Biomod Blog

Dear BIOMOD Community,

Unfortunately, the upcoming BIOMOD 2021 competition has been canceled.

We have all entered a new global reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the time since we opened registration back in February. The BIOMOD Jamboree had been scheduled for March 2021, and the dates were sufficiently far away that we’ve delayed making any decisions related to COVID-19 measures.

However, we recently learned that UCSF will prohibit “large” campus gatherings (>10 people) at least through June 2021. This policy makes it clear that we won’t be able to host the upcoming Jamboree in San Francisco as planned. While access to a venue is one factor, the safety concerns driving the UCSF policy apply to our teams for any in-person meeting and associated travel. Thus, it does not make sense to try to find another venue, or meet at all.

Some conferences have opted to “go virtual” and meet online. That has been a good compromise for certain meetings, for example where the work was already completed. However, I’m reluctant to go that route for BIOMOD. Even if we were able to host a Jamboree (virtual or in-person), it seems unlikely that BIOMOD teams can safely carry out their projects in the several months preceding the Jamboree. Social distancing measures will restrict access normal to research labs around the world for the foreseeable future. Many universities are scrambling to refactor nearly every aspects of campus life including closing on-campus housing, migrating coursework online, and dealing with deep and unprecedented budget cuts. We already know that certain funds that would normally support BIOMOD teams will not be available this year.

The Board of Directors agreed that, due to the numerous logistical and safety issues caused by COVID-19, the only reasonable option is to cancel our event this year. We will be refunding all paid registration fees in full.

On behalf of myself, Rebecca Wheeler, and the Board, we wish everyone in our community a safe and healthy time in the months ahead. We look forward to reconnecting under more favorable circumstances.

Sincerely,
Shawn Douglas Ph.D.
Chairman, BIOMOD Foundation

This year represents the 10th anniversary of our nano-sized design competition, and we are planning some changes to enhance the sustainability and global reach of the competition.

Schedule changes

We are shifting the current schedule back by ~5 months from the normal schedule. Thus, we will host the next Jamboree in San Francisco in March 2021.

The majority of participating teams come from outside the United States, and we are shifting the BIOMOD schedule to better align with the academic calendars of participants worldwide. This change is also necessary for upcoming venue location changes.

We expect that the teams’ research calendars will also shift to reflect the new schedule - teams could still kick off the year with intense summer activity in the lab, and then use the fall and early spring semesters to wrap up the projects.

Venue changes

We will host the next event in San Francisco, but we are planning to host the 2022 Jamboree in Australia, and the 2023 Jamboree in Japan. Subsequent events may rotate back to the US and/or Europe, depending on interest and volunteer support (contact us if interested!)

Your Feedback

We have some flexibility in the specific Jamboree dates in 2021 (March 12–14 vs 19–21), and would like to hear your preferences! We would also like to gauge interest for future years.

Please fill out our survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/337TDVS

Additional comments can be submitted on our contact page.

Check out the 2019 BIOMOD Final Standings! Congratulations to all the teams who participated, as well as Team FilterPhytes for taking home the Grand Prize!

Photos from the event by JRUMANS PHOTOGRAPHY are hosted on this page.

The 2019 BIOMOD Jamboree is this weekend!

Here is the latest QuickGuide, which includes the full schedule:

BIOMOD2019-QuickGuide.pdf

Schedule only:

BIOMOD2019-Schedule.pdf

If we make any changes, the latest versions will be linked from this page.

Please RSVP for Sunday’s lunch

The BIOMOD 2019 Jamboree is nearly here!

While everyone is certainly busy putting the finishing touches on their projects and presentations, we’d like to ask that you join us for the post-Jamboree lunch social at the nearby Spark Social SF. We have booked the venue for our private event, and a free meal ticket will be provided.

Please RSVP using this link if you have not yet done so.