Team:UCSC/Breakdown
Breakdown
Swathi Balaji |
|
Anissa Benabbas |
|
Cristian Camacho |
|
""In my opinion, the greatest part of the iGEM experience was being able to witness and take part in the unimaginable amount of success that a random group could produce in such a short period of time. Being able to operate efficiently as a team on a multi-layered project, raising over $24,000, making new discoveries, and establishing an image for our team and project that we can be proud of. I’ve learned so much because of iGEM, and along the way I’ve been blessed to become friends with a remarkable group of individuals that have helped me become a better leader and a better person." |
Jairo Navarro |
|
John Poncini |
|
"I started on the Field Team with an interest in finding and identifying Haloferax species that contain cellulases, enzymes that break down cellulose. The process of screening archaea for cellulases took the majority of the summer so I promptly switched towards developing a synthetic halophilic cellulase. Using a vast array of computational tools, I developed a pipeline for determining a model cellulase which we will test for expression in Haloferax volcanii. My computational work culminated in the discovery of conserved rare codons in specific gene regions across domains of life, leading towards the development of F.O.C.U.S, our computational strategy for determining rare codons in gene sequences. I hope to soon publish my work as well as continue developing useful computational tools for researchers and future iGEM teams." |
Tanvir Saini |
|
Roger Volden |
|
"I would undoubtedly say that I have gotten much more comfortable with the people I work with in lab, and it has definitely made me more productive and contribute more to everything that happens. I have definitely grown as a person because of iGEM, and I feel like I have become a better researcher, teammate, and friend because of it. Between all of the lunches, coffee runs, socials, and lab time, I would say that the UCSC iGEM team is like a second family to me. I know I'll always cherish the work that we've been doing and that I'll look back and know how it influenced me as a person." |