Supporting Young Scientists
Competing in iGEM

Promega is a corporate Partner Sponsor of the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition following the initiatives taken by many global Promega branches over the last several years to support iGEM teams in their own countries. This annual competition encourages the advancement of synthetic biology, education and collaboration as multidisciplinary teams of high school and university students from around the world design, build, test and measure a system of their own creation using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques.

In addition to branch-level sponsorships, Promega awarded $2,000 corporate sponsorships to ten international teams competing in the 2019 iGEM competition. These teams won several awards and were represented from all over the world including Singapore, Paris, New York, Abu Dhabi, Brazil and Canada. NUS Singapore’s project, E.co LIVE, also earned the Undergrad Awards for Best Foundational Advance Project and Best Part Collection. They were able to engineer E. coli with an on/off switch to control the productivity of the organisms and extend their productive lifespan.

The competition culminates with the iGEM Jamboree where the global teams gather to share their work with all the iGEM team representatives, fostering scientific connections among the teams.

Promega Spain won the iGEM Voluntades award given for continued commitment to mentoring young scientists. Our branch in Spain supported an innovative group of students who coordinated a research project that demonstrated the close relationship between the start of a metastasis (malignant growths) and palmitic acid (a common fatty acid found in animals). The iGEM team was awarded with VIP access to Promega Spain’s technical services department, products that were free of charge to conduct the experiments needed, and a visit to the Promega Spain office to receive training and professional development on the latest molecular biology topics and technologies.