The International Genetically Engineered Machines held a competition held in Cambridge, Massachusetts last week.

Peking University students created tiny assembly lines out of bacteria. Their entry, “Towards a Self-Differentiated Bacterial Assembly Line,” won them the grand prize among 50 teams from around the world.

The event hopes to make biological systems easy to build by applying the tools of computer science and engineering: using standard parts and modular design to simplify complex systems. The goal is to create open-source “genetic Legos” that could produce any chemical, from ethanol to pharmaceuticals.

A consortium of universities will release the first draft of the BioBrick Public License in 2008. It will allow anyone to use standardized DNA snippets — essentially a cellular dev kit — for free.