Nordic iGEM Conference

After four weeks of thorough planning and a lot of skype-meetings with our collaborators from iGEM Stockholm, it was time for the Nordic iGEM Conference. The plan was to create a platform for future collaborations, get a chance to exercise presenting, and of course have lots of fun. This was accomplished with a mingling party in form of a BBQ night, project presentation session, a bunch of workshops and, once we've got to know each other, a final get-together with a bar crawl.

Invitations had been sent out two weeks in advance and we had received confirmation from eight teams. Students from Aalto-Helsinki, SDU, Copenhagen, Oslo, Gothenburg, LiU, Stockholm and Uppsala was on their way to the Nordic iGEM Conference. We also had the pleasure to receive Randy Rettberg, the chairman of iGEM organization.

The weekend started with a nice BBQ evening at EBC in Uppsala with some awesome games provided by Aalto-Helsinki.

The actual conference was held at Biomedicinskt centrum (BMC), where the Uppsala team’s lab is located. The day started at 08:00 with breakfast at the accommodation, followed by a walk to BMC where our lovely hosts Sangeetha and Hugi welcomed everyone. Soon thereafter, the project presentations started.

The judging panel consisted of a representative from each of the eight teams. The judging format was similar to the main Jamboree. After some contemplation the scores were set. When all the interesting projects was presented and feedback was given, it was time for lunch.

Now it was time for the anticipated workshops. With all these young scientist gathered, it would be a pity not to use the immense wealth of ideas. The themes of the workshops were:

• Awesome solutions for the lab: Is there a technical problem you have solved that might benefit others? If you plan to attend this workshop this might be good to discuss with you team and think about this question before the conference.

• The future of iGEM technology: What new or future technologies could be the future of iGEM. The sky's the limit, so anything from current technology that is not yet available to iGEM labs, to technology that is only in your imagination.

• Unsolved ethics: Is your project suitable for supervillains? Are there ethical considerations that the teams have missed? Let’s help each other gain new insights into our projects and prepare ourselves for questions that might come up in Boston in September.

• Funding the fun: The road to Boston How much money do you need to raise? Do companies sponsor you with materials and equipment? What are your sponsors getting out of sponsoring you? How do you contact companies and how persistent are you?

• After iGEM: Unexpected applications How would you make the projects be made available to the community? Can you think of aspects of the other projects that might have applications that the teams have not yet considered?

It was clear that a lot of great ideas had come up, and with the curiosity sparked, we went back to the main hall. It was time to present the winner of the mini-jamboree. Which team had the best presentations?

The winner of the Nordic iGEM Jamboree 2015 was Stockholm iGEM with their affibody based biomarker assay (ABBBA)

Randy presented the award to the winning team and gave us an inspiring speech. After the pleasantries, people headed back to the accommodation for a pause in the hectic schedule. Next up was dinner.

After a delightful dinner and a lot of interesting conversations, it was time to explore the nightlife of Uppsala. We had an incredibly fun evening together, but you can’t party forever.

The sunday was spent strolling around the city, looking at some of the sights of Uppsala.

After a lot of laughs and many interesting topics discussed, an awesome weekend had come to an end. Meeting like-minded people on a event like this has created a great amount of ideas and inspiration, which we will use when we maintain the growth of synthetic biology in the exponential phase.