The annual Student Scientific Conference on Biotechnology and Biomedicine is aimed to provide a free platform for young scientists and students of natural sciences, biomedicine, and biotechnology from Central Europe to discuss their results and achievements in these fields (including SynBio). The conference is organized by students for students which makes it a special occasion with an unforgettable informal atmosphere and appreciated authenticity.

  • Event Date: April 28th-29th, 2022
  • iGEM Representative: Luciano Morosi, iGEM Ambassador to Europe

There is a vibrant youth of students interested in SynBio and Biotechnology in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. What is interesting is that many works in biotechnology presented by these students were borderline SynBio, even when they did not openly indicate that they were in this discipline. In this sense, it is a very promising community to introduce iGEM.

iGEM Community was invited to the event to give a breakout session to introduce the iGEM Competition to students and young researchers with the aim to promote the formation of new teams from Czech Republic and Central Europe, in the coming years.

The session included a talk from Luciano on the impact of iGEM experience on his career, where iGEM is moving now, iGEM Community and its many initiatives. Luciano, also covered the different requirements for participating in the iGEM Competition and how teams can fulfill them. Given that there were different age groups of attendees, his presentation also made the point that everyone can take part in iGEM and benefit from it, either as part of the team or as an instructor/advisor, or even as a PI.

It also hosted the gold medallists from the iGEM 2020 and 2021 Brno Team about their personal experiences from the competition and advice for anyone who wants to participate in 2022 and beyond.

The 2020-2021 Brno iGEMers Barbora Hrnčířová and Stanislav Juračka also brought up the idea to create special activities geared towards educating students about synbio and iGEM at the University in order to promote the continuity of participating teams in the competition and SynBio locally.

Other key activities at the event included talks by Dr. José Jiménez from Imperial College London, who gave an exciting talk on applying SynBio to study cell economics. Followed by Dr. Edward A. Bayer of the Weizmann Institute of Science, who spoke on engineered cellulosomes and synthetic biotechnology.

Luciano Morosi, iGEM Ambassador to Europe

“It was really nice to be back at a conference in person after such a long time. The fact that I was able to represent the iGEM Community at the event was a great honor for me, for which I am very grateful for the opportunity. It is clear that there is a vibrant youth of students interested in SynBio and Biotechnology in the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia, which we should support.”

To find more information about the iGEM Ambassadors & Promoters for Europe and regional synbio activities visit our Europe webpage. Learn more about the Ambassador Program here.

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