Networking, Project Presentations and a Heist
From May 15 - 17, 2026, the BFH (Bielefeld, Frankfurt, Hamburg) European Meetup for iGEM Teams was held at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology CSSB.
Twenty-five iGEM teams from nine different countries gathered in Hamburg for a weekend of networking, collaboration and scientific exchange. The student teams are developing projects for the iGEM Grand Jamboree - the world’s largest research competition for synthetic biology – which will take place in Paris this fall.
The BFH European Meetup is organized by a student-led initiative of iGEM teams from Bielefeld, Frankfurt, and Hamburg. The first two editions were held in Bielefeld and Frankfurt, while Hamburg hosted the event for the first time this year.
Addressing challenges in fields ranging from agriculture and aeronautics to medicine and climate change, iGEM teams develop innovative synthetic biology solutions to tackle both local and global issues. At the BFH European Meetup participants attended workshops, scientific talks and panel discussions, presented their projects for the first time, explained their ideas to judges during the poster exhibition and learned from the experiences of past iGEM teams. More than 40 speakers, judges and volunteers contributed to making this event a success.
“CSSB was an excellent venue for the meetup, and we deliberately made use of the centre’s open architecture to encourage interaction and engagement among participants,” notes organiser Lennert Weber. “For me, one of the highlights was the poster session on Saturday, which was spread across three floors and created countless opportunities for discussion and exchange.”
Fun and creative networking moments were woven throughout the weekend, including the lab Olympics on Friday evening. “It was great to see people from the different teams connecting during the breaks and the games,” notes organiser Liliana Sanfilippo. “One activity that especially brought everyone together in a fun and competitive way was our “Brick Heist” challenge.” The Brick Heist challenge, a capture-the-flag-style game that ran throughout the entire weekend, encouraged teams to interact, strategize, and build connections beyond the formal scientific program.
The iGEM Hamburg team is supervised by Prof. Michael Kolbe and conducts its experiments each year at CSSB. Reflecting on the event, Prof. Kolbe said, “It was a pleasure to host this international event at CSSB. I would like to thank all the organisers whose dedication and hard work made it such a success.”
