DARPA itself has been one of the largest public funders of synthetic biology research in the U.S. in recent years, upping its spending
on synthetic biology projects to more than $ 100 million in 2014 from nothing in 2010, according to one analysis.
The competition gets hundreds of college students to work
on synthetic biology projects, and there are biosecurity workshops at the final championships.
Each team enters with
a synthetic biology project.