About us
About the first Slovenian high school iGEM team
We are a high school research group composed of 8 biology and chemistry enthusiasts. As we attend 7 different secondary educational institutions across all Slovenia we are a very diverse team. We are all honoured to be the first Slovenian high school team to take part in the iGEM HS competition and face the challenges the synthetic biology poses.
''Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much''
-Helen Keller
We joined our knowledge and experience under the supervision of the National
Institute of Chemistry Slovenia and the Chair of Biochemistry of the Faculty of
Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University Ljubljana, who also selected
the team members among 32 applicants. For the application procedure we had to
write a personal statement about our passion for this area of research, attend an
interview and work out a thorough project design challenge.
As we are still only high school students with very little experience in synthetic
biology we could not start working on our project straight away (even though we
wanted to). Instead, we had to sit a few lessons first.
Throughout these we extended our knowledge on our field of work by learning the
basics of biotechnology, synthetic biology, lab safety and by practicing basic lab
protocols.
Because of the complexity of our project we formulated 2 working groups afterwards:Synthetic biologists, who were responsible for building our construct by using principles of synthetic biology.
Biotechnologists, who aimed to find the optimal conditions under which our construct would produce the highest possible yield of biobutanol within our genetically modified and optimized bioreactor system
The synthetic biologists carried out their wet-lab research at the Faculty of Chemistry
and Chemical Technology while the biotechnologists preformed their research at the
National Institute of Chemistry. At the same tame we held all-group meetings to
share our results and experience and work on our project thoroughly.
Team members
| SLIKA | Jernej ŠavliJurij Vega Grammar School IdrijaWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Responsibilities: lab work |
| SLIKA | Zala SekneKranj Grammar SchoolWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? I am interested in synthetic biology because of the promising improvements and facilitation of daily life situations. In synthetic biology there is still so much unknown and undiscovered and I wish to narrow that gap. The favorite part of our project was learning about genetic modification and when the first electrophoresis was done. It fascinates me that we can basically modify them in almost any way imaginable, change and cut DNA sequences. I found great passion, happiness and inspiration in chemistry and biology and synthetic biology partially combines both of the above mentioned sciences. But the crucial and the key thing is that besides all the research we do, we widen our knowledge and our horizons, search for new, alternative, better and more effective solutions for the problems, which pest the society nowadays. Responsibilities:lab work, fundraising campaign organisation, project clip, collaboration |
| SLIKA | Anže VozeljGimnazija Trbovlje High SchoolWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Responsibilities: lab work, searching for sponsors, tracking synthetic biology protocols, reaching out to public |
| SLIKA | Ana MilovanovićFirst High School CeljeWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Responsibilities: lab work, graphical design, wiki design, project clip |
| SLIKA | Domen KulovecNovo mesto Grammar SchoolWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Ever since I was a small child I’ve been intrigued by the nature around me. That’s why I was more than happy when I was told that I'll be part of this story. This was great opportunity for me to work in more than well equipped, gain new knowledges, experiences and friendships. I didn't know that synthetic biology can be so interesting and appealing.
Responsibilities: lab work, wiki manager, searching for sponsors, reaching out to public, social media, web page, fundraising campaign promotor
What was your favorite part of the project? My favorite part of the project was meeting new people and facing chalanges on daily level. |
| SLIKA | Mariša CvitaničGimnazija Bežigrad International SchoolWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Responsibilities: lab work, photography, wiki design, reaching out to public, collaboration with other teams, planning, social media, fundraising campaign, project clip |
| SLIKA | Aleš ZupančičNovo mesto Grammar SchoolWhy are you interested in synthetic biology? Responsibilities: planning, lab work |
| SLIKA | Nina JeralaDiocesan Classical GymnasiumsyntheticSynthetic biologist Why are you interested in synthetic biology? Because by taking parts of many different natural biological systems and standardising them, we can
make complicated processes relatively simple and efficient in solving many of the world's problems,
such as disease, pollution, and energetics.
Furthermore, it is a novel approach to learning about and understanding the natural world around
us, and what is cooler than that?
Responsibilities: leader of synthetic biologists, lab work, planning, collaboration, reaching out to public, project clip
What was your favorite part of the project? For me the absolute favorite part is the rush after looking at your results and realizing they were finally succesful and that the biological systems you designed are working like you want them to. There is nothing else like it. |
| SLIKA | Dr. Ilija Gasan Osojnik ČrnivecNational Institute of Chamistry Sloveniamentor |
| SLIKA | Dr. Marina KlemenčičFaculty of Chemistry and Chemical TechnologyMentor |
| SLIKA | Dr. Marko DolinarFaculty of Chemistry and Chemical TechnologyAdvisor |
| SLIKA | Dr. Albin PintarNational Institute of Chamistry SloveniaAdvisor |