the field of synthetic biology and create more opportunities for advanced STEM education. Best of luck to this year's competitors!

Webinar: iGEM Success Using High Quality Gene Fragments

On April 29th, IDT will host a webinar. Dr Adam Clore will present some examples of past iGEM projects to illustrate how gBlocks® Gene Fragments can make your project a success and learn how to order your gene fragments and take advantage of the special offer of 20kb of free DNA to 2015 iGEM teams.

Special offer: Registration for the free DNA from IDT is now open.

Visit the IDT Partners Page to learn more.

Webinar: SimBiology and MATLAB for Modeling Synthetic Biology Systems

On May 27th, MathWorks will host a webinar to provide iGEM teams with an introduction to modeling, simulation and analysis with MATLAB and SimBiology using an example from synthetic biology literature. More details on how to register will be posted on the MathWorks partner offer page later this month. Questions can be directed to academicsupport@mathworks.com

Special offer: Request complimentary software for use in the competition.

Visit the MathWorks Partners Page to learn more.

Apply to work with SYNENERGENE Partners!

Are you looking for an exciting Human Practices challenge? Do you want to explore your project with think tanks, experts, policymakers, science museums, and public engagement specialists? Learn about SYNENERGENE, check out collaboration opportunities, and apply now! First proposals are due May 15, 2015.

Order your FREE custom DNA now!

Place your order now and receive your 20 kb of DNA as gBlocks® Gene Fragments ​free of charge.​ Offer available to each iGEM 2015 team. For information and instructions on how to order​ ​your DNA constructs​ visit the IDT Sponsor Page.

Late registration is now open!

Late registration for iGEM 2015 is now open! To register your team, see the Registration page. Be sure to register before the May 1 deadline!

Partner Sponsor MathWorks

MathWorks is pleased to sponsor iGEM in 2015. Learn more about our sponsorship and request complimentary software for use in the competition by visiting our Mathworks Sponsor Page.

Team applications

Team applications will be processed and approved at the end of March. Please note that the Registration Fee approval is manual process and may take a few hours to reflect payment.

Apply to be a judge!

Are you interested in judging the 2015 iGEM competition? Do you want to see iGEM from a new perspective, "behind the scenes"? Apply to be a judge!

20 kb of free custom DNA from IDT!

IDT is offering 20 kb of DNA as gBlocks® Gene Fragments free of charge to each iGEM 2015 team. This offer will be effective April 1, 2015 for the iGEM 2015 teams whose registrations have been accepted by this date (restrictions may apply in some countries). Stay tuned for more information on how to register and obtain your DNA constructs. Save the date of April 29, 2015 for a webinar on using gBlocks® Gene Fragments in your research projects.

Partner Sponsor: Autodesk

We are pleased to welcome back Autodesk as a Partner Sponsor of iGEM 2015. Autodesk is committed to helping the next generation of researchers and engineers experience their ideas before they are real by making state-of-the-art design and visualization solutions available inside and outside of the classroom. Autodesk products are available to students at no cost on their Education Community page.

Partner Sponsor: Agilent

We are pleased to welcome back Agilent as a Partner Sponsor of iGEM 2015. Agilent Technologies Inc. is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, diagnostics, electronics and communications.

Registration is OPEN

Registration for iGEM 2015 is now open. Remember:

• Team registration fee for all teams is $4,000 USD
• Register and pay before March 31, 2015 to avoid a $500 USD late fee
• Regular registration closes on March 31, 2015
• Special Offer: register more than one team and save $1000

For details about Registration see the Registration page.
For details about participation requirements, see the Requirements page.

We look forward to seeing you in iGEM 2015!

Welcome to 2015!

All teams are welcomed to this year's Giant Jamboree!

Calendar of Events

Mark your calendar with this year's important dates and deadlines. Visit the Calendar of Events

High School

The iGEM High School competition is bit different on 2015. You can read more about in our High School Page

Giant Jamboree Information

General information for the 2015 Giant Jamboree is available on this page. Also, the answer to the question: Why is the Giant Jamboree going to be held on September 25-28 ?