Test

Can simple biological systems be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells? Or is biology simply too complicated to be engineered in this way?

The only way to answer the question is to test whether engineering biology can practically be done.

The iGEM competition facilitates this providing a library of standardized parts to students, and asking them to design and build genetic machines with them. We call our parts BioBricks, and we organize them in a Registry.

Our broader goals are:

• To enable the systematic engineering of biology
• To promote the open and transparent development of tools for engineering biology
• And to help construct a society that can productively apply biological technology