An interdisciplinary team of William & Mary students has brought home one of the biggest prizes in synthetic biology, an honor that has been called the World Cup of Science. The team won the Grand Prize in the Undergraduate Division at the iGEM Grand Jamboree held in September. More than 250 teams from five continents entered the competition, which is a program devoted to the advancement of synthetic biology through undergraduate research. Teams are given a kit of biological parts at the beginning of the summer. Working at their own schools, they use these parts and new parts of their own design to build biological systems and operate them in living cells. In addition to the grand prize, W&M’s project also won honors for Best Measurement Project, Best Education and Public Engagement, and Best Presentation.