UPCOMING EVENTS
IGEM INFO APÉRO
November 10, 2022 - 18:00
The recruitment process for this year's iGEM team has started! Interested in creating a student project from scratch? Come to our info meeting next Thursday, November 10th, at Irchel (Y10-G-03) or via Zoom starting at 18:00. For more information see the iGEM selection page.
JOURNAL CLUB
ongoing
The journal club aims to promote scientific discourse between members and offers a great opportunity to read and discuss relevant papers in the field of synthetic biology. Happening on a bi-weekly schedule, anyone is warmly welcome to join, so contact Nic if you are interested! We are looking forward to all interesting discussions and exchanges to be had!
BOOK CLUB
ongoing
Round 6! Students get together regularly to discuss a (Synthetic) Biology related book of our own choosing. Interested in participating? Contact Larissa!
... AND MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Internal and open-to-all events for the end of 2022 and all of 2023 are currently in planning!
2022 - 2023
THE STORY SO FAR ...
Spring 2022
Book Club 5.0
The book we read this semester was "How to Build a Dragon or Die Trying: A Satirical Look at Cutting-Edge Science" and at the end we all agreed: a pocket-size photosynthetic dragon would be awesome!
06.04.22
At the General Assembly 2022, the board underwent some changes.
A huge thank you to Martina, Lynn, Anna, Nick, Jannik, and Tim for their invaluable work while on the SynBio board, and welcome to Larissa, Kiran, and Jan!
24.03.2022
It was awesome to see new and not-so-new faces at our Spring semester kick-off!
November 2021
We're very happy to announce that next years iGEM 2022 team has been assembled! They had their first meetup on 8.12.21 and we wish them all the best for the upcoming iGEM season!
Fall 2021
Book Club 4.0
We finished reading A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley this semester and ended with a viewing of the 1998 movie adaptation - admittedly, it was not the movie but the beta clerk and snacks that made it into such an enjoyable evening!
November 2021
The iGEM 2021 team can look back to a very successful iGEM season! Not only did they qualify for a gold medal, they also had 8 special prize nominations (including the category Best Plant Synthetic Biology), but they won their Track "Best New Application" and were in the Top 10 of the overgraduate category!
26.10.21
OMV Seminar: We would like to thank Dr. Parthasarathi Rath from the Center for Molecular Life Sciences in Basel for his interesting introduction on OMVs! It was great to see the iGEM team 2021 apply OMVs for boosting plants' immunity!
17.10.21
We had an amazing sunny day in Basel where we first visited the pharmaceutical museum. We learned many interesting and fun facts about the history and use of 'pharmaceutical' products. Afterwards, we visited the Anatomical museum where we were all amazed by the complexity and functionality of our bodies. Pizza at Vito's was a great lunch opportunity to exchange some thoughts!
We would like to thank Impulsfabrik for making this event possible!
11.10.21
How can synthetic biology revolutionise the pharma industry? At an online event organized by SynBio at the pharma firm Debiopharm, Dr. Christin Peters gave us all some insight about the potential of synthetic biology in the pharma industry through presenting her research!
Dr. Christin Peters is leading a team at the ZHAW, researching the exploitation of enzyme cascades for the production of compounds inside of cells.
03.10.21
This years hike took us up to Üetliberg and then along the Albisgrat to an energizing dip into Türlersee at the end!
30.09.21
It was great to see some new and ancient faces at our semester kick-off - it was great to see you all in person and get to know you a little better over a beer!
28.09.21
Did you stop by and say hi to us at our booth at the Erstifair?
17.07.21
With the swiss weather going crazy this summer, we substituted the BBQ with a pizza night for our first in-person event this summer!
20.5.21
We had a virtual discussion on the ethics of “Gene Drives”. Simply put, gene drives are a particular suite of genes which propagate throughout a population in a non-mendelian fashion. This allows for example to engineer a whole population of organisms to carry and express a desired set of genes.
Dr. Anna Deplazes, a senior teaching and research assistant at the department of philosophy at the UZH, joined us for this discussion and answered our questions related to the topic.
Spring 2021
Book Club 3.0
Students got together regularly (virtually of course atm) to discuss a biology related book of our own choosing. This semester, we have decided on The Art of Scientific Investigation by William Beveridge!
7.4.21
A group of SynBio students met for a virtual cookout! Armed with an ingredient list (Pasta, Lemon, Nuts, Avocado) and the theme "Green - but not pesto", we met up to show each other our art! Thank you to everyone who joined for the fun evening, it was great being able to "meet" with friends for dinner!
November 2020
The iGEM 2021 Team has been selected! We're so excited to see what project they will tackle!
22.11.20
The iGEM 2020 Team, who worked on their project "Plant Immunity Based Biosensing" in Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel's lab, were rewarded a gold medal from the Giant Jamboree! They additionally won their discipline "New Application"! We are unbelievably proud!
17.11.20
At the General Assembly 2020, the board underwent some changes.
We thank Alexander and Xenia for all the work they put into SynBio while being part of the board, and welcome Martina, Tim and Nick!
Fall 2020
Book Club 2.0
A group of SynBio members met biweekly to discuss The Gene by Siddharta Mukherjee. We discussed the historical, political and ethical context of new biological findings through looking at the history of the gene.
07.10.20
At this virtual Synthetic Biology Keynote Lecture, Professor Michael C. Jewett, Director of the Synthetic Biology Center of Northwestern University, presented his own research, followed by giving synthetic biology related career advice and answering some student questions.
23.09.20
At the cinema Houdini, we screened the movie Genesis 2.0, followed by a Q&A with the Academy-award nominated director Christian Frei!
08.09.20
Virtual Ersti Fair: what a great way to spread our mission and what we do to new UZH students!
16.08.20
It is said that suffering together strengthens a community. I suppose this is what kept us going throughout our SynBio hike to Mythen! Or maybe it was the prospect of a refreshing swim at the end of the hike.
22.07.20
BBQ time! Irchelpark offered a great way to safely mingle with old and new SynBio members on a beautiful summer evening.
Spring 2020
Book Club 1.0
During the spring semester and some of the summer vacation, a group of SynBio Members met biweekly (usually virtually of course) to discuss the book Regenesis by George Church, a leading synthetic biologist, and Ed Regis, a science communicator.
To be repeated!
19.02.20
Four SynBio members hosted the booth of our association at the central campus of the University of Zurich. They challenged the knowledge of students about biology and genetics and offered a chance to extract and visualize DNA from tomatoes. They enjoyed the interactions with people from many different backgrounds.
06.12.19
What better way to celebrate the end of the year than with SynBio's first christmas dinner? Thank you to everyone who came!
04.12.19
The UZurich 2020 team has been selected by the iGEM selection comittee built up by SynBio members. We wish then the best of luck with their project and look forward to working with them for events!
19.11.19
SynBio hosts an event where the iGEM UZurich team presents their project at Irchel while starting to recruit for the UZurich 2020 team
31.10.19 - 4.11.19
The UZurich 2019 team represents UZH for the first time at the Giant Jamboree 2019, taking place in Boston! They bring home one of the Silver Medals!
16.09.19
We are present at the first day of the semester with a booth at the Lichthof on Campus Irchel so that fellow students can get to know SynBio!
19.08.19
SynBio co-organized the first swiss iGEM meetup together with the UZurich2019 team, taking place at Irchel. An amazing opportunity for the UZurich, ETHZ and EPFL team to get to know each other and share some of the pain and pleasures of participating in iGEM!
09.08.19
SynBio and the UZurich 2019 team connected with the BUSS students on a nice summer day by organizing a journal club and a subsequent BBQ
14.04.19
Our student organization is now officially recognized by the University of Zurich
19.03.19
Foundation of SynBio by the iGEM UZurich 2019 team and fellow students at UZH