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Team:British Columbia/Project Outlook
From 2010.igem.org
Special Prizes
Best Human Practices Advance
Issues? We've got issues! How will you sell your project if you have to give away the parts? What does your family think about your genetic engineering dreams? Will the world be a safe place if we make biology easy to engineer? How do the lessons of the past inform everybody's discussion going forward? Find a new way to help human civilization consider, guide, and address the impacts of ongoing advances in biotechnology.
Best Experimental Measurement
There are a lot of exciting Parts in the Registry, but most of the Parts have never been characterized. Can you make a great measurement for one new Parts? Or, can you develop and implement a new method for characterizing thousands of parts? Go for it!
Best Model
Parts and Devices have a lot of details, too many to think about all the time, in fact. Models provide a great way to describe the functioning and operation of Parts and Devices. Show everybody what you can do!
Best Software Tool
Computers have been around for a long time. How come we don't have more, great software tools for helping everything engineering synthetic biological systems based on standard biological parts? Cadence, Synopsis, Microsoft, Google, will these names mean anything to the future of synthetic biology? Or, will you add a new name at the top of the heap? It's up to you.
Best New Standard
There's so much work to do in making biology easy to engineer. If we could easily share and build on each other's work, then we could all do so much more. Standards help to make sharing easier. For example, the BioBrick standard for physical assembly of BioBrick parts makes it easier to design and construct parts that can be readily assembled with the parts that everybody else is making. What other sorts of standards do we need? How about standards for measurements? How about standards for different types of parts (for example, what about a standard BioBrick promoter, with a fixed transcription start site? Or, how about a standard phosphorylation motif, for post-translational devices? Or, how about a standard signal carrier for biosynthetic devices? Or, how about a standard model for a class of BioBrick Devices? Or, how about a standard for sharing information about parts across computer networks?). You get the idea.
Best Wiki
The project Descriptions on the iGEM website provide a great resource for future iGEM students and teams, as well as the rest of the world, so that everybody can see what iGEM is about. For example, check out this Description from the 2007 UC Berkeley iGEM team, Bactoblood. Wow! Can you do better?
Best Poster
Posters are a great way to concisely present your team's work. You can bring your poster to the Jamboree, but also to other meetings and conferences as well. Print out a second copy and post it at your home school so that everybody in your department or school can learn about your team. Show us what you've got.
Best Presentation
At the end of the day, many people learn best by watching and listening. Online video also provides a wonderful legacy to help others, from students, to teachers, to the general publics. Giving a great presentation is a challenge, and benefits greatly from practice and study.
Area Prizes
Best Health or Medicine Project
Many health and medical problems might best be addressed by improved biological technologies. What can synthetic biology do?
Software Tools
Bronze Mousepad:
Register the team, have a great summer, and have fun attending the Jamboree.
Create and share a Description of the team's project via the iGEM wiki.
Present a Poster and Talk at the iGEM Jamboree.
Develop and make available via the Registry an open source software tool that supports synthetic biology based on BioBrick standard biological parts (remember, the iGEM judges will be looking for substantial team-based software projects).
Silver Mousepad:
Provide a detailed, draft specification for the next version of your software tool, or a second, distinct software tools project.
Gold Mousepad:
Help another iGEM team by, for example, analyzing a Part, debugging a Device, or modeling or simulating a System.
Develop and document a new technical standard that supports the (i) design of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or (ii) construction of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or (iii) characterization of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or (iv) analysis, modeling, and simulation of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or (v) sharing of BioBrick Parts or
Devices, either via physical DNA or as information via the internet.
Outline and detail a new approach to an issue of Human Practice in synthetic biology as it relates to your project, such as safety, security, ethics, or ownership, sharing, and innovation.
