Wrapping up our 2023 year of firsts with our very first in-person Final Showcase!

On the 29th of September, our Challengers from seven brilliant teams converged at the Australian National University Research School of Physics Auditorium to present their amazing projects to an audience of peers and experts in the SynBio community. It was an exciting day of meeting each other face to face for the teams, our guests, and the organisers and of showcasing what everyone has accomplished at the end of the Challenge!

Here are the highlights:

Mr. Bradley Bell, Ngunnawal Traditional Owner opens the Challenge with a Welcome to Country

Minister Chris Steel gives the opening speech

Dr. Colin Scott, CSIRO Biofoundry Director, gives the keynote speech

Dr. Joe Brock, Director of the ASBC on the Challenge's mission and why we are here

And the most exciting and most important part of the day, the team presentations!

The University of Technology Sydney's GraviLab

The University of Melbourne's MIRmaids

The Macquarie University's Syn Bee-ology

The University of Newcastle's Denovocastrians

The University of Queensland's Nitrobrew

The Monash University's SynbioM

The Australian National University's ANU virumediation

After the thrilling presentations was the Career Advice Panel Session with our wonderful industry experts ARC COESB’s Dr. Ian Paulsen, CSIRO’s Dr. Carol Hartley, and Nourish Ingredients’ Dr. Claudia Moratti.

Dr. Jason Whitfield hosts the Career Advice Panel with Dr. Carol Hartley, Dr. Claudia Moratti, and Dr. Ian Paulsen

As another first for the Challenge, we gave out the very first Crowd Favourite Award with the Monash University’s SynBioM winning on their first time joining the Challenge!

Crowd Favourite winner Monash University's SynBioM

We again would like to thank all of the participants, guests, volunteers, and our generous supporters and sponsors for making the 2023 Final Showcase a success! We look forward to another year of building an accessible, vibrant, diverse, and connected Australasian SynBio community with you all!

For more of the photos, click here