Biomod Blog

The 2018 BIOMOD Jamboree is this weekend! Here is the QuickGuide which includes the full schedule:

BIOMOD2018-QuickGuide.pdf

All current information is available in the BIOMOD Handbook, which is free for all BIOMOD participants. The website instructions can be found in Chapter 1, and are reproduced below.

Once your site is set up, please remember to enter the URL on your team profile page on the BIOMOD 2017 portal site so judges can find it.

How to Create A Website

There are many options to set up a website, including Weebly, Wordpress, GitHub Pages or GitLab Pages.

Weebly, and Wordpress are both great options for building your team website, especially if your team does not have experience with web design. Advanced users will prefer more customizable alternatives below.

GitHub Pages was introduced as a website option for BIOMOD in 2014. It is free, and supports the Jekyll static-site generator, or hard-coded HTML sites. Users who have experience with git source code management may prefer this option. We find that GitHub Desktop can be useful for managing file synchronization.

GitLab Pages is a similar alternative to GitHub Pages. It allows the greatest flexibility in that any major static-site generator can be used, such as Hugo, Pelican, or Jekyll. GitLab also offers free private git repositories.

On a historical note, early BIOMOD teams used OpenWetWare, which runs on the same software that powers Wikipedia. This is why you may see references to the team “Wiki” — that just refers to the team website. OpenWetWare is a fantastic community resource and houses lots of synthetic biology knowledge from its use by iGEM teams and research groups for open lab notebooks. However, it is showing its age from a web-design perspective, and most teams prefer more modern alternatives.

Call for Participation ~ BIOMOD JAPAN 2018

The Molecular Robotics Research Group will hold BIOMOD JAPAN 2018 again this summer. This is a one-day meeting for teams who want to practice their presentations ahead of BIOMOD Jamboree in San Francisco. Please use this opportunity to brush up your project by receiving feedback from mentors of other teams. Teams planning to participate in BIOMOD 2018 or teams in the waiting list for BIOMOD 2019 are all eligible. Participation is totally free.

• Date: August 26, 2018 (Sunday) 1300-1700
• Location: Osaka University Toyonaka Campus Sigma Hall (Sigma Hall (No. 27 “Hall”))

Requirements

On the basis of the same criteria of BIOMOD, contents of presentation and wiki will be evaluated by real mentors. YouTube video is not a subject to evaluation. The results will be fed back to participating teams.

• Presentation time: 10 minutes with 5 minutes Q & A
• Project abstract deadline: Saturday, August 4, 2018, 24:00
• Wiki Freeze: Saturday, August 18, 2018, 24:00
• Evaluation: 50 points for wiki and 25 points for presentation (same as the BIOMOD Jamboree, except for the YouTube video)

Applications to join BIOMOD JAPAN 2018 should be sent to:

Prof. Dr. Akinori Kuzuya, Kansai University
E-mail: kuzuya[at]kansai-u.ac.jp

Please specify names of the team, contact person, and the mentor(s). (Invited teams and those applied already do not have to do so again.)

Hello BIOMODders! It’s time to kick off the 7th year of our nano-sized design competition.

Requirements updates

• Maximum team size is still 8 students. Faculty, graduate, and postdoc mentors do not count toward this tally.
• We will begin enforcing the 3-minute maximum length for Project YouTube videos.
• Intellectual Property: Teams must disclose technical details of their projects to be eligible for judging. Provisional patents, if necessary, should be filed in advance of the judging period.
• We have added an Code of Conduct. To our knowledge, past participants have adhered to this code, but we would like to make it explicit so expectations are clear.

Judging updates

We have simplified our ranking procedure for Gold, Silver, and Bronze project awards. Bronze awards go to teams that satisfy all project requirements. Silver awards go to teams with scores in the top 50%, and Gold awards go to teams with scores in the top 25%.

Registration & Fees

Watch the timer on the BIOMOD front page…this registration link will go live at the end of the countdown. A fee of $265 USD is due at the time of team registration, payable by credit card or wire transfer. This year’s individual Jamboree registration fee will be $195 USD per person, due in late September along with your project title and abstract. Registrations are only considered complete when payment is received and a confirmation email is sent.

Available Team Slots and Wait List

The BIOMOD Jamboree is a special event, and we want all participants to be able to present in the same room, and have a chance to interact. This format places constraints on our event size and duration. Therefore, we are limiting registration to a maximum of 25 teams this year. We will post regular updates on the BIOMOD website and social media accounts so everyone can track how many slots are left.

Venue

The Jamboree will take place October 27–28 in San Francisco, California and be hosted at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

Congratulations to Capsid Constructors from UNSW Australia for earning the 2017 Grand Prize! Visit our winners page to see all final standings.