Team:Virginia/mid-atlantic
Summary
Virginia iGEM had the pleasure of hosting this year’s annual Mid-Atlantic iGEM Meetup. Attendees consisted of the College of William and Mary, University of Pittsburgh, University of Richmond, and University of Maryland iGEM teams. Through this event, teams had the opportunity to share their project progress, initiate collaborations, and gain new insights from our guest speakers. The keynote speaker was Alex Zorychta, the Assistant Director for Technology Entrepreneurship and former Virginia iGEM team member. We also set up a panel to discuss the role of synthetic biology in society today as well as various iGEM-related topics. Our panelists were Associate Professor of Cell Biology at UVA Dr. Keith Kozminski, Director of nanoSTAR Institute Dr. Mark Kester, and Executive Director at Open Bio Labs Shaun Moshasha
All the teams that presented at the Mid-Atlantic Meetup
Keynote Speaker
Alex Zorychta
Alex Zorychta is the Assistant Director for Technology Entrepreneurship at UVA, where he teaches creativity to engineering student entrepreneurs and helps them build their ideas into businesses. He was a member of the 2012 Virginia iGEM, which repurposed pregnancy tests to detect whooping cough. The team earned a Translational Research Grant and pursued their project full-time. Outside of iGEM, Alex began helping younger students take a similar path, and has enabled many projects to take flight and make a real world impact. Only 4 years after getting involved, he has doubled interest in entrepreneurship at UVA.
Takeaways from the Keynote
The keynote began quite unusually, demanding students introduce themselves to individuals in the room they had never met before. The catch: you could not repeat any single fact about yourself while meeting different people. This exercise was both used as an icebreaker, as well as a vehicle to introduce the mechanics of design thinking.
He prefaced the entire presentation by providing the struggles endured by his team, indicating that the lack of entrepreneurial foresight is what contributed most to the project's eventual downfall. The presentation proceeded by methodically addressing how we might begin to approach each of these key investments in our own projects. Important topics included the importance of gathering data, divergent/convergent design thinking, customer discovery, and more.
Alex concluded by presenting several ways teams can strengthen the appearance of their projects, as well as bolster the impact we all seek to uniquely achieve as iGEMers.
Panel
Dr. Keith Kozminski
- Associate Professor of Biology and Cell Biology
- Virginia iGEM Advisor
- Synthetic Biology Enthusiast
Dr. Mark Kester
- Director of nanoSTAR Institute
- Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Pharmacology, and Molecular Physiology/Biophysics
Shaun Moshasha
- Executive Director at Open Bio Labs
- CEO of Kombucha Biomaterials, LLC
- Former Virginia iGEM member
Takeaways from "SynBio Today" Discussion
While the dangers of synthetic biology (ex: designer babies) are widely-discussed, synthetic biology’s positive contributions remain a niche topic. Even as new technology enables a broader implementation of SynBio, the public perception of synthetic biology has not significantly changed.
By implementing relaxed regulations on synthetic biology research, the FBI could oversee research that otherwise would have been conducted underground. The lax regulations also allowed the field to grow and expand at an unprecedented rate. This, in combination with government funded grants through NSF and NIH, promotes research to reach greater potentials.
What is a good iGEM project?
We asked the panelists what make iGEM projects “good” in their eyes. By asking this question, teams would be able to better understand the proper course of action for their projects and decide the best way to present their work at the Jamboree. Shaun Moshasha spoke about how it is imperative that teams recognize the scope of their project and aim for concrete milestones. Presenting achievement of such milestones strengthens the project incredibly.
Also, we decided to take advantage of our panelists’ experience with iGEM and/or successful entrepreneurial initiatives by asking questions regarding how teams can turn their iGEM projects into business ventures post-Jamboree. Shaun Moshasha highlighted how “iGEM is the first step in a R&D pipeline.” Proof of concept must be established before looking into scaling up the device. Once teams are able to demonstrate that their technology is feasible, it is important to create a network of support, including experienced entrepreneurs and experts in fields related to the technology. The panelists emphasized how too many technologies are falling apart because of lack of support. By identifying connections and accessible resources, iGEM projects have the potential to transform into marketable products.
Taking iGEM projects to the real world requires:
- Critically think about who to approach at what time
- Collaboration and customer discovery
- Challenging collaborating groups to promote continuity
