Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012 - (Page 11)

Synthetic Biology, Brick by Brick by Chris Thompson CREATIVE COMMONS W hen my AP biology teacher, Mr. Rihm, first mentioned iGEM, I actually thought he was talking about a new Apple product. Then he explained that iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machines, a competition that combines engineering principles with biology. Those are my two favorite subjects, so that was all I needed to hear. Three of my friends, Austin Frazier, Brent Poling, and Lucas Ruﬀ, and I decided to start a team. As interested as we were in iGEM, we had no idea of what it actually involved. We started by going to an information session at our school, where our teachers tried to explain what we would have to do. Because our teachers had never participated in iGEM, either—largely because the contest has been geared to college students—their attempts at explanation just increased our confusion. Finally, they sent us out to do some research and to brainstorm possible projects. For inspiration, we looked at projects that other iGEM teams had done in the past. www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine imagine 11 http://www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Reading Tea Leaves
iGEM: Synthetic Biology, Brick by Brick
Young Biologists, Big Discoveries
My Journey to the International Biology Olympiad
Lab Notes
Macro Menagerie
My Summer at SIMR
Selected Opportunities & Resources
The World on Stage
Lessons from Chess
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012