This year the devoted and strongly motivated Aix-Marseille team organized the second Mediterranean meet up in Marseille on the 9th and 10th of August. This second edition was a great opportunity to meet more teams and countries each other and to share about our projects. It was a meetup including poster presentations, to which we invited teams from all the Mediterranean countries. It gave us all an opportunity to make a rehearsal presenting before the Giant Jamboree.

This year, 7 teams from Spain and France joined us: UPF_CRG_Barcelona, Madrid-OLM, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Pasteur_Paris, Paris_Bettencourt, and Montpellier. To kick-off the meeting presented their projects. Toengage the audience, each team gave a 180-second synthesis of their project. This was an initiative taken from Swissnex Brazil and Nano-Tera.

We had a superb judging panel, to evaluate the presentations and give us all feedback on how they perceived our projects, that included: Mr. Laurent VILLARD (Department of medical genetics at the Timone hospital), M. Victoria SCHMIDT (Post-doctoral at the LISM laboratory), M. Leticia HOUOT (our Secondary PI), Mr. Gauthier DANGLA PELISSIER (one of our Instructors), Mr. Marlon SIDORE (one of our Instructors), and M. Thea Chrysostomou the European after-iGEM ambassador

The snap presentations gave a very dynamic and a punchy training session. It was a chance for iGEMers to make a concise synthesis of their project. Additionnal poster sessions and bioethics round tables allowed a more thorough description of the project with a support and encouraged discussion about the projects in a relaxed atmosphere. After the project presentations, we all went on a visit to discover the city. This tour allowed the different teams to get to know each other better and create strong social links. The meet-up was an excellent rehearsal for presenting the project and a great opportunity to develop cooperation between teams. A big thank you to all the attendees for joining us in Marseille.

We are really looking forward to seeing you all again at the Giant Jamboree.