Background
Courtyard

Garden Atlas

Window

Framed Views

Terrace

Our Journey

Pavilion

Echo Pavilion

Garden of Condensation

Boundless yet Defined, Gathering into a Garden

Welcome to ICII 2026. Here, there are no high walls isolating us, only open boundaries composed of courtyards, latticed windows, corridors, and water systems. Every iGEM team retains its cultural roots and scientific functions in the garden, yet can see another solution through a window and walk towards new collaborations along a corridor.

Just as liquid-liquid phase separation can form dynamic, reversible membraneless compartments within a cell, ICII hopes to allow scientific ideas scattered across different regions to condense around common issues, recombine through exchange, and return to broader real-world scenarios after collaboration is complete.

Different spaces, distinct functions, one living garden.

01 From a Road to a Garden

In 2025, NAU-CHINA initiated Into China, Into iGEM (ICII) with the theme of "The Modern Silk Road of Synthetic Biology", inviting 14 iGEM teams from 11 cities to participate. Projects, regional cultures, and scientific stories unfolded along the map, making the ancient route of communication a new bond connecting traditional wisdom with modern synthetic biology.

In 2026, we hope to push this connection forward. Roads allow people far apart to reach each other, but gardens allow those who arrive to truly meet: they stay, observe, exchange experiences in different spaces, and collectively change the landscape before them. Therefore, this year's ICII is no longer just a project exhibition, but a "Garden of Condensation" jointly built and continuously grown by different teams.

02 What is ICII?

ICII stands for Into China, Into iGEM. It is an invitation to approach Chinese culture and the iGEM community, as well as a collaboration platform crossing geographical, linguistic, and disciplinary boundaries. We invite iGEM teams from different countries and regions to retell their synthetic biology projects from a cultural perspective, finding connections among each other's scientific problems, technical modules, social issues, and educational practices.

Here, culture is not an add-on decoration outside of science, but a language to understand complex technologies; projects are not isolated exhibits, but open questions that can be responded to, referenced, and collectively perfected.

03 Why a Chinese Garden?

Chinese gardens never rely on completely enclosed spaces to establish order. Courtyards divide functions, latticed windows preserve sightlines, corridors connect paths, and water systems convey changes. It emphasizes being "separated but not disconnected, bounded but not closed": every scene has its own boundary but constantly interacts with the surrounding environment; with every step a visitor takes, the view changes accordingly.

This spatial wisdom cleverly corresponds to the liquid-liquid phase separation studied by CellApp. Biomolecules can aggregate into condensates with specific functions without membrane structures; different condensates remain relatively independent while exchanging matter and information with the surrounding environment; signals such as light, temperature, and pH can also alter their formation, dissociation, and function. The garden thus provides not only a visual theme but also an intuitive language for understanding "boundless yet defined" cellular compartments.

04 Science in the Garden

Courtyard: Boundless yet Defined Functional Spaces

Courtyards form order through boundaries without completely isolating the inside from the outside. This corresponds to membraneless compartmentalization: specific molecules locally enrich in cells, improving the organization and efficiency of reactions while maintaining exchange capabilities.

Pavilion: Mutually Orthogonal Functional Modules

Different pavilions have unique uses and styles, neither replacing nor interfering with each other. They correspond to the orthogonal condensates in CellApp that undertake different tasks, allowing multiple functions to run in parallel within the same cell.

Latticed Window: Information Exchange Across Boundaries

A latticed window demarcates space while bringing another scene into view. It symbolizes observation, questioning, and inspiration between teams, and also corresponds to the selective matter and information exchange between condensates and the surrounding environment.

Corridor: Continuous Collaboration Paths

Corridors connect scattered spaces, making an encounter a path that can be continued. It corresponds to team pairing, problem exchange, module discussion, and joint creation in ICII.

Four Seasons: Dynamic Changes Responding to the Environment

Gardens change with light, shadows, temperature, and seasons. CellApp similarly uses signals like light, temperature, and pH to regulate the aggregation and dissociation of condensates, enabling functional spaces within the cell to form, disappear, or recombine on demand.

05 What Kind of Garden Do We Want to Build?

We look forward to a shared space that does not erase differences. Every team can retain its regional culture, project language, and research focus, while creating new value from these differences through collaboration. ICII 2026 hopes to achieve three things:

Enter Garden Atlas Interactive Scenery Map