790033 iGEM Vienna @ BOKU (in Eng.)

Art
Übungen und Seminar
Semesterstunden
2
Vortragende/r (Mitwirkende/r)
Organisation
Angeboten im Semester
Sommersemester 2023
Unterrichts-/ Lehrsprachen
Englisch
Lehrinhalt

The annual international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition is a team effort in the field of synthetic biology, where you and your team will propose, develop, and implement a synthetic biology solution to a current problem. This course enables you and your team to successfully participate in the iGEM competition 2023 in Paris, France.

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field of research, which is based on the idea that biological systems can be seen like human built machines. Parts and devices have to be standardized and assembled in a functional way. These parts, also called BioBricks are gathered in a collection, the so called Registry of biological parts (http://parts.igem.org/Main_Page). Students participating in an iGEM competition can make use of these parts and furthermore are encouraged to design, built and test new parts to enlarge the collection.

You will be part of a team of undergraduate students from different Viennese universities (bachelor and master level together) identifying open questions and societal obstacles and developing synthetic biology strategies to overcome them. You will then design and undertake the research project. Projects typically tackle the challenges of the 21st century in health, energy and food security. Projects may have foundational or applicational character, dedicated to a specific problem.

In addition to the lab work, it is a prerequisite for iGEM teams to present their project on a publicly accessible website, the teams “wiki”. Communicating the project goals and outcome will be another essential part throughout the course, especially in the funding phase and in the oral and poster presentations at the competition.
Inhaltliche Voraussetzungen (erwartete Kenntnisse)

The ideal team should consist of students skilled in different topics of natural sciences and engineering.
Important areas include:
●cell biology
●biochemistry
●molecular biology
●bioinformatics
●mechanical and electrical engineering
Students with background in environmental engineering, agriculture or economics are also welcome to complement the team.
Lehrziel

The main objective of this course is the participation in the iGEM competition. While preparing for the competition you will be able to develop and acquire the following skills and competencies:
●Project planning and administration
●Resource and team management
●Fundraising
●Team work
●Problem based knowledge
●International networking
●Entrepreneurial thinking
●Collaboration
●Responsible science and engineering
●Safe lab work and project design
●Presentation skills
●Scientific communication
The iGEM competition is about solving a general problem with synthetic biology or solving a problem in the field of synthetic biology. A first competence to be acquired is identifying open questions and societal obstacles and to develop strategies to answer and overcome them. The project will not be fully financed by BOKU. Consequently, the students are required to raise appropriate funds for their work and travels (Guidance will be provided of course). After raising funds, these must be managed by the students, which requires proper project development and project management - skills which will be developed by the team members.
The autonomous project development will enable students to understand and choose methods of synthetic biology in a problem oriented manner. Students will gain in depth knowledge of the field, not only in theory but also in a practical application, enhancing the students’ skills in molecular and microbiology techniques.
Finally, the obtained results will be properly published and communicated - online, but also at the competition in form of posters and presentations.
Communication skills of each team member will therefore be enhanced.
Noch mehr Informationen zur Lehrveranstaltung, wie Termine oder Informationen zu Prüfungen, usw. finden Sie auf der Lehrveranstaltungsseite in BOKUonline.