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The Netherlands is a small country, yet in iGEM it has a good reputation. Amsterdam organized two European Jamborees, and Groningen won the Grand Prize in 2012! To not let all this experience go to waste, the advisors and teams have put their forces together, and from that emerged ‘iGEM Netherlands’, a national effort to enhance the integration of synthetic biology activities, with a special focus on the international genetically engineering competition iGEM!

Dutch iGEM teams we unite

The goals of the organization include hosting an iGEM primer event for the new iGEM teams by the supervisors and past iGEMers, meet-ups to amalgamate new ideas and of course exchanging thoughts and bricks. This medium intends to improve the research quality, exchange past working experiences, preaching the iGEM mantras to the beginners, feedback on the human practices and safety measures, to equip the teams with an arsenal to tackle the obstacles during the iGEM competition. The preparatory course organized by iGEM Netherlands were in sequential order starting with the general introduction of iGEM and how it played a significant role in promoting synthetic biology, where our adventerous journey starts in Groningen back in April 2013.

The start of our journey

After our visit in Groningen, where lectures were held about synthetic biology, we were blown away by the endless possibities that one can achieve if you have the proper tool, creativity, support and dedication. After such a journey, our next stop is Delft.

The second stop, WOW! Delft is beautiful

This is where advanced cloning strategies were introduced and were explained in details. In additions, workshops were organized to help other iGEM team members to become more familiar with the computational analysis, modelling(mathlab), oscillation circuit and toggle switches simulation. Aside from these educational activities, another important aspect in iGEM is to get to know each other, forming a network between team members to help each other out during and outside of iGEM. This have prompted us to organize a meeting where all Dutch iGEM teams gather for presenting their work,exchanging feedbacks.

Presentation and exchanging feeback

After the exchange of constructive feedbacks, we end our day with a nice cozy BBQ, though it was raining, we managed to find a shelter in a secluded area. One of the best things that all of us enjoyed during the time we spent on eating, were talking about science (good time).

BBQ on rainy day (there's always the first time)

iGEM Netherlands is the first of its kind where a collaborative effort has been established on a national scale within the context of iGEM. This has been very beneficial in propelling our projects towards success with the knowledge that we have gained during the preparatory courses and activies that have been organized. This type of collaboration would be beneficial to other iGEM teams as well, should they choose to do so.