iGEM McMaster

That’s a wrap on our Human Practices meetings for this iGEM year!
We’re so grateful to have a great group of students dedicated to our team. While it’s sad for some things to end, we are looking forward to meeting new members in the coming month!

Keep an eye out for new sub-team and general member applications coming out soon 👀 👀

Members of our Human Practices Sub-team (and a friend from ) were able to meet today (IN-PERSON!) to talk about mental health and wellbeing.
Since being introduced to the concept of social contact by Dr. Patten, our team members have been excited to bring light to these important stories!

❗️EXTENDED DEADLINE❗️

After some expressed interest, we decided to also extend our Wet Lab application deadline!

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Are you interested in synthetic biology 🧬 , working in an interdisciplinary team to create innovative research projects 🤝, and competing alongside teams from across the country🏆? Being a member of the McMaster iGEM WetLab team is all of that and MORE!! Check out this awesome opportunity to be either a junior member (1st and 2nd years), senior member (3rd and 4th years), or mentor (graduate students). No research/scientific experience is required for junior members, while some experience is needed for senior members - check out the role descriptions in our google form to learn more!!! The link to the application can be found in our bio, due JANUARY 7th!! - feel free to dm us, or message Hala Mahdi (), Janice Xu (.icex), or Facebook message Amanda Densil if you have any questions!

You might be wondering how Hamilton Harbour became polluted in the first place... Hamilton Harbour’s Randle Reef reveals the historical impact of the steel and iron industry in Hamilton. It is the largest contaminated sediment in the Canadian Great Lakes and is highly polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. PAHs are chemical compounds made up of only carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in multiple aromatic rings, and many PAHs are known to be carcinogenic. These chemical compounds can poorly affect aquatic life and birds, and can result in bioaccumulation within ecosystems. Currently, Randle Reef contains about 695,000 cubic meters of PAH-contaminated sediments. That’s enough to fill three hockey rinks! With all that, it’s no wonder that Randle Reef needs to be contained and cleaned up.

Stay tuned for our next post where we’ll be introducing this year’s project!