Day 5
Yaay! It was our day of presentation and we were excited. We were enthusiastic and at the same time, nervous because, we were presenting. Our presenters meticulously rehearsed our presentation thrice right before our scheduled time in order to do a final crossing of the Ts and dotting the Is.
The presentation went smoothly, our audience was thrilled and the judges sounded somewhat impressed with our project. Oh! What a relief! We gave ourselves pat on the back by taking a group picture with the iGEM insignia.
Following lunch, we had our first poster session. We were eagerly expecting the judges so, we could explain further, the questions that were raised during our presentation as we did not have the luxury of time. The judges did not show up at the first session, however, we had interesting conversation with team members that came to our stand. The poster session took place in parallel with the workshops and topics like “What kinds of industry jobs could I get with my degree”? by Promega, “Safeguarding Science and the Future” by FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), “Modelling Synthetic Biology Systems with MATLAB and SimBiology” by Mathworks and lots more.
There were series of project presentations and eventually during the second poster presentation, our judges came one after the other to ask more questions and also gave suggestions. It was really engaging and we look forward to the outcome of our project on Monday.
The day culminated with a visit to a chipotle, we ate and just enjoyed the evening together before we finally left for our lodges.
Day 6
Today is the last day of the actual competition – the last day with presentations and poster sessions. All members of the team are a little bit tired at this point, but nonetheless we try to stay awake and enjoy our time at the Giant Jamboree!
Some teams have not only conducted their biological experiments in labs, but also engineered and prototyped different hardware tools which they are presenting at their exhibition tables at the Giant Jamboree. One of the highlights from there is a modular system for algae culturing made by the Berlin iGEM team.
Another great experience from today is just walking around the convention center hall and talking to members of other teams about their projects. Everyone is really open about their ups and downs, and I am amazed by the fact, that so many interesting projects are made each year by IGEM teams from all over the world.
To celebrate the end of the main part of the competition, we plan to have a nice dinner with some drinks, and we are really excited about the medal ceremony tomorrow – we hope we were good enough to get some prizes!
Hintergrundinformationen zur iGEM-Reise
Text: Olamide Ahmed-Macaulay/Aleksandra Khatova
Online gestellt: Matthias Zimmermann
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