Welcome to the Biomod museum.
Biomod is a competition for students sponsored by
the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Teams win awards by building things like; molecular robots,
photonic devices with nano diamonds and biochemical nano reactors.
You can check it all out on biomods website.
It's about having fun and developing a project you're interested in,
as long as it involves the self-assembly of
biological macro-molecules into nano-scale machines.
To begin the tour, press the red button on the wall.
First off, you'll need to assemble your team of
undergraduate students and graduate mentors.
You should have a faculty mentor.
Ideally someone who knows something about developing nano devices.
Advertised, full tryouts, see who is the most dedicated to join.
Once you've assembled everyone,
make sure to register your team.
You're going to need money.
So find sponsors, hold bake sales, whatever it takes.
Or you could just start by asking your college or university.
At some point though your team will have to cover travel, research costs,
matching coffee mugs for everyone,
everything but your BioMart t-shirt once you get there.
Next you'll have the task of planning your project.
Check out past year's projects and the judging criteria on the website.
So you know how you'll be scored.
Your team will have to produce three items for the contest;
a project website, a YouTube video,
and a live presentation.
By the time summer rolls around everyone will be basking in the rays.
This is when you and your team will build your tiny devices.
That means wearing lab coats,
mixing small volumes of liquid and writing down lots of numbers.
Everything that makes science cool.
If your team is based outside the US,
you need to request an invitation letter and apply for visas by July 1st,
or you'll be stuck at the airport.
Summer is short and the process can be slow.
Do not put this off.
By the fall your team has labored and toiled and hopefully your project is complete.
Now you must submit your project title,
abstract and final team roster to register for the jambury in Boston.
After registering you have six weeks to plan your presentation,
finalize your project website and record your YouTube video.
Finally, come November it's time to jambury.
Each team gets 12 minutes to present their work in the most creative way possible.
In the meantime, get inspired,
get motivated and get to work.
As the original granddaddy of nanotechnology Richard Feynman said,
"There's plenty of room at the bottom," for more information, go to biomod.net.
