Team:DTU-Denmark/Team
The Team
The DTU iGEM Team 2015 is composed of a group of ten motivated DTU students dedicated to exploring and sharing their passion for science. The team includes both Bachelor and Master students with a diverse set of nationalities and educational backgrounds in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Pharmaceutical engineering and Computer Sciences. Many of the team members are highly engaged in internationally recognized research groups, leading biotech companies or student organizations, where they have obtained valuable competences within science, programming, project management and communication. Our team is unified by the shared goal of providing significant achievements within the field of synthetic biology.
The project officially started with an introductory iGEM meeting in January, facilitated by our supervisor Chris Workman. From then on our team met weekly with idea development until Mads and Pernille, came up with our project idea. Many months of project planning, fundraising, lab work and coding have lead to the product we now present for you. All laboratory work and presented activities documented on this wiki were performed by our team members and the three high school students unless stated otherwise.
We would like to thank our advisors who assisted us during the whole project and have provided invaluable advice and feedback. We would also express our thanks to everyone else who has supported us over the course project! Thank you for your expertise, facilities and materials. A full list of attributions can be seen here.
Members
Mads Anderson
MSc Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (2nd year)
Mads is our software expert. In the iGEM team he is developing the Wiki Wizard and together with Pernille responsible for the overall planning of the project. During his studies he has been one of the lead developers on the oligo designer MODEST and the lymphocyte structure modelling tool LYRA. After iGEM he is going to do his master's thesis in lentiviral vectors at Aarhus University.
Viktor Hesselberg-Thomsen
BSc Biotechnology (1st year)
Viktor is not like most freshmen's in college. He has already won a young research competition, and on the DTU iGEM team 2015 he has been working hard mastering new methods in the laboratory from the first day. Viktor has done a lot of the lab work; and he was the first to succeed in the team at making our chassis Bacillus competent. Outside the lab, Viktor plays in a jazz band and then he would like to specialise in algae research.
Linkedin ProfileKarolina Kalbarczyk
MSc Pharmaceutical Design and Engineering (2nd year)
Having a wide range of interests, being on the iGEM team was a perfect opportunity for Karolina to combine some of her passions like her interest in synthetic biology, innovative start-ups and sharing knowledge in an international team. Originally from Poland, she has already a lot of international experience, having studied in Germany, England and now Denmark. Karolina was not only actively involved in our human practice activities, but also holds the record for the highest DNA concentrations in miniprepping and successful Gibson assembling. She was also in charge of lab-on-a-disc concept.
Linkedin ProfileLinas Kaminskas
MSc Computer Science and Engineering (2nd year)
Linas joined the team for a period to develop a NRPS oligo designer tool for recombineering. Unfortunately, the tool did not end up functioning.
He is the only non-biologically related student in our iGEM team.
Tobias Løvgren Madsen
MSc Pharmaceutical Design and Engineering (2nd year)
Tobias is a life-saver for most of the team members. He kept track of the fundraising, organises our social events, and designed our board to keep track of ongoing activites in the lab and on the project. Tobias also has the fantastic ability to always be happy and bring beers to event. When he went to China for month to study public communications, there was no Friday beer. Besides all the organisational work, Tobias studies Pharmacutical Design and Engineering, where he focusses on entrepenuership and project development.
Linkedin ProfilePernille Myers
MSc Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, honors (1st year)
Project leader/developer
Pernille has been the driving force and molecular biology expert behind the Synthesizer project. She has kept the team organized and on track in the laboratory with more than 4 years of work experience in industrial biotechnology. She has been constantly answering questions regarding the theory and practical knowledge from the bachelor and master's students alike. As a part of Biotech Academy at DTU she is in charge of our Human Practice Strategy and laboratory project for high school students. When Pernille is not in the lab...(very funny, she is always in the lab). She fancies jogging and travelling. Her most memorable trip was living in California, where she did research for a biotech company, or perhaps when she was invited to the Noble Prize Award Ceremony because of her project on brown bananas.
Linkedin ProfileScott Myers
MSc Biotechnology (2nd year)
Scott is the team's protein chemist and the most exotic member of the team (he is from California). After his bachelor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Davis, Scott got a job in protein chemistry at a Danish biotech company. After seven years, he decided to move to Denmark to pursue a master's in Biotechnology at DTU. Being the most thorough person in the laboratory, Scott is in charge of important experiments such as chromotography and characterization. He was also in charge of our BioBrick tutorial for the other Danish iGEM teams. Outside of school he enjoys soccer, ultimate, brewing beer, and more soccer.
Linkedin ProfileVilhelm Krarup Møller
BSc Biotechnology (2nd year)
Vilhelm is among the team members who have spent most of the time in the lab –he even brought his private coffee cup to university in summer. He always came up with new ideas to pursue as part of our Human Practice strategy and always knew what to discuss at our next meeting. Furthermore, he has contributed in the long process of making us an official Blue Dot project at DTU. He is planning to specialize in the field of bioinformatics and wants to do his thesis at the Center of Biological Sequence Analysis at DTU. When he takes a break from working on iGEM, he enjoys running and some more science.
Linkedin ProfileMichael Poulsen
MSc Pharmaceutical Design and Engineering (2nd year)
Michael was a part of many subprojects within our Human Practice activities. Besides taking care about Economy and Finances, he was a helpful hand in the lab, office and kitchen... He occured to be a masterchef, caring about our empty stomachs after long days in the lab. Additionally, Michael used his grafic designer skills in creating our team logo and final banner for iGEM Giant Jamboree.
Linkedin ProfileVerena Volf
MSc Biotechnology (2nd year)
Verena, our Austrian team member, is always prepared for the next meeting and has been in charge of practicalities, thinking way ahead of the rest of the team and ensuring facilities for every situation. As she already has research experience from internships during her bachelor in Vienna and her exchange semester in Paris, Verena is responsible for planning and conducting lab experiments during the project. She was also responsible for organizing the BioBricks tutorial for Danish iGEM teams and has been involved in our Human Practice activities. In her free time Verena enjoys bouldering, jogging, travelling and learning Danish. After having spent most of the summer in the lab, participating in iGEM has not only expanded her knowledge in biotechnology, but also taught her a lot of useful Danish lab terms.
Linkedin Profile
High School Students
Maja Hansen
The iGEM project has made Maja aware of new possibilities and challenges of synthetic
biology by introduced her into a lot of new techniques and instruments.
Maja has been helping with Minipreps and colony PRCs.
Nicolai Jørgensen
Nicolai actively participated in the lab with PCR, running gel electrophoresis and DNA purification.
He also supported the fund-raising and the wiki-design.
Thea Kongsted
Thea took the opportunity to discover new methods, and gain confidence in applying methods with which she was already familiar.
Advisors and Supervisors
Christopher Workman
Associate professor, Ph.D.,
Regulatory genomics,
DTU System Biology
Chris is the team's main instructor who has put together the team. He has provided advice from the beginning with brainstorming project ideas.
Mogens Kilstrup
Associate Professor, Ph.D.
Metabolic Signalling and Regulation,
DTU Systems Biology
Mogens together with Jan facilitated our team with laboratory access. Mogens supported us with theoretical and practical knowledge about work with Bacillus. He was also very supportive and always available to help us or to discuss any doubts anytime of the day.
Jan Martinussen
Associate Professor, Ph.D.,
Metabolic Signalling and Regulation,
DTU Systems Biology
Jan together with Mogen provided us laboratory facilites where we have spent our summer. Jan has helped us with theoretical and practical work in the laboratory, and challenges with gram-positive bacteria. Additionally, he made our team aware of biosafety in the lab and GMO regulations at our univeristy. He was very supportive while we were planning our experiments, and helpful with implementation of our ideas.
