Since 2012, the iGEM team of TU Darmstadt is taking part on the largest student competition of synthetic biology first organized by MIT, the iGEM (international genetically engineered machine competition). The objective of the competition is for students themselves, with a wide interdisciplinary team, to organize and perform a project in the field of synthetic biology and to present it in front of
international experts. From the very first brainstorming seeking for a reasonable project idea to the presentation in Boston all made by students. They even have to fund their project on their own by finding suitable sponsors. The students of our team are from different scientific engineering fields like biology, chemistry, biomolecular engineering and physics. We are also cooperating with students from machine engineering and computer science. They are all investing their free time to employ their theoretical knowledge on the work in the lab. An important part of this project is Human Practices where the teams consider in what possible ways their research affects society. Thereby, the teams, for example, have conversations and discussions with their community and educate the society about synthetic biology.
