Welcome

Welcome to our Meetup page! All teams are invited to attend the Aachen iGEM Meetup 2014. Please let us know beforehand if your team would like to take part in this unique opportunity to meet other iGEM teams, present and get feedback on our project, and have a lot of fun! Of course, non-iGEM participants are also highly welcomed to attend our public event. You can find all the important dates on September 13th and 14th here!

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Blog #21 - iGEM Meetup Last Weekend - a great success!

by Nina 09:27, 16 September 2014 (CDT)

Last weekend, six iGEM teams from all over Germany – namely Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Bielefeld, Tübingen, Freiburg and Munich – met with our team in Aachen.

Welcome teams! All teams were welcomed by our three beautiful receptionists.

The weekend started with a welcome ceremony for all iGEM teams in the Couven hall on our RWTH campus. This a game of “Synthetic Biology Jeopardy”, developed and programmed by our team member Michael. The game was divided into three rounds: two preliminary rounds and one final. In the first round, Munich alias “Bier”, Tübingen alias “Most” and Bielefeld alias “Bielefeld” challenged each other in the categories Abbreviations, Amino Acids, Bad Science Movies, Part Categories and Sponsor Logos. With 2400 and 800 points teams Most and team Bier, respectively, advanced to the final round. Though the team Bielefeld came in last, they got another chance to proceed to the final round by substituting for Freiburg’s team which didn’t make it on time due to traffic problems.

First round Teams battled each other in the five categories Abbreviations, Amino Acids, Bad Science Movies, Part Categories and Sponsor Logos.

Team Darmstadt alias “Darmstadt” lead the second round by finding most questions to the answers in the categories Deadlines, DNA, Molecular Masses, Picture Puzzles and Sounds of Science. However, in the second last question, they stumbled across the last “double jeopardy”, set all their points – and lost, enabling team Braunschweig alias “Carola” and team Bielefeld to proceed to the final round. After coming up with questions to the answer belonging to the categories BioBricks, Chemical Structures, Inheritance, Plots and Propaganda, team Most came out as the winner, while Bier, Bielefeld and Carola came in second, third and forth, respectively.

Picture Puzzles What could these three pictures stand for?

Double Jeopardy The double jeopardy that doomed Darmstadt's team.

After a break, all teams came together again at 7pm to welcome guests to the public part of the event. In 15-minute presentations, the teams from Bielefeld, Darmstand, Braunschweig, Tübingen, Munich and Aachen presented their project ideas to the public audience and answered some questions in the subsequent discussion round. Then the teams walked over to the residence village where we finished the evening with some pizza and drinks.

Take a break! After the jeopardy meetup participants could enjoy a hearty snack before preparing for the public presentations.

Public presentations Anna introduces iGEM team Braunschweig at the public presentations.

Although the night was quite short for some people, almost all teams made it to the Couven hall at 10am on Sunday. We started the day with a presentation about SynBio research by Alexander Grünberg from the Jülich Research Centre, followed by Brian Claudill from IDT Biologica who introduced the concept of the company’s GBlocks® to the audience.

Subsequently, the teams from Munich, Freiburg, Braunschweig, Bielefeld and Aachen gave more detailed presentations than the day before about their this year’s iGEM projects. Each presentation was vividly discussed and some valuable improvement suggestions were brainstormed.

BaKillus Members of iGEM team Munich present their project to the other teams.

Last but not least, the three winning teams of Saturday’s jeopardy game were rewarded with prizes, and we took this beautiful group photo:

Group Picture A final group picture taken by Carsten Ludwig from team Braunschweig.

The iGEM team Aachen hopes that everybody had a great time at our meetup, and that you could collect some valuable feedback about your projects! See you in Boston!.

Schedule

Saturday

Sunday

Location: Couvenhalle

Address

Couvenhalle

Kármánstr. 17-19

52062 Aachen

Getting there by bus

Bus 13A/B

If the bus timetable allows, take bus 13A/B to stop 'Technische Hochschule'. Take the way on the right hand side around the Kármán building and you will find the Couvenhalle on the right.

Bus 3A/B

Most of the times bus 13A/B will not operate. Then either take bus 3A/B to Audimax and walk in direction of RWTH Hauptgebäude/SuperC. You will find the bus stop 'Technische Hochschule' on your way.

More busses

Many buses stop at Driescher Gässchen. Exit the bus there and walk towards the Kármán Auditorium, RWTH Hauptgebäude/SuperC (in direction of a newly built street).

To plan your bus trip visit the [http://aseag.de/ ASEAG] homepage.

Getting around in Aachen

Aachen is, compared to other cities, quite compact. Basically, every route is well doable by foot. This way it is even possible to cross Aachen in 30 minutes! For instance, walking from Couvenhalle to Schanz is roughly 20 minutes by foot.

Regarding bus tickets, and depending on whether you wish to get one yourself or not, we highly recommend to stick together in groups of 5 and get a 'Minigruppenticket'.

Things to do in Aachen

If you are arriving early enough (or are departing late enough), there are a few things to do in Aachen.

Aachener Dom / Cathedral

The [http://www.aachendom.de/ cathedral] is the major landmark of Aachen. It was the palatinate of Charlemagne, and several other ancient kings and emperors were crowned under the cathedral's dome. A relict from these days is the marble throne on the upper level of the cathedral. Since 1978, it is an UNESCO World Heritage, the first one in Germany.

If you are a history geek or just want to learn more, the cathedral is a great place to visit. Taking a guided tour is highly recommended!

Lindt, Bahlsen & Lambertz Werksverkauf / Lindt, Bahlsen & Lambertz factory outlet

Who does not like chocolate?! If you ever wanted to get Lindt chocolate for cheap, we highly recommend this opportunity! 1kg of parlines for less than 5€ seems tempting, doesn't it?

Hours: Monday till Friday, 9am - 6pm and Saturday, 9am - 4pm
Address: Süsterfeldstraße 130, 52072 Aachen

If you make it to Lindt, stopping by at the Bahlsen factory outlet is worth the time as well. It is just across the street from Lindt. Cookie monsters will love this place!

Hours: Monday till Friday, 9am - 6pm and Saturday, 9am - 1pm
Address: Süsterfeldstr. 27, 52072 Aachen

Just down the street, there is another factory outlet by Lambertz. Their specialties are gingerbread and the famous Aachener Printen which you can get all year round. Christmas in September!

Hours: Monday till Friday, 9am - 6pm and Saturday, 9am - 1pm
Address: Ritterstraße 9, 52072 Aachen