JulyGEM presents student-led solutions in the field of synthetic biology
By Ansharah Shakil, July 28 2024—
The University of Calgary’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) undergraduate research group is hosting their annual JulyGEM event on July 28 at the Clara Christie Theatre in the U of C’s Health Sciences Center. iGEM is a competition involving undergraduate university teams around the world, working to use synthetic biology — the science of applying engineering concepts on living organisms and systems to create new characteristics or redesign existing systems — to solve real world issues.
The U of C iGEM team annually hosts JulyGEM, a practice pitch competition which presents research projects by undergraduate and high school students as well as keynote speakers and judges, in Calgary.
“The goal of iGEM is to bring synthetic biology to the point where we’re solving real-world issues [like to] solve diseases, to actually help people. It’s a competition where lots of teams put their efforts into figuring out a problem that they want to devote themselves to,” explained Kfir Lerner, the Wet Lab Lead at U of C’s iGEM team.
“JulyGEM is something we do at UCalgary specifically, where it’s kind of like a mini conference. Halfway through the iGEM season we bring together a bunch of iGEM teams to present and basically share their projects and progress,” Lerner continued.
Lerner joined iGEM after beginning university during the pandemic, and desiring to focus on concrete application through research.
“When I went into my third year, I realized that I love doing research. I fell in love with it really quickly,” he said. “As a student, when you get into the lab and get to actually start applying the theory and the technique that you hear about over and over in courses and it doesn’t really make sense, once you actually start putting it into practice, everything clicks, suddenly. This isn’t just trivia, this is actual knowledge you can apply, you can use to do something.”
Previously, iGEM has been more online, with international teams coming in from Asia and Europe. This is the first year JulyGEM will be taking place in-person.
“We wanted JulyGEM to turn into a conference that we could invite teams to come and present their research at, and also invite the public to come and learn more about synthetic biology, see how students are using what they learn in university to try and solve issues, and give back to society,” Lerner said.
Even if you’re not in the sciences, Lerner emphasized that it’s valuable to know about the work iGEM does and that there are opportunities for people not in the sciences to join the work iGEM does — especially when it comes to discussing bioethics or debates about GMOs or understanding what is in the food we eat.
“iGEM is an interdisciplinary competition. People who enjoy philosophy or enjoy looking into things like that have a place in iGEM. This kind of research is something that really has to do with society as a whole,” he said. “It concerns everyone and the repercussions mean as a student, even if you’re not in the sciences, it’s good to know about what’s going on and get educated.”
Lerner said he would look forward to seeing what the other teams in iGEM have done so far and to see their progress.
“We’re [also] trying to turn JulyGEM into a more community thing, so we have a kind of potluck situation going on where we’re all bringing food [to] generate a sense of community and bring people together,” he added.
In addition to JulyGEM, the U of C team is hoping to start up a club for iGEM to host student-led research, including pitch competitions and industry outreach, encouraging student interest and promoting community in the field.
“We’re hoping to get a student-led research club founded and started up so that we have year-round interest and people working on projects that they do out of passion, something they genuinely want to pursue and need to find a space to do,” Lerner said.
More details about JulyGEM can be found on the U of C iGEM team Instagram and website.