Attention iGEM teams: Find out how you may have the opportunity to visit NEB!

          

 

Thank you for your interest. Submissions for the iGEM visit are now closed. Please email info@neb.com with any questions.

Are you using NEB® reagents in your iGEM project?

Sign up your team for a chance to tour our laboratories, meet our scientists, and hear a presentation from Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts, immediately following this year’s iGEM 2019 Giant Jamboree. 

Created "by scientists for scientists", New England Biolabs® is renowned for consistently providing exceptional product quality, and unsurpassed technical support. For over four decades, NEB has been shaping the landscape of bioscience research by discovering, developing, and supporting superior research reagents, as well as publishing its research work in leading journals. NEB also ensures the environmental sustainability of its business practices.

Selected teams will visit NEB for a half day on Tuesday, November 5th, 2019, free of charge*.

  • Buses will be provided from Hynes Convention Center at 9:00 AM for the 1 hour ride north to NEB
  • Staff scientists will provide tours of NEB headquarters
  • Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts will discuss the use of GMOs in precision agriculture
  • Teams will have the opportunity to discuss their posters with our scientists over lunch
  • Buses will return to Hynes by 3:00 PM

 

 

Presentation:

Nobel Laureate campaign supporting GMOs, Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs

When GMO seeds were first introduced into Europe there was a backlash by the Green parties and their political allies, who feared that American agro-business was about to take over their food supply. Thus began a massive campaign not against the true target, the large agro-businesses, but rather against the surrogate target, GMOs. This has had disastrous consequences for one of the most promising technologies ever developed for improving food supplies. I am spearheading a campaign by the Nobel Laureates to counter the damage that is being done to the poor people in this world – notably in the developing countries – by Greenpeace and their allies who have deliberately ignored the science that underpins GMOs and have been painting horrific pictures of the dangers that might ensue. I will use Golden Rice as a clear example of the costs of these shortsighted policies. Millions of children have died or suffered developmental impairment because of a lack of Vitamin A in their diet. Golden Rice could reverse this, but has become a target of the Green parties because it is a GMO. This is foolish and dangerous. How many more children must die before this is considered a crime against humanity? I will argue that the Pope and the major religious organizations in this world could play a pivotal role in countering the pseudoscience being propagated by the so-called green parties and make a real difference to the lives of the poor in this world.

 

About Richard Roberts:

Sir Richard Roberts, Chief Scientific Officer, Nobel Laureate, Ph.D., University of Sheffield, UK

 

Rich has served as Consultant and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at New England Biolabs since 1974. He joined NEB as Chief Scientific Officer in 1992. Rich was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993 for his contribution to the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing. His current research interests focus on enzyme discovery using bioinformatics, combined with the experimental testing of function. His main responsibilities at NEB are to guide research and set the scientific goals for the company. Rich often gives lectures and presentations worldwide and investigates potential opportunities for both scientific and commercial collaborations. He has served on numerous scientific advisory boards and holds honorary degrees from several universities, including Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Uppsala and Bath University, and Doctor of Science degrees from Sheffield University and Derby University.