Team:LaVerne-Leos/Team
La Verne
Dr. Yousef Daneshbod
Dr. Jennifer Tsui
I’m an Asst Professor of Biology and one of the Faculty advisors for team. My research interests are applied biology in society and neuroscience.
Fun Fact: I like riding bikes!
Mark Karam
A biology undergraduate student, who plans on pursuing a career in the medical field. I’ll be working on the project over the course of the summer as one of the researchers. Music plays a tremendous role in my life alongside my academics, I DJ as a hobby. I’m a sucker for baby cheetahs, THEY’RE TOO CUTE!
Fun Fact: My parents have chickens for pets.
Noemi Rios
I am currently a Biology student who has the passion to help individuals not only through the practice of medicine but by using happiness to improve their quality of life. As a researcher of this team, my goal is to contribute as much science as possible in order for the team to attend the 2015 Giant Jamboree. I also enjoy mentoring youth individuals who need a role model in their life.
Fun Fact: I enjoy trying a variety of foods from various cultures, and I love CHOCOLATE!
Estefania Gomez
I am a cellular/molecular biology University of La Verne Alum. I will be the lab support for this team. My interests include biotechnology and cellular research.
Fun Fact: My favorite animals are wolves, pandas and red pandas.
Dr. Yousef Daneshbod
I am an associate professor of mathematics and my primary research interests are in the area of theoretical and computational mechanics. In specific, I study the control and manipulation along with the physics of fluids at small scales (microfluidics).
Fun Fact: I am an avid arm wrestler!
Andrew Okimura
Aloha! My name is Andrew Okimura and I am a sophomore pursuing a degree in Biology. This year my role on the team is to shadow, assist, and learn about the iGEM process and the laboratory techniques. I am currently on our University’s Swim and Dive Team and I enjoy playing the ukulele.
Fun Fact: I have lived in beautiful Hawaii my whole life.
Alina Khzanyan
I am a sophomore majoring in biology. My goal is to pursue a career in the medical field. My role in the team is to shadow the juniors researchers of the iGEM project over the summer. My interests are synthetic biology and organic chemistry.
Fun Fact: I moved to the United States at the age of sixteen and I speak three languages.
Harry Bennett III
Hello! My name is Harry Bennett and I am a sophomore studying Biology. I am very excited to be a part of this team and actually do research in my field. I am assisting the team in hopes that my own project next year will be involved with iGEM. I am captain of the University’s Swim and Dive team and I love to hike.
Fun Fact: I only wear flip flops because I find shoes weird.
La Cañada
Rudra Menon
Cathey Seo
I’m an Asst Professor of Biology and one of the Faculty advisors for team. My research interests are applied biology in society and neuroscience.
Fun Fact: I like riding bikes!
Matthew Yu
A biology undergraduate student, who plans on pursuing a career in the medical field. I’ll be working on the project over the course of the summer as one of the researchers. Music plays a tremendous role in my life alongside my academics, I DJ as a hobby. I’m a sucker for baby cheetahs, THEY’RE TOO CUTE!
Fun Fact: My parents have chickens for pets.
Noemi Rios
I am currently a Biology student who has the passion to help individuals not only through the practice of medicine but by using happiness to improve their quality of life. As a researcher of this team, my goal is to contribute as much science as possible in order for the team to attend the 2015 Giant Jamboree. I also enjoy mentoring youth individuals who need a role model in their life.
Fun Fact: I enjoy trying a variety of foods from various cultures, and I love CHOCOLATE!
Estefania Gomez
I am a cellular/molecular biology University of La Verne Alum. I will be the lab support for this team. My interests include biotechnology and cellular research.
Fun Fact: My favorite animals are wolves, pandas and red pandas.
Dr. Yousef Daneshbod
I am an associate professor of mathematics and my primary research interests are in the area of theoretical and computational mechanics. In specific, I study the control and manipulation along with the physics of fluids at small scales (microfluidics).
Fun Fact: I am an avid arm wrestler!
Andrew Okimura
Aloha! My name is Andrew Okimura and I am a sophomore pursuing a degree in Biology. This year my role on the team is to shadow, assist, and learn about the iGEM process and the laboratory techniques. I am currently on our University’s Swim and Dive Team and I enjoy playing the ukulele.
Fun Fact: I have lived in beautiful Hawaii my whole life.
Alina Khzanyan
I am a sophomore majoring in biology. My goal is to pursue a career in the medical field. My role in the team is to shadow the juniors researchers of the iGEM project over the summer. My interests are synthetic biology and organic chemistry.
Fun Fact: I moved to the United States at the age of sixteen and I speak three languages.
Harry Bennett III
Hello! My name is Harry Bennett and I am a sophomore studying Biology. I am very excited to be a part of this team and actually do research in my field. I am assisting the team in hopes that my own project next year will be involved with iGEM. I am captain of the University’s Swim and Dive team and I love to hike.
Fun Fact: I only wear flip flops because I find shoes weird.
Biographies
Dr. Jennifer Tsui
I’m an Asst Professor of Biology and one of the Faculty advisors for team. My research interests are applied biology in society and neuroscience.
Fun Fact: I like riding bikes!
Mark Karam
A biology undergraduate student, who plans on pursuing a career in the medical field. I’ll be working on the project over the course of the summer as one of the researchers. Music plays a tremendous role in my life alongside my academics, I DJ as a hobby. I’m a sucker for baby cheetahs, THEY’RE TOO CUTE!
Fun Fact: My parents have chickens for pets.
Noemi Rios
I am currently a Biology student who has the passion to help individuals not only through the practice of medicine but by using happiness to improve their quality of life. As a researcher of this team, my goal is to contribute as much science as possible in order for the team to attend the 2015 Giant Jamboree. I also enjoy mentoring youth individuals who need a role model in their life.
Fun Fact: I enjoy trying a variety of foods from various cultures, and I love CHOCOLATE!
Estefania Gomez
I am a cellular/molecular biology University of La Verne Alum. I will be the lab support for this team. My interests include biotechnology and cellular research.
Fun Fact: My favorite animals are wolves, pandas and red pandas.
Dr. Yousef Daneshbod
I am an associate professor of mathematics and my primary research interests are in the area of theoretical and computational mechanics. In specific, I study the control and manipulation along with the physics of fluids at small scales (microfluidics).
Fun Fact: I am an avid arm wrestler!
Andrew Okimura
Aloha! My name is Andrew Okimura and I am a sophomore pursuing a degree in Biology. This year my role on the team is to shadow, assist, and learn about the iGEM process and the laboratory techniques. I am currently on our University’s Swim and Dive Team and I enjoy playing the ukulele.
Fun Fact: I have lived in beautiful Hawaii my whole life.
Alina Khzanyan
I am a sophomore majoring in biology. My goal is to pursue a career in the medical field. My role in the team is to shadow the juniors researchers of the iGEM project over the summer. My interests are synthetic biology and organic chemistry.
Fun Fact: I moved to the United States at the age of sixteen and I speak three languages.
Harry Bennett III
Hello! My name is Harry Bennett and I am a sophomore studying Biology. I am very excited to be a part of this team and actually do research in my field. I am assisting the team in hopes that my own project next year will be involved with iGEM. I am captain of the University’s Swim and Dive team and I love to hike.
Fun Fact: I only wear flip flops because I find shoes weird.
Alec Lourenço
My name is Alec Lourenço, and I’m a junior at La Canada High School. I got interested in synthetic biology as a freshman and then participated on the Caltech 2014 team as a sophomore. Now I’m glad to have the opportunity to work on this fantastic team this year!
Fun Fact: I am an absolute sucker for teas. I’ll Chai any type of tea, just as long as you don’t steep it Oolong. Oh, and I’m also from Florida
Christos Menemenlis
Hi! My name is Christos, a freshmen at La Canada High School. I don't really matter, I just try to juggle school and everything else at the same time. I am interested in life, learning, and something that I don’t have. Science is just a really interesting discipline to me, and the more I study and learn about how it affects our lives, the more interested I get. I guess it’s just natural curiosity.
Fun Fact: Only 8 people I have ever met have pronounced my last name correctly on the first try… five of them were my own family.
Miles Yun
Hello. My name is Miles “Sung-Joon” Yun. I am currently a freshman at LCHS. I enjoy science and history. I am a great public speaker. I delivered the graduation speech at my middle school graduation ceremony. I am a five time national winner in a nationwide fine arts competition. I enjoy sports a lot, I run and swim, I enjoy physically demanding workouts, and I enjoy reading a lot.
Fun Fact: I have traveled to over two dozen countries. I went on a science expedition to the Galapagos Islands with my dad for a NASA earthquake project and had to ride a horse for eighteen hours straight in order to visit all the stations around the volcanoes on the islands.
William Fu
Hi I’m William Fu, and I’m a junior at La Canada High School. I am interested in math stuff and modeling stuff. I am interested in biotech and mathematics, so I’m here to experience a less esoteric subject (mostly did cluster computer and math stuff) for modeling and I want to take my computers out for a spin again. I am glad to have the opportunity to work on this fantastic team this year! (If needed I can also write iphone/android apps too, same w/ Rudy)
Fun Fact: I drink tea. Also most people call me wfu (woo-foo). It’s not wufu, that spelling is incorrect.
Rudra (Rudy) Menon
Hi I’m Rudra Menon, I am a junior at La Canada High School. I am very interested in computers and more specifically, computer programming. I have found myself to be more compatible with computers than living things. For example, I’ve recently become engaged in coding artificial intelligence simply because I wanted to play board games with something that doesn’t try to converse with me. I am beginning to fear my obsession has whittled away at my ability to connect with breathing beings on an emotional level. I am joining the biotech team in desperate hopes to get back in touch with natural life. This is primarily so I can learn about “real” life on the basic level in order to one day create a master race of bits and bytes.
Fun Fact: When I’m not playing connect four with myself I enjoy playing ultimate frisbee. I find the sports scene to be a remarkable opportunity to observe the peculiar behavioral patterns of animate beings.
Matthew Yu
My name is Matthew Yu and I’m a junior at La Canada High School. I am highly interested in synthetic biology/biotechnology and science in general. I have taken various synthetic biology/biotechnology classes over the past few years and I look forward to having fun on this amazing iGem team this year!
Fun Fact: I love music and I can play 7 different instruments, of which piano is my main. I can speak in 9 different languages, but most is quite limited. I know how to play 4 different sports and enjoy each one of them.
Cathey Seo
Hey! My name is Catherine Seo, but people call me Cathey. I’m a senior at La Canada High School and I love math and science. I love music, sports (specifically tennis), and learning new things. I’m really grateful and excited for this amazing opportunity and look forward to what this year has!
Fun Fact: I live at Panera or my friend Caitie’s house and I LOVELOVELOVELOVE boba/pearl tea.
About Us
We are the first iGEM team from University of La Verne and La Canada High School. We are an interdisciplinary team with members from biology, math, computer science, art, and library science. We are a community-engaged team that hopes to partner with other high schools, non-profits, and local businesses to create innovative solutions to global issues!
Contact info
Natural Science Division Office and Biology Department
1950 3rd St. La Verne, CA 91750
Email: ulvigemteam@gmail.com