For those unfamiliar with the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, the annual iGEM competition might seem more like science fiction than a college event.
The international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which took place this past weekend outside of Boston, bills itself as the largest synthetic biology conference in the world. Much like an electrical engineer might build a circuit, synthetic biologists construct devices from cells and genes using standardized biological parts, called BioBricks.