UC Berkeley iGEM Synthetic Biology Summer Research Program

Imagine!

  • Replacing nonrenewable energy sources with solar-powered bacteria
  • Curing diseases with engineered microbes
  • Producing new biochemicals and materials in cells

These are some of the goals of synthetic biology, a new field that seeks to design and build novel biological systems to accomplish specific tasks. The International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Competition is an undergraduate bioltechnology "Olympics," and is the pre-eminent international event for synthetic biology. iGEM challenges teams of students from universities around the world to design and implement a synthetic biology project and then present their results in a juried competition at MIT in November of each year. Berkeley has sponsored an iGEM team since the competition began in 2005. Our team has consistently been recognized as being one of the top iGEM teams in the world, receiving major awards at the Jamboree each year.

iGEM 2010

We are now recruiting undergraduates to join the 2010 UC Berkeley iGEM team. We seek students with knowledge of biology or computer science students with computer programming skills who want to learn biology. We are looking for inventive, highly motivated, and collaborative students with the willingness to be creative, learn synthetic biology and work hard.

All applicants must: 1) submit an application form and academic transcript by February 19, 2010 and 2) complete an iGEM tutorial by March 1, 2010.

Click here for the 2010 iGEM application form Candidates who are not enrolled at UC Berkeley must submit one letter of recommendation along with their application form and transcript. An interview may also be required.

Click here for the iGEM tutorial*

*Tutorial instructions: Complete Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 of the iGEM tutorial series by March 1. Quiz 1 is part of the "Synthetic Biology and iGEM" module, and Quiz 2 is part of the "Basic Oligo Design" module. These first two quizzes must be completed by March 1. The remainder of the tutorials and quizzes must be completed before the start of iGEM on June 1, 2010. Allow plenty of time to complete the tutorials. If you need assistance, contact Chris Anderson.

The iGEM team will begin work on June 1 and students are expected to work full-time through August 13.

There will be an iGEM information meeting on Thursday, February 4, 5:00-6:00 pm, at in 177 Stanley Hall at UC Berkeley. Students interested in applying for the program are encouraged to attend.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • You must be currently enrolled at an accredited two-year or four-year college or university, and you must be pursuing an associate degree or a bachelor's degree.
  • You must be a current freshman, sophomore, or junior in good standing. (Students currently in their senior year are not eligible).
  • You must be a US citizen or permanent resident.
  • You must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

The UCB iGEM team is open to undergraduates from a wide range of disciplines, including:

  • biology
  • chemistry
  • bioengineering
  • chemical engineering
  • chemical biology
  • molecular and cell biology
  • integrative biology
  • computational biology
  • mathematics
  • electrical engineering
  • computer science

If you have questions, please contact Kate Spohr, program administrator.

About the UC Berkeley Team

UC Berkeley's summer iGEM program immerses five talented and motivated students in a dense hands-on research experience. By working on a project that reaches completion over a 3-5 month period, students experience the full range of project conception, implementation, and the presentation of results in an international conference-like setting.

iGEM team members are paid a summer stipend. In late October/early November, all team members travel to MIT to attend the iGEM Jamboree (students' hotel, airfare, most food, and registration is underwritten by team sponsors).

2009 iGEM Jamboree

To learn more about UC Berkeley's past iGEM teams and projects, click below:

2008 UCB Experimental team; 2008 UCB Computational team

2007 UCB iGEM team

2006 UCB iGEM team

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