Team:TrinityCollegeDublin/Team
Team Members
Ben Wilson
Course: 3rd Year BiochemistAbout me: Project Leader and Founder
Marlena Mucha
Course: 3rd Year Human GeneticsAbout me: Until the age of 18 I wanted to be a forensic pathologist, but suddenly decided to become a geneticist instead and moved from my hometown (Krakow) to Ireland. Best decision I’ve ever made! I’ve been crowned the queen of dad jokes and puns. In the Giant Jamboree you’ll recognize me easily – look for the “I’m plotting something evil”/expressionless face and floral/geometric prints.
Why iGEM? I joined iGEM because as a future “human geneticist”, working in a lab with fellow students and developing a new way of producing an antimalarial drug seemed like an amazing opportunity to gain experience and evolve as a scientist. And indeed, it was. I was mainly involved in the Interlab Study, which will make next year labs at college much easier (hopefully), and it has also evoked my inner artist by my work on illustrations for our website.
Arnas Petrauskas
Course: 3rd year Human GeneticsAbout me: I hope to pursue a career in academic research within the field of genetics. I have been known to be the most punctual member of the team, my lunch breaks being exactly 10 minutes long.
Why iGEM? I enjoyed the project as it gave me a chance to work independently from the course curriculum and not be confined by the agendas of teaching labs. Learned many protocols and much technical information regarding lab techniques; became better at designing protocols and solving experimental problems. Improved digital design abilities.
Remsha Afzal
Course: 3rd Year Human GeneticsAbout me: I knew I wanted to be a scientist since the tender age of 3 when I would conduct ‘experiments’ on my sister- most of them wouldn’t go as planned. No worries, my sister is still alive! I was made the PR of our iGEM group and I’ve been the master of hashtags on Twitter ever since.
Why iGEM? I was very keen to get any hands-on experience working in a lab with proficient supervisors, who could help instil in me the skills required to be a competent geneticist. It was the perfect opportunity for me to broaden my horizons in Science and work with conscientious individuals. The iGEM experience proved to be one-of-a-kind where I not only had the chance to hone my skills but also had a lot of fun with friends.
Dáire Gannon
Course: 2nd year Human GeneticsAbout me: I spent half my summer directing and editing tutorial videos for iGEM Academy. I then immersed myself in wet lab work, applying the lab techniques I had learned in the making of the videos. The challenge of turning the concept of a more affordable antimalarial drug into a reality was a major motivation as were the words of Kathleen Monroe, Executive Director of Zagaya,‘ Malaria doesn’t need to exist, it just doesn’t. So we just need to eliminate it.’ I hope that the work of this year’s team will act as a benchmark for future Trinity College Dublin teams to excel in the iGEM competition. Ní neart go cur le chéile
Why iGEM? My confidence and competency in the lab grew exponentially as the project progressed. I enjoyed the hands on problem solving demanded in the design and implementation of experiments.
Zaneta Najda
Course: 3rd Year Human GeneticsAbout me: I'm originally from Poland but I've been living in Ireland since I was 12. It was in Ireland that, at the age of 16, I discovered my fascination and love for genetics; I haven't wanted to do anything else since! The opportunity to get involved in iGEM was one that I couldn't allow to pass me by. The work we carried out throughout our project definitely helped me become a more skilled and experienced scientist. When I win my first Nobel Prize, I'll make sure to mention that it all started with iGEM 2015!
Why iGEM? Working in the lab during iGEM helped me become more confident in the environment and helped me perfect the laboratory skills I already had. In addition to this, I also learned many lab techniques that are very important in synthetic biology but that I had never gotten the chance to use before; these include: preparing minipreps, digestions, ligations and transformations and, running gel electrophoresis. iGEM provided me with a bigger picture of the possibilities in the fields of synthetic biology and genetics. I was very involved in the wet lab but also enjoyed interacting with other iGEM teams to achieve collaboration and reaching out to the general public to explain our experiment's goal. I also had to face one of my biggest fears: giving a speech!
Anya Aleshko
Course: 4th year BiochemistryAbout me: Although I’m originally from Belarus I’ve been living in Ireland now for 13 years. My hands are the stars of our series of iGEM Academy videos ‘A Beginner’s Guide’. I have a passion for rifles and an in depth knowledge of all the pubs of Dublin.
Why iGEM? I joined iGEM team because it offered a chance to be involved in something different and something that wouldn’t have been just another internship. Personally I found that taking part in iGEM has been a rewarding learning experience.
Team Instructors
Matthew Carrigan
About me: I'm a postdoc at Trinity College Dublin. My main focus is on using next-generation sequencing to diagnose inherited and infectious diseases. I'm not sure what cosmic irony led a bioinformatician who hasn't handled a pipette in months to mentor a team doing a wet-lab project, but it all worked out in the end.