The international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition is the foundation and the biggest competition in the field of Synthetic Biology. In 2021, 352 teams participated from all over the world. Out of the 352 teams, only 2 teams came from Africa. Participants in the iGEM competition work to solve real-world problems using microbes and DNA manipulation, with the field of Synthetic Biology in the heart of their works, applying engineering concepts such as standardization to the process of engineering microbes. The competition main track is for undergrads, but it includes high schoolers, over grads, community, and commercial teams. However, in the last 10 years, less than 1% of the participants came from Africa.
Table 1. African teams represented at iGEM in the last ten years
Since 2006, the competition was held in Boston, Massachusetts, and the hundreds of teams and thousands of team members (including students, professors, and industry leaders) would gather in November to discuss the projects and celebrate the teams’ work. But due to the pandemic, it was moved to a virtual format in 2021 and the previous year, with plans to return in Paris starting in 2022.
As part of SynBio Africa’s goal to increase African Teams participation in the Global iGEM competition from less than 1% in the last ten years to 5% within the next three years, SynBio Africa is organizing a hybrid African iGEM Team’s showcase event on 1st and 2nd April 2022 in Entebbe, Uganda and also with virtual participation. The main goal of the showcase is to provide a fundraising platform for African teams to present their project ideas to invited co-founders, mentors, accelerators, investors, and partners.
Team’s registration link: https://lnkd.in/e-W7Gn6u
Are you a co-founder, mentor, accelerator, investor, and partner who wants to support and or sponsor iGEM African Teams 2022 ?
Please contact admin@synbioafrica.com to participate in this showcase.
This showcase event is proudly sponsored by Nuclear Threat Initiative. https://www.nti.org/
