Requirements

NOTE:

All iGEM participants (including students, instructors, and advisors) are expected to read and understand the following iGEM requirements.

Teams that do not comply with the requirements may not be eligible to win awards and prizes. See all details below and be sure to ask iGEM Headquarters if you have any questions.

1. Team

1.1 Composition

iGEM teams consist primarily of undergraduate students at an accredited college or university. Teams may also be composed of high school students or community lab members.

1.2 Roles [details]

Similar to sports teams, team members have different roles and responsibilities on a team:

  • Students = Team player brainstorm, choose, and execute project idea; students are also responsible for documenting their work
  • Primary and Secondary PI = General manager individuals in a position of authority (ex: in a university setting, he/she is authorized to have lab space, grants, and hiring privileges) who are responsible for team registration, team roster, safety forms, and team fees; at least one PI must be a professor, the other PI must be post-doc or above. See the Team Roles page for additional details.
  • Instructor = Head coach provides day-to-day support
  • Student team leader = Team captain point of contact between team, PI, and iGEM HQ
  • Advisor = Assistant coach provides supplementary support

1.3 Sections

There are three team sections in iGEM 2016:

  1. Undergraduate: all student team members are age 23 or younger on March 31, 2016
  2. Overgraduate: one or more student team members are older than 23 on March 31, 2016
  3. High School: all student team members are high school students on March 31, 2016; includes students who graduate from high school spring 2016

For details see the sections page.

1.4 Recommendations

Based on previous competitions, we also strongly recommend the following:

  • Teams should have between 8 and 15 student team members.?
  • Teams with more than 15 student team members should consider splitting into two teams and taking advantage of the multiple team discount. This also gives a larger team adequate wiki space and presentation time to cover the work generated by more team members.
  • Teams should be a gender-balanced team, and having approximately as many women as men on a team. ?

2. Registration

2.1 Team Kind [details]

In iGEM 2016, teams will register as one of three team "kinds", and each kind will have different registration requirements. The three team kinds are:

  1. Collegiate
  2. High School
  3. Community Lab

2.2 Team Affiliation

Several schools may combine to form a team, and one school may have several teams. For example, it is normal for a school to have both software and wetlab teams.

2.3 Fees

Each team pays a team registration fee, which provides the team with a team wiki, associated materials and support, one presentation slot at the Giant Jamboree, and one poster location at the Giant Jamboree. Additionally, each individual who attends the Giant Jamboree must pay an attendance fee to gain entrance.

Team registration fees for iGEM 2016 are:

  • Regular registration: $4500 USD
  • Late registration: $5000 USD
  • Multiple team discount: $1000 USD discount

Giant Jamboree attendance fees for iGEM 2016 are:

  • Giant Jamboree attendance: $695 USD per person (PI, instructor, advisor, student)

3. Deliverables

Every iGEM team is responsible for delivering the following items. These items are used to evaluate your team, in addition to the other medal and award criteria. Failure to complete these deliverables may impact your team’s chances at winning prizes during the Giant Jamboree.

3.1 Required Deliverables

  1. Team Wiki: Teams need to document their project on their Team Wiki page.?
  2. Poster: Each team must present a poster of their project at the Giant Jamboree.?
  3. Presentation: Each team has 20 minutes to present their project at the Giant Jamboree. The presentation must be given by a student.?
  4. Project Attribution: Teams need to attribute all of the work done for their project correctly.?
  5. Registry Part Pages: Teams must create and document Part pages on the Registry for the Parts they make.?
  6. Sample Submission: Submit DNA samples of your new Parts to the Registry.?
  7. Safety Forms?
    1. Safety Check-in [link]: Due on Sep 16 (Submit throughout the season)
    2. About Our Lab [link]: : Due on Jul 15
    3. About Our Project [link]: : Due on Jul 15
    4. Final Safety Form [link]: Due on Sep 16
  8. Judging Form ?
    • Due Date: Oct 14
    • [link] (go to your team information page and click on the Judging Form link at the top of the page)

4. Rules of Conduct

Conduct in the iGEM Competition is overseen by two committees of external experts: the Safety Committee and the Responsible Conduct Committee. Failure to follow the rules may result in these committees choosing to take disciplinary action against your team, up to and including ineligibility for awards and disqualification from the competition.

4.1 Safety

Teams must agree to follow all of the Laboratory Safety Rules throughout the competition.?

4.2 Responsibility

Every iGEM participant must agree to adhere to the Responsible Conduct Committee's Conduct Policy at all times.?

4.3 Honesty

Be intellectually honest. Describe your accomplishments accurately, and do not take credit for the work of others.?

4.4 Courtesy

Treat everyone with respect (including teammates, instructors, advisors, other teams, judges, and Headquarters staff).?

5. Other

5.1 Positive Contribution

All participants are required to work hard to build positive contributions to society and have lots of fun!