2022 Timeline

Expression of Interest open

December 2021

Academics from universities around Australia are invited to submit an expression of interest to reserve a place in the Challenge.

Registrations open

February 14th

Team registrations are officially open! Each team supervisor is invited to submit a registration form for their team. Registration for the 2022 Challenge is completely free!

Registrations close

March 21st

Team registrations close. The team rosters for all teams intending to participate in the 2022 Challenge must be finalised

Late registrations close

April 25th

Teams facing difficulties with student recruitment, or who need more time to organise the integration of the Challenge into the curriculum must submit their registrations by now, to ensure they have enough time to prepare for the Design Extravaganza

Intro to the AusSynBio Challenge

Week beginning March 28th

The Challenge officially kicks off with a welcome seminar for all team members! In this session, teams will be briefed on the requirements of the Challenge, hear from past participants and will hear all about what's on offer for the 2022 season

Webinar: Wicked Problems workshop

April 21st

Challengers will participate in online workshops that are part of the EXPLORAMENT program, run by Jestin George through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology. Workshops focus on the value that design brings to synthetic biology

Webinar: Traditional Ecological Knowledge workshop

April 28th

Challengers will participate in online workshops that are part of the EXPLORAMENT program, run by Jestin George through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology. Workshops focus on the value that design brings to synthetic biology

Webinar: Intellectual Property

May 5th

FB Rice will present a session on IP, covering everything from protecting IP as a student to the nuances of IP in the biology world.

Webinar: Twist Bioscience

May 11th

Our sponsor, Twist Bioscience, talk to teams about how to use their products, and how to optimise cloning plans before teams get started in the lab

Webinar: Benchling

May 17th

Benchling will show teams how to use their platform to design sequences and plasmids

Design Review

May 22nd

The first submission of the Challenge, teams must submit their Design Review. This is a document providing an overview of their project, including experimental plans and safety considerations. Reviews are distributed to each team's assigned Reviewer for feedback after the first event

Design Extravaganza

May 25th

The first main event of the Challenge season, the Extravaganza will see teams present their designs and introduce their projects for the first time. Expert reviewers from the field will be there to provide advice and give feedback to help each team tailor their ideas.

Webinar: IDT

June 27th

Our sponsor, IDT, shows teams how to access their sponsorship offerings and gives advice on smart DNA design

Webinar: NEB

July 18th

The NEB seminar gives teams a chance to learn how to use NEB products, from enzymes and polymerases to online design tools, to help them achieve their project goals

Webinar: Google Cloud

July 26th

A webinar run by our sponsor, Google

Webinar: Commercialisation 101

August, TBC

As teams work on their projects in the lab, they should also be thinking about what could be the end goal of their work. This seminar will teach teams everything they need to know about launching a start-up

Pitch party

September

In preparation for the teams' final pitches, teams are invited to join this session to receive tips on how to deliver a great pitch

Team logo and abstracts due

October, TBC

The second main deliverable for the Challenge, teams are required to submit a logo representing their project alongside a short abstract. These will be displayed on the website.

Pre-recorded pitches due

October, TBC

Teams must submit a 3-min long pitch ahead of the final event, as if they are intending on presenting their concept to a panel of investors

The Final Showcase

October 13th and October 14th

The second and final major event of the Challenge, the Final Showcase spans two afternoons and marks the end of the Challenge. Teams will give a presentation with Q&A from the audience. Team pitches will also be played, and guest speakers will talk about synbio opportunities in Australasia and career pathways