Catchy words for the jury

Next week the Groningen iGEM team flies to Boston to present its results at the jamboree. Is their bacterium that can generate energy from water in with a chance? Much depends on the presentation, so they are practising hard.

This is the last blog from the Netherlands, because we fly from Amsterdam to Boston on Tuesday. We might be able to send a last blog from the plane, but otherwise it will be after we have gained our first impressions of Boston. One thing we’re definitely doing when we’re in Boston is giving a talk at the GRoninger Researchers Night, via an internet connection. Lucky for us that technology has come so far in recent years, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to attend.

As this is the last blog, it also means that we’re incredibly busy. Everything needs to be ready by tomorrow, so we won’t be getting much sleep tonight. Then we’ll enter a relatively quiet stage, although we do still have to make the poster. The last and most exciting part of this adventure will appear in the next blog.

We definitely can’t wait to see the presentations, poster sessions and, for example, the presentation by the FBI. They’ll probably warn us that they’re going to keep a good eye on us and tell us to stick to the rules. Luckily we’re 10 law-abiding students with no bad intentions.

Last week was the annual iGEM auction in Groningen. It was a fundraising auction of services and food. The first item auctioned was an iGEM cake, made without genetic modification incidentally. The most popular item was the lab slave for a day, but the romantic three-course meal at Hotel Karsten also proved very popular. All in all a very successful afternoon at the University.

This week we’ll be practising the final presentation several times a day, each time for a different critical jury that can give further points for improvement. Let’s hope everything falls into place rather than apart. Last year’s team told us that it’s all about the presentation, so the pressure is definitely on.

It makes me think of the Dutch saying ‘Doe normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg’, which translates as something like ‘Just be normal. That’s crazy enough’. That is of course super Dutch, whereas things are that bit more showy in the US. So our presenters who will be taking the stage in Boston are now on a crash course in bragging, and we are now trying to come up with catchy phrases to use in the presentation such as make the future green, or even better, make it blue.

If you have any inspiration, do let us know. It might just be the best phrase ever, and it might even lead us to victory!

Read our previous blog posts too: Team iGEM Groningen 2015: Blue Bio energy , The fascination of bacteria and Naturally manipulated.

Text: Wiebrand de Boer

More information on Team Groningen on their iGEM website and their University of Groningen crowdfunding page .