iGEM of UBC

Congratulations to everybody who made it onto the 2010 UBC iGEM Team! The club execs wish you all a year of accomplishment and success – do us proud!

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100120/full/463288a.html

A very insightful article on the challenges that synthetic biologists have to face. It seems, then, that the “minimal cell” is the way to go. Without the minimal cell, there wouldn’t be any standardization of synthetic biology possible.

Otherwise, cell-free synthetic systems will have to play a huge part in this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30gene.html

This ruling could have ramifications in synthetic biology as well, given its close ties with biotechnological development. What happens now to genes cloned out and placed in novel situations? Since those parts are, by definition, “a product of nature”, and thus “involve a law of nature”, are they equally (un)patentable?

Thanks a lot to everybody who applied to be on the UBC iGEM Team! Applications to be on this year’s team are closed, and the selection committee will be interviewing candidates to assess their suitability to be on the team. The team roster will be finalized and submitted for registration by the 31st of March 2010 (which is the registration deadline). Please check back later for further announcements.

In the meantime, this Wednesday will be an Ideas Discussion meeting, so please come prepared to discuss the ideas put forth thus far. If possible, some faculty members will be present at the meeting as well to go through the ideas as well. Please bring your laptops if you can (so that you can access the wiki while at it).

Other than that, keep checking back for the latest research articles on Synthetic Biology!

This coming Wednesday (March 31st), we will be announcing the team members for the 2010 UBC iGEM Team. Team members will be informed beforehand about their status, and it is mandatory for them to attend this coming Wednesday’s meeting. Please join and welcome this year’s team. The club execs have also prepared a surprise for the team. You will be rewarded if you come.

Aside from announcement of the team members, there will also be a vote held for selection of the final project that the team will work on. A final round of updates will be given before the team selects the project based on information present in the wiki. Based on last week’s discussion, only team members, faculty advisors and graduate student advisors will be eligible to cast their votes, but all are welcome.

The interviews for the 2010 UBC iGEM Team have concluded. Thank you everybody who applied and interviewed with the faculty advisors and student committee. You will be informed about your status before Wednesday, 31 March 2010.

We are the Synthetic Biology Club at the University of British Columbia.

Synthetic biology, an emerging and rapidly growing field, is seeking talented minds cross disciplines to tackle problems in our changing world.

iGEM aims at promoting this budding field in the academic world.

How to stay in touch with us?

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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http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n3/full/nbt0310-230.html

This is a very insightful article – a recommended read for a human practices project.

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!