All India iGEM Meet 2025
A Gathering of iGEMers
From July 25th to 27th, our team had the honour of participating in the All India iGEM Meet (AIIM) 2025, hosted by the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai. AIIM has grown into the flagship event for India’s synthetic biology community since 2015, providing iGEM teams with the opportunity to showcase, refine, and stress-test their projects before the Grand Jamboree. More than just a preparatory stage, it is a vibrant gathering where young scientists exchange ideas, collaborate across institutions, and build a national community rooted in innovation and responsibility.
This year’s edition brought together teams from IISc, multiple IISERs, IITs, MIT-World Peace University, ICT, VIT, and others. The breadth of projects was striking, ranging from therapeutics to agricultural innovations and environmental remediation. For us, it was the perfect platform to present our vision: POSEIDON, a sustainable bioremediation system tackling heavy metal contamination in water.
Three Days of Science, Strategy, and Community
Day 1: Setting the Stage
The event opened with a formal ceremony, followed by a workshop on Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC). This session set the ethical tone for the entire meet, reminding participants of the responsibilities that come with working at the cutting edge of synthetic biology. The afternoon featured plenary talks from leading researchers in sustainability and synthetic biology, giving us both inspiration and context for how our work fits into broader scientific and societal conversations.
Day 2: Facing the Judges
The second day brought the most intense part of the meet: closed-door judging. Our team presented in the second slot, delivering POSEIDON to a mixed panel of in-person and online judges. The experience mirrored the Grand Jamboree atmosphere with intense questioning, critical assessment, and the need to communicate clearly under pressure. The judges evaluated not only the technical foundation of our work but also its feasibility, social relevance, and clarity of presentation.
This was more than a test of our slides rather a test of our vision, our storytelling, and our ability to defend our design choices.
Day 3: Posters, Collaboration, and Celebration
The final day shifted from competition to collaboration. We presented our poster, which allowed for detailed one-on-one conversations with other teams, judges, and visitors. This format gave us invaluable opportunities to discuss specifics, from peptide immobilization protocols to field deployment strategies and to receive constructive feedback in real time.
Prajna, Ananya, and Souvik with the poster we presented at AIIM (top left), and Prajna and Ananya delivering the presentation (bottom right). Both shareables can be found on our Resources page The day also included fun activities such as a Sci-Tech Quiz and the inventive 'Gene Auction,' which promoted camaraderie across teams. The closing ceremony capped the event by celebrating achievements collectively, highlighting that AIIM is as much about community-building as competition. 
Ethics-focused opening (DURC), high-pressure judging sessions, and collaborative poster discussions. Cultural and fun activities created bonds across teams.
Balancing technical detail with storytelling under strict judging. Managing nerves in high-stakes sessions. Integrating feedback quickly.
Our Vision: Project POSEIDON
At the heart of our AIIM journey was POSEIDON (Phytoprotein-Optimized System for Environmental Ion Detoxification). Heavy metal contamination in drinking water is a growing crisis, particularly in rural and peri-urban India. Our solution combines engineered peptides with biodegradable matrices to deliver a low-cost, modular filter system.
The biological module harnesses phytochelatin synthase and engineered metallothioneins expressed in safe E. coli chassis. Once purified, these proteins are immobilized on alginate beads using EDC/NHS chemistry. The physical module embeds these beads in cartridges that operate under gravity or low-energy pumps, providing scalable filtration for households, schools, or disaster-relief settings.
POSEIDON is not only a technical design but also a statement of intent: to create solutions that are affordable, sustainable, and accessible to those most affected by unsafe water.
Our Contribution: Molecular Docking Workshop
Our involvement went beyond presenting. We conducted a 90-minute hands-on workshop on Molecular Docking, equipping participants with practical computational skills to predict protein-metal interactions. This was not just an explanation of our methods rather was an attempt to empower other teams to apply in silico tools for their own projects. By sharing both the software pipeline and real case examples from POSEIDON, we embodied the iGEM spirit of collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Feedback and Insights
AIIM served as a mirror, reflecting both our strengths and areas for improvement. Judges and peers advised us to expand the scope of POSEIDON to include arsenic remediation, a pressing issue across India. This pushed us to consider broader peptide libraries and reinforced the adaptability of our modular design.
We were encouraged to reframe our storytelling suggesting narrative perspectives that place communities at the heart of our project and to strengthen how we communicate our SDG⤴︎ alignment. Judges also highlighted the need to emphasise our own data (such as our chloropleth maps) rather than relying heavily on external case studies.
Practical guidance included exploring collaborations with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for policy relevance and referencing earlier iGEM arsenic projects like IISER Kolkata’s 2018 "BacMan." Importantly, we were reminded to ensure academic rigor by avoiding sources like Wikipedia in citations.
Summary of feedback we received and how it shaped our next steps.
| Feedback Area | Suggestion | Planned Response |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Include arsenic remediation | Exploring new peptide binders |
| Storytelling | Use community-focused narrative | Reframing presentations for impact |
| SDGs | Clarify connections | Redesigning SDG slides for clarity |
| Data | Highlight own results | Greater focus on maps and modeling outputs |
| Policy | Engage regulators | Approaching CPCB for briefs and collaborations |
| References | Strengthen academic rigor | Avoiding informal sources; curating peer-reviewed references |
Recognition and Awards
The highlight of the event was the recognition our project received. POSEIDON was awarded four major honors: Best Poster, Best Presentation, Best Engineering, and the highest distinction, Best Overall Project. These awards validated our technical design, our communication, and our contribution to the iGEM community.
For us, these recognitions were more than trophies. They symbolized the collective effort of a multidisciplinary team, the trust of mentors, and the enthusiasm of peers who saw value in our approach. They also strengthened our resolve to take POSEIDON further, with renewed energy and clearer direction.
Best Poster, Best Presentation, Best Engineering, Best Overall Project.
Recognition of scientific design, communication, and contribution to the iGEM community. Motivation to refine and expand our work for the Grand Jamboree.
Looking Ahead: The Road to Paris
Our AIIM experience was transformative. It sharpened our science, improved our presentation, expanded our networks, and gave us constructive feedback. These learnings now guide us as we prepare for the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris.
Our priorities are clear: expand POSEIDON’s scope to include arsenic, integrate stronger storytelling, refine our SDG⤴︎ alignment, and reinforce our documentation with academic rigor. Equally important is continuing the spirit of community we experienced at AIIM, through workshops, collaborations, and open exchange of knowledge.
AIIM 2025 was not just a competition; it was a milestone in our journey, reminding us that synthetic biology is as much about people as it is about molecules. The road ahead is long, but with the momentum gained, we are committed to presenting a project in Paris that is not only scientifically strong but also socially impactful.
Cross-Links
For technical insights into POSEIDON, visit implementation. To explore how inclusivity shaped our practices, see human practices. For sustainability strategies, continue to sustainability.