Competition/Team Requirements
1. Team Requirements
Below are the 2018 team requirements for participating in the iGEM Competition. If you have any questions about these requirements, please email us at hq AT igem DOT org.
- Collegiate: Teams consist primarily of collegiate students. You may also have postgraduate students and/or high school students on the team.
- High School: Teams consist of only high school students and students who will graduate high school in 2018. High School teams compete with other High School teams in the High School Track and Section.
- Please see 1.3 below for the definition of the Primary and Secondary PI for High School Requirements.
- Community Lab: Teams consist of members of a community lab. This can include anyone. Community Lab teams compete with Collegiate teams in the Traditional and Special Tracks and in the Undergraduate and Overgraduate Sections based on the team members' ages.
- Please see 1.3 below for the definition of the Primary and Secondary PI for Community Lab Requirements
- Students = Team player brainstorm, choose, and execute project idea; students are also responsible for documenting their work
- Primary and Secondary PI = General manager individuals in a position of authority (ex: in a university setting, he/she is authorized to have lab space, grants, and hiring privileges) who are responsible for team registration, team roster, safety forms, and team fees.
- Collegiate teams must have at least one professor serve as a PI, with the other PI a post-doc or above.
- High School teams must have the principal or teacher as one of the PIs, and this individual must have signing authority at the high school.
- Community Labs must have the director of the community lab as one of the PIs.
- Instructor = Head coach provides day-to-day support and technical training for the team
- Student team leader = Team captain point of contact between team, PI, and iGEM HQ
- Advisor = Assistant coach provides supplementary support
- Every student team member must do the following by the Team Roster Freeze:
- have an iGEM user account
- enter their age information
- join the online team roster by the Team Roster Freeze
- Undergraduate and Overgraduate teams have age restrictions for the student team members (see Section 1.4).
- Both the primary and secondary PIs must:
- have an iGEM user account
- join an online team roster by the Team Roster Freeze
For High School teams, one of the team PIs must be either a principal or teacher. - High School teams and Community Lab teams are not required to have a professor as one of their team PIs, but can if they want to.
- Instructors must:
- have an iGEM user account
- join the online team roster by the Team Roster Freeze
- Advisors must:
- have an iGEM user account
- join the online team roster by the Team Roster Freeze
- Student team leaders must:
- have an iGEM user account
- join the online team roster by the Team Roster Freeze
- Undergraduate: all student team members are age 23 or younger on March 31, 2018. This applies to both collegiate and community lab Team Kinds.
- Overgraduate: one or more student team members are older than 23 on March 31, 2018. This applies to both collegiate and community lab Team Kinds.
- High School: all student team members are high school students on March 31, 2018; includes students who graduate from high school spring 2018
- Teams should have between 8 and 15 student team members.
- Teams with more than 15 student team members should consider splitting into two teams and taking advantage of the multiple team discount. This also gives a larger team adequate wiki space and presentation time to cover the work generated by more team members.
- Teams should be a gender-balanced team, and having approximately as many women as men on a team.
1.1 Composition
iGEM teams consist primarily of undergraduate students at an accredited college or university. Teams may also be composed of postgraduate students, high school students, or community lab members. Each team has a Team Roster that must be completed by the Team Roster Freeze. The Team Roster must include everyone who is involved with the iGEM team, including professors, teachers, instructors, advisors, and the student team members. The Team Roster should be filled out as early as possible. This can be an ongoing process as some team members and advisors are added or removed, but it should be filled in to the best of your ability on the same day that you register your team.
Why is the Team Roster Important?
- The Team Roster gives iGEM HQ information about the number of participants for the 2018 season and also gives iGEM HQ the contact information for the entire team. Team rosters must be finalized by the Team Roster Freeze, as only approved team members will receive a participation certificate.
The Team Roster is also used to determine the Team Section (see Section 1.4) as the age of the team members will determine the Team Section for collegiate and community lab Team Kinds (see Section 1.2).
1.2 Team Kind
In iGEM 2018, teams will register as one of three team "kinds", and each kind will have different team role requirements for the "Primary and Secondary PI" role. The rest of the roles are the same throughout the team kinds. The three team kinds are:
1.3 Roles
Similar to sports teams, team members have different roles and responsibilities on a team:
Role Details
Below are more details for each Team Role. Please read through each role carefully and email us at hq AT igem DOT org with any questions.
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Student role and requirements
Student team members brainstorm project ideas, choose a project idea, and build and test their chosen biological system. Students are also responsible for documenting their work.
Primary and secondary principal investigator (PI) role and requirements
Principal investigators (PIs) are individuals in a position of authority (ex: in a university setting, he/she is authorized to have lab space, grants, and hiring privileges) who are responsible for the team. This includes the official team registration, the team roster, certifying the safety form, payment of the team’s fees, and any other official aspect of the team. Team PIs provide guidance and support throughout the season, including assistance with fundraising, lab support, and help with school bureaucracy and regulations. PIs should plan on accompanying the team to the Giant Jamboree in November. The team PIs serve as the official points of contact for iGEM Headquarters; both PIs must be able to receive emails and phone calls from iGEM HQ, and respond promptly. Each team must have at least two PIs (primary and secondary).
For Community Lab teams, one of the team PIs must be the director of the community lab.
Instructor role and requirements
Team instructors provide day-to-day support for the team, and are aware of team activities and experimental plans. Instructors should also be responsible for the technical training of the team members in lab protocols.
Advisor role and requirements
Team advisors include graduate students, post-graduate students, post-docs, and/or technicians who support the team.
Student team leader role and requirements
Student team leaders serve as the team's point of contact between the team and iGEM Headquarters. You may nominate up to two student team leaders per team, but we do require at least one person to be listed.
1.4 Sections
There are three team sections in iGEM 2018:
All teams, regardless of their section, have the opportunity to participate in the 2018 Giant Jamboree - it will be the same event for all 3 sections.
Note: Your team's section will be calculated automatically by the iGEM software based on the ages of the student members on your team roster. Be sure to include ages for all student team members, otherwise the system will default to placing your team in the Overgraduate section even if you are an Undergraduate team.
1.5 Recommendations
Based on previous competitions, we also strongly recommend the following: