Meeting report: 400 synthetic biology projects promote sustainable development

Abstract The 21st annual International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Grand Jamboree took place on the 23rd to 26th of October 2024 at the Paris Expo in Paris, France. It was the final event of the year-long iGEM Competition in microbial synthetic biology, at which more than four hundred high school and university student teams from around the world presented their projects and competed for prizes. At the core, each project applied molecular cloning and microbial engineering to tackle pressing healthcare, human advancement, and environmental challenges. Herein we highlight the efforts of four projects from the latter category: Stockholm, Thessaly, KU Leuven, and Copenhagen, whose work exemplifies the type of research projects presented by iGEM teams each year in advancing sustainability. Through the application of basic principles of synthetic biology to a diverse range of problems, the projects demonstrated the promise of synthetic biology in addressing and indeed resolving a broad spectrum of sustainability challenges.