iGEM is one of the team competitions I have participated over the longest time. Even though I am only a supporting role in this synthetic biology-based competition, it very much aligns with my personal values and the characteristics of computer science, that is, to become stronger in the process of helping others. More importantly, this competition has allowed me to make a lot of good friends for a lifetime.
My friend Nick invited me to join their iGEM team to work on a synthetic biology project. What attracted me in iGEM is not the biological competition part, but rather being able support my friends with my modeling skills, and also the opportunity to work in a team over a long period of time for about a year.
iGEM projects were challenging, and we always needed to work together in a team to tackle the challenge, like the wiki design and the modelling. Often we stayed up late together, and our friendship grew closer.
This is the poster we finished for our project. I am proud of leading the modeling group.
In October 2019, we attended the iGEM event Giant Jamboree in Boston, USA. There are so many people all round the world, and it is a totally new experience because the participants are from a wide range of backgrounds, including biological scientists, Human practices activists, and modeling and coding lovers like me.
Presenting the poster with my teammates and friends was a thrilling and exciting experience. This is our first time going through the entire professional process of preparing posters, presentation scripts and mock interviews. We didn’t rest much on the first day we landed in US, not even for the jetlag. We raised questions to each other and practiced our interviews throughout the night.
On the stage of final judging, I presented the modeling and coding part of the project to our judge group, including six judges from different backgrounds and countries. They did raise many challenging questions, and I think I did well!
Near the end the the Jamboree event, high school team awards were announced. Our team won the Gold medal and nominated for best integrate Human Practice. Cheers to our team!
This is the first iGEM gold medal we won.
We were all very excited about our achievements. It was more than winning in a competition, but how we worked together and supported each other through difficult times. We promised that we would get together at least one every year after this, for our friendship lasts longer than the awards.
Although we returned to our own schools after completing the competition, we would get together every once in a while.
In 2020 and 2021, I joined the same iGEM team and worked in the modeling group, winning a silver medal in 2020 and a gold medal and ranking top 10 in 2021. I made new friends with new teammates. Again in 2022, I worked as the team advisor for the modeling aspect of the project.