Judging

Note: All Awards & Judging Criteria for iGEM 2008 are currently in draft form. The Awards & Judging details will be finalized in a few weeks. Please send any comments or suggestions for awards and judging by email to the judging committee at judging AT igem DOT org. For example, if you anticipate that your team will do something amazing or important, but that such a project would not be recognized via any of the mechanisms or awards below, let us know as soon as possible.

Important Dates
Be sure to study the official iGEM calendar to find out the final dates for different judging requirements.

BioBrick standard variance requests
One of the requirements for iGEM is that teams  are required to provide their parts to the Registry as standard biological parts in standard BioBrick plasmids. If a team wishes to use a different plasmid or different assembly method, they must document the new standard, explain their decision, and receive approval from iGEM Headquarters by the stated deadline. Please send your requests to judging AT igem DOT org.

Here is a list of variance requests:
 * 1)  UCSF (approved)
 * 2)  Wisconsin (denied)
 * 3)  Cambridge (approved)
 * 4)  LCG-UNAM Mexico (under evaluation)
 * 5)  Brown (approved)
 * 6)  Guelph (under evaluation)
 * 7)  Bejing Normal University (under evaluation)
 * 8)  Lethbridge CCS (under evaluation)
 * 9)  Warsaw (under evaluation)
 * 10)  Peking University (under evaluation)
 * 11)  Freiburg (approved)
 * 12)  UC Berkeley (approved)
 * 13)  U. Michigan (approved)
 * 14)  Heidelberg (under evaluation)

Click on an individual team to see their request.

Those variance requests will be "denied" that ask to submit non-biobricked parts or non-standard plasmids to the registry, but do not propose and document a new standard. The relevant guidance is provided by item 6 of the iGEM 2008 Requirements page.

The standard plasmid backbones that should be used for part submission are the pSB series in the Registry. These plasmid backbones can be found on the plasmid page on the Registry (partsregistry.org)

The judges recognize that many parts will require different vectors for specific devices or applications. However, one of the fundamental principles of iGEM is that we are all making parts to share. Submitting parts on a standard vector allows for easy replication and distribution as well as use. While it is a bit more work to move a biobrick part from a dedicated device plasmid to a standard biobrick plasmid, that extra effort will facilitate sharing and interoperability and will be greatly appreciated by both your peers and those that come after you. We do encourage the development of new standard vectors, but want to see complete documentation and evidence that they work before allowing their use for parts submission to the registry.

Complaints
To file an official complaint regarding iGEM 2008 judging you must send an email to complaints AT igem DOT org. Your email should include your real name, the real name of your school and team, and the real name and email address of your faculty advisor. Your email must also be copied to your faculty advisor. In your email please clearly state your complaint and what you hope will happen as a result of filing your official complaint. The iGEM judging committee will work diligently to respond to all complaints as quickly as possible. Complaints that are sent to other email addresses, or that do not include the requested information will be ignored. All decisions by the judges regarding complaints are final.