Onward! To New Beginnings, and to the Edges of the Universe
Welcome!…whoever you may be! My name is Jesse Lee, and I will be your guide through today’s little introduction to the brand new McGill iGEM team.
The iGEM program at McGill is definitely not new (with a team from McGill entering in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and once more in 2018), so I know what you’re wondering. Why would we say that our team is “brand new”? Well, here’s the thing. While some wonderful students formed a team in the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, those students did not see the point of passing over the team to a new group of students after their undergraduate years were done (notice how it only lasted 4 years). In 2018, some more students thought “wouldn’t an iGEM team at McGill just be the coolest thing?”, and started another team. Unfortunately, these students also did not think to continue it for future students after they had gotten the experience out of it.
Well, my mother once told me that sharing is caring, so as my act of “caring”, I will make sure this new McGill iGEM group is here to stay for good this time.
If you’ve managed to find this blog post, then you are probably already familiar with the iGEM program, but if you’re not, here’s a quick intro to that too. iGEM stands for the “International Genetically Engineered Machine”, and it is a competition that originally had its roots as an MIT course for students interested in synthetic biology. Over the years, it has grown at an incredible rate, and has since become an international competition that draws teams for every major university in the world to compete each year in a massive “Giant Jamboree” (that’s just what the event is called, but it is basically like a giant science fair). In the past, teams have created projects ranging from using bacteria to recycle human waste into usable bioplastics, to making enzyme treatments for celiac disease. Sometimes, iGEM teams will take their project and turn them into startups, some of which are worth millions of dollars, with one startup now worth billions. Ever hear of Ginkgo Bioworks? They were in the news very recently. They are now a company valued at over 15 billion USD, but not many people know that they had humble beginnings as an iGEM team before they became so dominant in the biotechnology sector.
So that’s that. The McGill iGEM team is now up and running again! Soon, the brightest young minds of Canada will once again compete alongside our MIT neighbours, and hundreds of other universities around the world.
Stay tuned, for there is more to come. Onward! To new beginnings, and to the edges of the universe.
Build. Biology. Beyond.
Sincerely,
Jesse Lee | Executive Director of McGill iGEM
