Introducing People iGEM

Ankara Büyükşehir Belediyesi

With roughly 5 billion population and the specialty of being the capital of Turkey, Ankara is a vast and important city.

What we did was going to Ankara Büyükşehir Belediyesi (Ankara Municipality) and informing them about iGEM and our studies. We explained them what iGEM is, how we have been actively participating in the competition and how we require support.

In the meeting, they stated how they believe genetic engineering and such competitions are fundemental in the advancement of the country and how they should be supported.

Bank Asya

We took an appointment from one of the leading banks of Turkey, Bank Asya. They did not turn us down and we went to the Bank Asya Central Bureau as planned.

In the appointment, we talked about synthetic biology, genetics and iGEM. We spoke about the activities we conduct and the studies we do. Also, we had a delightful speech about the place of synthetic biology in the economy and the future of this field of science. We want to thank them for their patience and cooperation.

Yüzüncü Yıl Hospital

Being one of the important hospitals of Ankara, Yüzüncü Yıl Hastanesi (Yuzuncu Yil Hospital) accepted our rendezvous request.

In the meeting, we talked about synthetic biology, it's applications and the past projects plus our own iGEM project including last year's and this year's project. They were amazed at how iGEM projects were applicable in real life and were happy to see that there were many projects done on the medical field.

Although they had their doubts about the use of genetics on the field of medicine, our speech was effective in removing their false beliefs about synthetic biology.

E-Biko

With a wide array of participants worldwide, E-Biko is one of the most prestigious IT based competitions. In the competition, teams presented their projects to the judges with anxiousness. With 504 participating schools, the event was one of the biggest competitions with participants ranging from elementary students to high schools. The competition that took place at 12th of May was a great experience for all the people that were present.

Throughout the competition day, we did our best to introduce people iGEM and increase their awareness. With also the survey that we prepared and did to the visitors, we acquired quite a bit of information about what people think about genetic engineering, synthetic biology and iGEM. With the reality of having an international crowd, the survey results were very accurate and objective.

Overall we can say that the competition was both great for the students and for us. We captured a time period where we could introduce many people to iGEM.

Click here for the list of participating schools.

Dreamline

Between 13-14 April, the Dreamline International Design and Project Competition was held at AnkaMall. 126 teams with students from the U.S. to Somalia gathered to compete to be the one with the best design. The competition officially started off at 10 a.m. Saturday morning with the opening speech and closed off with the awards ceremony on Monday.

Half of our team were also voluntery staff and went there to introduce people iGEM. We had delightful time with the competitors and had were happy to see the attention everyone gave to us. We would like to thank them all.

TUBITAK Girişimcilik ve Yenilikçilik Yarışması

TUBITAK Girişimcilik ve Yenilikçilik Yarışması (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition) is a project competition on environment, health care, transport, energy, tourism and nurture. Being held by the most important ententity on science and technology in Turkey, the competition had high popularity.

We also sent a group from our team to compete and introduce people to iGEM. They met many people and tried their best to inform people. With the both the joy and laughter, the competition was a great chance for us to introduce people to iGEM.

Turkish Olympiads

This year, the 11th of the annual Turkish Olympiads were held. The poem finals were in Ankara and the show was spectacular as always.

Taking the situation into account, we quickly springed into action to introduce people iGEM. We met many students from many colors and talked with them, learnt what they know about genetic engineering and acknowledged them about synthetic biology.

Although we tried to pull off our job, the coordinator of the event caused some problems. We tried to peacefully reach out to everyone but he kicked us out. We came back in but were to forced to go out once more. At least we tried our best.

Atlantik Awards Ceremony

The Atlantik Awards Ceremony is an event the Atlantik Educational Institutions held at MEB (Ministry of National Education) Şura Salonu. In the event, students who acquired success at competitions and organizations were awarded. 87 Awards were given out.

In the event, the conference hall was full with many parents, students and special guests including the Ankara Deputy Governer, Deputy Customs and Trade Minister, Deputy Science Industry and Technology Minister, singer Orhan Hakalmaz and many more.

In the ceremony, our iGEM team was also awarded seperately and the competition was introduced to the guests. We were able to reach many people through the ceremony.