Team:BostonU/HP/Tours
LabCentral is a place for young biotech startups to rent out lab space while they grow. Eventually, these startups grow large enough to "graduate," leaving LabCentral and acquiring their own private labs. Our sponsor Phenomyx invited us to tour the space and see how these startup companies work day to day. In addition, we were given the opportunity to present our project and listen to presentations by other iGEM teams.
Both BostonU iGEM teams traveled to Ginkgo Bioworks with several of our mentors to tour their lab facility and see some of their experiments, some of which focus on generating synthetic fragrances. We were particularly interested in the many innovations that exist in the integrative field of molecular cloning and automation, which Ginkgo is highly involved in. Some of the biotechnology tools they used, such as one to perform gel extractions, could perform with impressive speed and scale. Both teams walked away finding the tour a beneficial experience to see how their work in an academic setting adapted into a much larger, growing industry for biotechnology and synthetic biology.
While visiting Monsanto, we were given a presentation about what their work at that particular branch of Monsanto. We learned about the process of protein optimization and got a tour of their lab space. Their scientists are working on designing a protein to express in plants that would be toxic to certain species of insects. In addition, they were excited to hear about both BU iGEM teams projects, and both teams gave full presentations.
