iGEM alumni spotlight
“iGEM taught me a lot about not discounting yourself and what can be achieved with hard work and teamwork.”
iGEM is an annual, international competition where 350+ university teams present synthetic biology projects aimed at addressing 21st century challenges. Each year, UCSC assembles an interdisciplinary team of undergraduates with the common goal of creating a better world through science and engineering. Read more about iGEM.
Baskin Engineering alumna Claire Bispo (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering, ‘19) was a part of 2018 UC Santa Cruz International Genetic Engineering Machine (iGEM) team, called Poppy.
iGEM experience: Bispo’s team competed at the 2018 iGEM Jamboree in Boston, MA where they presented a solution to the global lack of family planning services. Their goal was to localize contraception production and increase availability in resource-constrained communities. By engineering a progesterone-producing yeast strain that grows on dairy, the team developed a sustainable and affordable “grow at home” contraceptive for women anywhere in the world.
Reflecting on her undergraduate education, Bispo counts iGEM among her most formative experiences.
“When I first learned about iGEM, I thought I could never do something like that, that I wasn’t smart or capable enough, and I would never make the team,” Bispo said. “iGEM taught me a lot about not discounting yourself and what can be achieved with hard work and teamwork.”
“I forget that confidence sometimes, and recalling this experience has been a good reminder of, ‘Hey, you can do what you set your mind to, and if it doesn’t work out, the worst that can happen is you have to pivot or you get told no and you have to pursue something else.’ It’s helped me remember to go for something if you want it, because you’re not going to get things that you don’t ask or try for.”
Where is she now? After graduating, Bispo went on to work as a Validation Engineer at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Now, she attends UC Law San Francisco with the goal of practicing in the field of intellectual property litigation — an area that fascinated her while researching patents for iGEM.
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