iGEM of UBC

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A team of scientists from Northeastern University (Joseph Ayers and Yong-Bin Kim), UCSF (Chris Voigt), University of Alabama at Birmingham (Vladimir Parpura) and Newcastle University (Daniel Frankel) have teamed up at the NSF/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Sandpit to propose the construction of a biohybrid robot that moves like a lamprey eel.

The Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory (AMBL) will be holding a special one-day Science Field Trip FREE for UBC iGEM members! You will be performing DNA fingerprinting analysis – commonly used by forensic scientists and CSI – to check for genetic elements in your own DNA. Using the powerful PCR technique, you will be isolating and amplifying your DNA then analyzing it for the Alu genetic element. This field trip promises to a fun and entertaining way to get into contemporary molecular biology!

Where: Advanced Molecular Biology Lab, Michael Smith Laboratories, UBC (Map)
When: Friday May 14th, 2010
How to Sign Up: RSVP Here. Spaces are limited and FREE Admission for iGEM Club Members and only $5 for non-members. Password: check in by e-mailing the execs.

Three iGEM Club Members, Francisca Odaya, Shing Hei Zhan and Jason Gao have participated as a team in this competition, so please join us at the AKCSE Research Competition as a general attendant to network with professionals in the science and engineering field.

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SBN (Student Biotech Network) represents the interests of student members from a diverse range of disciplines related to biotechnology. They also helped to publicize iGEM in UBC and lower mainland since day 1. This year marks their 10th year in operation. It would be very valuable for them to know how they are doing. Please help by filling out the survey here. Thanks!

From the feedback gathered, this year’s iGEMers storming out to the SBN event was a real success! Thanks a lot to everybody who made the time to come down and network with all the professionals out there – we hope you’ve gotten your name out there and spread word about iGEM and synthetic biology as well!

iGEMers storm the SBN Biotech Expo and Conference!

To those of you who couldn’t make it out this time, don’t worry – there’s other SBN events being organized, and there’s plenty of opportunities out there to network as well. Keep your eyes peeled!

See you all at the next Journal Club meeting!

Also announced during Journal Club is the SBN’s Biotech Expo and Conference. Having attended this with Hank last year, I must say that it’s an amazing opportunity to network and meet with industry professionals and academics in the field of biotechnology.

When you go down there, you’ll also be able to network with future, potential sponsors of the team. There’s also educational breakout sessions that you can attend. Included in the cost of registration is, as far as I remembered, a virtually incessant flow of snacks (typical of a conference and networking event).

The details of the event are here:

• Date: 21 Jan 2010
• Time: 4:45PM-9:00PM. Actual event program starts at around 5:30PM.
• Information Page: thesbn.ca/biotech_expo.htm
• Registration: http://expo2010atsbn.eventbrite.com/?ref=ebtn

If you want to come down, please register first, and then e-mail me (Eric Ma) at ericmajinglong[at]gmail[dot]com. If we have enough people, we’ll organize everybody to somehow get down there together. (Literally, iGEM Storms the SBN!)

Also, don’t be afraid of networking – we’ll prepare some tips to get you equipped! This is a REALLY GOOD OPPORTUNITY!

The AKCSE (Association of Korean-Canadian Scientists and Engineers) is hosting a research competition this year. As mentioned during the Journal Club meeting, this is an amazing opportunity for those who want to be on this year’s UBC iGEM Team to come together and brainstorm ideas for this year’s competition.

We will be calling a meeting separate from the weekly Journal Club sessions for those who are interested in participating. Some perks of participation include:

• You can list this on your resume.
• If we win something at this competition, then there will be funding for next year’s team.
• Again, if we win something at this competition, this can go on your resume too!
• A networking opportunity with other scientists and engineers – “make connections before you need them”!

Details of the competition are as follows:

1. Registration Deadline: 25 January 2010
2. Topics: Science or Engineering (iGEM is both!)

If you want to participate, send an e-mail to ubcigem[at]gmail[dot]com! We will arrange a date with you to decide when to meet up.

And no, you don’t have to be Korean to participate!