Team:NRP-UEA-Norwich/Team
THE TEAM
Kieran Rustage
Biologist
Kieran is a biological scientist, and our resident grumpy old man. He’s had an affinity for biology ever since ingesting a bit too much dirt as a child (there was no obvious harm caused).
So far in his undergraduate career he’s dabbled in topics spanning a wide range of the biological sciences; including population ecology, microbiology and science communication.
In the future, Kieran hopes to apply this multi-disciplinary approach to carve out a career in public health; specifically in infectious disease epidemiology.
Farhan Mitha
Biologist
Farhan is a biological scientist currently midway through his undergraduate studies at the University of East Anglia. He has wide-ranging interests in biology, from evolutionary biology to molecular biology to science communication and intends to pursue a career in research science.
He was attracted to iGEM because the idea of exploring such a promising and exciting field as synthetic biology really appealed to him, as did the idea of designing a lab project from scratch and carrying it out. In his spare time he enjoys writing and performing stand-up comedy as often as he can.
Mark Elms
Biological and Medicinal Chemist
Mark is a biological and medicinal chemistry student at the University of East Anglia going into his third of four years. This undergraduate course consists of the chemistry that occurs within the body to enable life, the chemistry of diseases and illnesses, and the design and synthesis of medicinal drugs and the affect that these drugs have on the body. These include subjects such as cell biology, biochemistry, inorganic/organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry.
In his spare time he plays for the university football and futsal teams who have both enjoyed successful seasons. In the future, Mark is hoping to apply his scientific skills to pursue a career in drug research or chemical engineering for drug manufacture.
Flavia Valeo
Biomedic
Flavia is a second year biomedicine student at the University of East Anglia that discovered a passion for making agarose gels thanks to iGEM! (I know, sounds exciting). iGEM attracted her from the beginning due to its variety and aim to tackle real life problems.
She is interested in health and medicine and how new technologies such as synthetic biology can be used to approach new preventative, diagnostic and curative methods for diseases. During the summer she has been focused on creating this supersonic anti-cancer bacteria and also been involved with practice and polices. You’ll see her smiling and laughing most of the time but don’t get scared, you’ll get used to it!
Outside the lab, travelling and photography are a must and in her free time she also plays the piano. In 5 years time she sees herself working in research and medicine alongside starting her own colourful agarose gel business!
Josh Thody
Computer Scientist
Josh is a computing science student at the University of East Anglia. He was particularly excited, and nervous, to be a part of iGEM as biology, more specifically synthetic biology, is a completely new field of study for him.
He has a fascination with data structures and algorithms, programming, and computer graphics. He is tailoring much of his third and final year towards bioinformatics.
In his spare time he plays hockey for the university 1st team and during last season he enjoyed being part of an undefeated team in both Saturday and BUCS leagues, which also lead to a double promotion.
His roles in the team involve modelling and the design and development of the wiki.
In the future he would be interested in doing a PhD in the algorithmic aspects of bioinformatics.
Leda Coelewij
Biomedic
Leda is a biomedicine student at the University of East Anglia. Science has interested her ever since she was a child and learning that a heart doesn’t actually look like what the cartoons suggest.
She has an international background, with Italian and Dutch parents, born in America, living in Singapore and China before moving to England (which can make even the most basic questions like “Where are you from?” difficult to answer).
In the future Leda hopes to travel around the world, as well as pursue a career in research of biomedical science.
Pilar Corredor
Predoctoral Bioinformatician
Pilar is a biotechnologist with a recent interest in bioinformatics. She first found out about iGEM when she was an undergraduate student at the UPV in Valencia but she did not have an opportunity to be a part of it until now.
Pilar is currently a predoctoral student in bioinformatics at The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and she is going to start her PhD at The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) after the jamboree. Her research interests focus on plant-pathogen interactions and she wants to apply transcriptomics and genomics to gain new insights about plant immunity in wheat.
As an advisor, Pilar has been mainly responsible for the computational aspect of the project. She has provided the biological background to the glycogen branching/debranching model and she has helped Josh to use his computing science knowledge to address biological questions. She also facilitated the collaboration with the UPV Valencia iGEM team.
Eleftheria Trampari
PhD Student
Eleftheria is a 3rd year PhD student at the John Innes Centre.
Her research focuses on bacterial signalling pathways and more specifically on the characterisation of novel cyclic di-GMP targets. Eleftheria has two MSc degrees in the agricultural biotechnology, molecular ecology and microbiology fields, which helped her acquire extensive expertise in molecular biology, genetics and protein biochemistry. Her skills range from bacterial genetic manipulation to cutting-edge biochemical techniques.
Eleftheria trained us in common laboratory and microbiological techniques, cloning, PCR and protein expression. She also taught us how to effectively manage our time in the lab environment, plan our experiments efficiently and multitask to get the desirable outcome in a limited time.
Sibyl Batey
PhD Student
Sibyl is a 2nd year PhD student in the Biological Chemistry department at the John Innes Centre. She completed her natural sciences MSc at Durham University in 2012, specialising in chemistry and biology.
Her research interests lie at the interface of these two sciences, with a focus on using chemical tools to investigate biological phenomena. Her PhD project investigates carbohydrate metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and has involved a range of techniques, including organic and analytical chemistry, enzymology, molecular biology and protein crystallography.
In her role as advisor to the NRP-iGEM team, Sibyl has trained us in molecular biology techniques, such as cloning, PCR and gel electrophoresis, as well as planning our experimental work efficiently. She has also provided expertise on carbohydrate metabolism and helped us design and run experiments to test the function of our BioBricks. Aside from the lab work, she has been involved in other aspects of the project, such as sourcing funding and facilitating collaborations.
Nicola Patron
Head of Synthetic Biology
Nicola is a molecular and synthetic biologist interested in the natural and engineered transfer of genetic material between genomes of different species. As the leader of the Synthetic Biology group at The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and an investigator in OpenPlant, Nicola designs and develops molecular tools to engineer plant genomes and produce novel functions in plant cells.
As a bioengineer, Nicola is interested in the societal impacts of synthetic biology and the complex intellectual property issues that surround genetic sequences, DNA and natural products. She is an advocate of open-source tools for biology and of women in STEMM. As a 2015, SynBioLEAP fellow Nicola is recognized as an emerging leader in synthetic biology.
Richard Bowater
Senior Lecturer
Richard is a senior lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of East Anglia with a particular interest in biochemistry and molecular biology.
His research group has characterised DNA repair processes from a variety of different organisms. This research feeds into understanding the molecular mechanisms that influence genome stability. Richard is on the editorial advisory panel of The Biochemical Journal and The Scientific World Journal.
Mark Banfield
Biological Chemistry Project Leader
Mark is a biological chemistry project leader at the John Innes Centre (JIC).
Mark studies structure/function relationships in effector proteins from pathogens of mammals and plants. Effector proteins are molecules secreted from pathogens that either localize outside of or are translocated into host cells where they act to promote pathogen colonization. He also studies the host side of plant immunity, through the use of biochemical, biophysical and structural studies.
In addition to making fundamental discoveries concerning mechanisms of pathogen virulence, many of Mark’s studies are aimed at engineering plants to better resist infection by pathogens, improving performance in agriculture with a reduced need for chemical interventions.
