Fernan Federici has returned from helping to set up and run a course in Synthetic Biology at the Universidad Catholica in Santiago, Chile. Fernan received his undergraduate degree from the Universidad Catholica, before heading to Cambridge to take up a Gates Foundation studentship. In Cambridge, Fernan has been involved in the development of protocols for teaching DNA construction using advanced Gibson assembly techniques and visible markers for gene expression and transformation in the form of biopigments and fluorescent proteins. He returned to Chile to introduce these protocols and help run the experimental course. The students did brilliantly, building multi-part DNA assemblies, and setting up the first Chilean team for the iGEM2012 competition.