International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) is the premier undergraduate synthetic biology competition. Student teams are given kits of biological parts (genetic sequences) at some point during the spring from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools over the summer, they use these parts and new parts of their own design to construct biological systems and operate them in living cells. This project design and competition format is an exceptionally motivating and effective teaching method. Read more (here).

Vanderbilt iGEM was founded in 2013 and quickly grew to be the foremost undergraduate research organization at Vanderbilt University. It’s first year, Vanderbilt iGEM entered three teams into the international competition that all walked away with a Bronze medal rating, an impressive achievement for first year teams. Now in its second year, the team has grown scientifically and is currently in the process of working on a robust project that may change the paradigm of evolutionary stable gene design. Read more about it here.