Education, training, and outreach are high priorities for SynBERC investigators, who have a strong commitment to young scientists at the high school, undergraduate and graduate level. SynBERC researchers have developed a number of educational programs targeted to high school, undergraduate and graduate level students.

• Course development: SynBERC researchers have developed dozens of new synthetic biology-related courses or course modules at the graduate and undergraduate level.
• International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition: This annual design competition teaches mostly undergraduate teams of students how to apply the principles of synthetic biology to design and execute a novel biological system over the course of a summer.
• Undergraduate Research Experiences (REU): Mentored summer research internships for undergraduates in the labs of SynBERC faculty.
• Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM): An 8-week paid summer internship program for traditionally underserved high school sophomores and juniors in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Research Experiences for Teachers (RET): SynBERC provides opportunities for teachers to engage in research and curriculum development.
• Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy at MIT: An academic enrichment and career exploration program for public high school students from Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. SynBERC students and faculty developed and taught a synthetic biology course module for SEED high school seniors.
• BioBuilder.org: An online teaching resource that features short animations exploring and explaining fundamental synthetic biology content to a wide audience of learners, including high school teachers and students.

Students are actively engaged in all aspects of the Center's educational activities. They organize working groups, host inter-institutional student exchanges, develop curriculum modules, teach courses, and sponsor science talks. Graduate students at each of SynBERC's campuses are represented on the SynBERC Student Leadership Council (SLC). Through their work with the SLC, the students share the results of their research and are involved in the day-to-day workings of the center.

Education Team

• Susan Marqusee, Education Program Director
• Natalie Kuldell, Associate Director
• Kate Spohr, Education Outreach Manager
• Raquel Gomes, Education Program Manager, UCSF