BFH European Meet-up – iGEM Bielefeld

Our first iGEM meet-up was in May! While we were still working on our project idea, four of us and our mascot Totoe were underway to Bielefeld, Germany, with participating teams. We were welcomed by sunshine, only to be soaked by a thunderstorm, five minutes later.

During the meet-up we had the opportunity to show our project to judges and other teams with a presentation and poster session. The judges were excited about our project and were eager to learn about our future results. This and getting rewarded with third place on best poster exhibition booth, voted by participants, was a huge confidence boost for us! We also joined the several workshops that were given at the meet-up, which helped us in the coming months of iGEM.

Dutch Innovation Days

During the Dutch Innovation Days, we learned about innovation in different fields of expertise. It was very valuable to experience the professional talks and atmosphere, and we got a lot of inspiration on how to communicate our project effectively.

SynBioNL

In the middle of June our University, Wageningen University and Research hosted the SynBioNL event. It was a day full of talks from experts, academia and industry with networking opportunities. All Dutch iGEM teams were invited to give a 2-minute pitch presentation.

Mini Jamboree iGEM - UPS-INSA Toulouse iGEM

In the first week of July, we presented our project in Toulouse, France, with a pitch session supported by our poster and a presentation. This was an amazing meet-up, showing the difference between Dutch and French, Italian and Spanish teams. We were very proud to win the Best Pitch award! We also met up with Dorothy Zhang from iGEM HQ and talked about iGEM collaborations and meet-ups.

Dutch meet-up

Mid-July iGEM WUR and iGEM Tu/e organized the Dutch meet-up in Utrecht. This was the first time all Dutch teams came together and presented to each other. We got the chance to listen to two expert talks about patents and how ethical analysis influences design. We also learned that designing a new product might have far reaching consequences, and although you cannot predict and prevent all of them, you should always make a sizeable effort to prevent them. We also had brainstorming sessions with all teams, to really dive deep into each other project and help each other out.

JuniorJam International meet-up - iGEM Münster

In august, most of our team together with Totoe travelled to Münster for the JunioJam International meetup. The event had engaging panel discussions and science talks. During the poster session and after our presentation, we received valuable feedback from both judges and other teams. We were very proud to be awarded with best Health Care Project! Additionally, we were interviewed for the Münster podcast.

Aegean meet-up - iGEM Thessaloniki

After a long time of online meetups, we got invited by iGEM Thessaloniki to join the Aegean Meetup in the last week of August. With two members and Totoe we travelled to Thessaloniki. We got a tour of the city with a rich history and learned a lot about each other’s projects and that of the other teams. We also strengthened our bond with Thessaloniki for our collaboration.

Benelux & Germany Mini Jamboree - iGEM Eindhoven

We are very excited to show our final results at the mini jamboree in Eindhoven. Unfortunately, this will be after the wiki freeze so we will have to tell you about it in person.

Grand Jamboree

We are beyond excited to finally go to Paris and meet everyone we have met before and all the new teams too! Want to recognize us in Paris? Check out our Team members page.