It's the end of the first day of the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. Thanks to American Airlines, I wound up missing the first of the four main sessions. But I've almost managed to catch up on what I missed through the poster session that rounded off my time at the Stata Center today.
In the five years since competition first got underway, iGEM has not just grown in terms of numbers - there were just five teams who entered the 2004 competition; this year 77 teams from around the world presented their work in Cambridge, MA. Although it started as a competition for undergraduates, the age range has increased with some teams, such as the University of California at San Francisco, bringing high-school students onboard. Other than the advisors, the Lethbridge Calvin Christian School (CCS) team started off as all high-school students.
This evening, the judges had the unenviable task of whittling the 77 final entries down to six finalists. They get a second chance to describe their work tomorrow in the Kresge Auditorium at MIT in a bid to win the top prize.
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