Overview

At the Ben-Gurion University, iGEM was recently established as a General University course under the auspices of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences. The course is offered to students from all faculties in their last year of studies of their undergraduate degree. Only students that excel in their studies and have passed a personal interview with the course advisers are accepted and admitted to the course.

The course takes place over a full academic year, beginning in the academic year preceding the competition (Fall Semester) and ending after the iGEM Jamboree in the following Fall. The first assignment for the course was given during the summer vacation, when each student prepared an original idea for an iGEM project and presented it to the rest of the team. After all the ideas were presented, a team vote decided what will be the team’s choice project for that year. The next part of the course, which lasts approximately three months, involved intensive literature review and research to prepare a detailed research proposal. Each student thoroughly studied a specific element of the project and taught the information to the rest of the team. The last part of the course, involved lab work. The team established the lab themselves, ordered the necessary equipment and materials necessary for their project. From then on, the team has been working in the lab, applying their idea through experiments towards a proof of concept and demonstration of the viability of the proposed approach.

The goal of the iGEM course is to teach the students how to pursue independent scientific research. The students learn how to choose a research topic, whether it be a purely scientific question or one with practical applications. Then they learn how to choose experimental methods and plan experiments with the available equipment and knowledge, if necessary the team has consulted with experts in the field. Additionally, the students learn how to manage ongoing research through team meetings. The students experience real time problem solving, risk evaluation, writing research proposals, and experimental analysis.

In addition to the scientific aspect of the course, there is also the Human Practice aspect. Throughout the course the students work on presenting the project to the public through many different social and media platforms, as well as creating contacts with local and international researchers.