Development of the iGEM high school track / 生物工程学报

The international genetically engineered machine (iGEM) competition is a global top college academic competition in synthetic biology. The iGEM competition has exhibited extensive international influence and attracted teams from more than 40 countries and regions around the world to participate in. The annual iGEM outputs have attracted the attention of top academic journals or international media such as Science, Nature, Scientific American, The Economist, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), etc. High school teams participated in iGEM since 2011, and the number of high school teams has increased year by year. High school participants are increasingly becoming one of the most important forces to promote the development of iGEM and synthetic biology. IGEM competition has also become an important platform to foster the core literacy of high school students. This paper summarized the track rules, topic selection tendency and awards of high school teams based on data of 2017 to 2021 iGEM competition. In addition, we analyzed the significance of iGEM competition on fostering of high school students' core literacy and discussed the development trend of global high school teams, with the aim to provide a reference for high school team building in the future.

Design and implementation of the course on Synthetic Biology based on the concept of general education / 生物工程学报

As an emerging branch of biology, Synthetic Biology has seen rapid development with great potential in theoretical research and application. With a lot of brand-new concepts and research methods, it brings challenges to university teachers, and little experience is available in China on the teaching of Synthetic Biology. In this study, we discussed the general education-based development and application of the course on Synthetic Biology (a discipline in "liberal arts" in Zhejiang University) from the background, design, implementation, outcome, and problems of the course, hoping to provide a reference for the optimization of the course and the design of similar courses in other universities in China.

Cultivation of college students' innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and ability based on Synthetic Biology and iGEM / 生物工程学报

Synthetic Biology is one of the most promising fields of modern Biology and a frontier interdisciplinary subject in the 21st century. With the rapid development of synthetic biology, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition has emerged. The iGEM competition, based on the subject foundation of Synthetic Biology, intends to solve the biological problems in our daily life by applying modern biological technology. In recent years, with the continuous increase of participating teams, the iGEM competition has received extensive attention and achieved great progress. On the basis of the development of Synthetic Biology, we analyzed the 2018-2020 award-winning projects of the iGEM competition and illustrated the role and significance of the iGEM competition in cultivating college students' innovative thinking and ability with the participation experience of the iGEM team of Southwest Jiaotong University as an example.

Preface for special column on iGEM (2018) / 生物工程学报

Themed in synthetic biology, supplemented with multiple inter-disciplines, International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM)Competition provides with a most influential and dynamic platform for young minds in the field of biology. Many college and high school teams not only achieved excellent results in this competition, but got academic breakthrough achievements as well in recent years. Hence, we launch this iGEM special editorial column, featured in latest domestic iGEM research projects. Simultaneously, we discuss, in this special issue, about the progress of iGEM in China, and its inspiration on development of research skills and scientific competence of collegiate students.

Development of international genetically engineered machine competition in China / 生物工程学报

Synthetic biology is a fast moving interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. To educate the next generation of synthetic biology scientists, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition was established. In the past eleven years, many Chinese teams have participated in this event, but no thorough review and analysis have been carried out. In this paper, we collected the data and information of the Chinese teams from the iGEM website and analyzed the number, distribution and performance of Chinese teams in iGEM competition. We also described contributions made by the Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC) organization. The contributions to China higher education made by the iGEM competition were also summarized. Finally, we proposed several suggestions for the development of the iGEM competition in China. We envision the iGEM competition will continue to promote the innovative education and cultivation of the next-generation synthetic biology scientists in China.

Bringing scientific research education closer to undergraduates through International Genetically Engineered Machine competition / 生物工程学报

In recent years, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition has experienced rapid global development. In 2017 alone, the number of iGEM teams registered around the globe reached an unprecedented 313, with 98 iGEM teams from China having enrolled in the competition and obtained outstanding results. In contrast to the many college students' innovation projects and scientific research training programs in China, iGEM's organization mode is focused on student-centered research learning. Moreover, it achieved a rich educational effect, embodying a new educational idea, which gives it great significance for the extracurricular scientific research training of undergraduates in Chinese universities. In this article, we took Peking University's participation in the iGEM competition as a starting point. The first part introduces the background and general situation of the iGEM competition. The second part reproduces the general procedure of one iGEM season and organization of Peking University's team. The third part compares iGEM's organization mode with those of other undergraduate research training courses and discusses them in detail. The fourth part sums up the experience with iGEM activities as well as explains its effect on developing the research capacity of undergraduate students as well as inspiring them to organize an undergraduate scientific research competition. This article aims to provide a reference for the organization of iGEM activities in domestic universities and for the reform of undergraduate education.