The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) hosted the largest annual gathering of synthetic biologists this past weekend as thousands of university and high school students from around the world traveled to Boston to compete in the iGEM 2015 Giant Jamboree at the end of September. iGEM is the world's premier synthetic biology competition, and this year's excitement and enthusiasm was evident as the industry's brightest students, educators and professionals showcased innovative new biologically-engineered systems that solve real-world challenges at the 12th annual Jamboree event.
Among the over 2700 students who attended the Jamboree was the Waterloo iGEM team, who presented their project, CRISPieR: Re-engineering CRISPR-Cas9 with functional applications in eukaryotic systems, and the team was more successful than any year before. They achieved a Gold Medal Standing for the third year in a row, was awarded Best Overgraduate Software Tool, Best Overgraduate Poster, and was nominated for Best Foundational Advance Project. After the months of hard work, the team is extremely happy with the result, and is already looking forward to the 2016 season. If you'd like to find out more about their project, head to the team's iGEM wiki page, or on their website.