The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) is a polytechnic and applied sciences institute located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. NAIT provides careers programs in applied research, technical training, applied education, and learning designed to meet the demands of Alberta's technical and knowledge-based industries. NAIT offers approximately 140 credit programs leading to applied degrees, diplomas and certificates. There are approximately 8,400 full-time students, 20,500 students in continuing education and part-time studies, 12,300 apprentices anticipated for 2012, and more than 20,000 registrants for customized corporate based training. NAIT also attracts international students from 77 countries. NAIT is similar to an Institute of technology or university of applied sciences as termed in other jurisdictions. The university press, The Nugget, is a member of CUP.

Short biography for Marcelo.

Short biography for Mattea.

Nickname: El Capitaine

Eduardo was born in Mexico and lived there for 24 years. He studied Biotechnological Engineering at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and obtained his degree in May 2014. He moved to Edmonton in September, 2014 to continue his education in Environmental Sciences and will pursue a research career in bio-remediation.

Much to his dismay, Eduardo was knighted as the leader of our team. He will not admit it as he is super modest, but he is THE one to go to if we have any troubles in lab or in life in general. Eduardo has been most involved in research, BioBrick and sequence design and lab work.

He is quite talkative and will make friends of rabid dogs. When he’s at home, he likes gardening and cooking; when he’s outdoors, he likes to bike through Edmonton’s River Valley and stop at nice spots to enjoy the views. Also, he enjoys geocaching with his friends and has fun even when no one can find the cache because he believes a moment spent with friends is an instant of happiness that can be treasured for a lifetime.

Johannes Coomansingh

Short Biography for Jo

Nickname: Davie

David Barilla was born and raised on an acreage just east of Edmonton, Alberta and is currently studying Nanotechnology Systems at NAIT.

At this time, he works in an auto rail compound part time while also working alongside his extraordinary iGEM teammates. He’s a lab rat….a lab…..technician? Point is, he likes working in the lab running experiments whenever needed. Research is his second calling on the team. He also likes keeping fit and playing guitar.

His future plans include furthering his education in engineering and continuing in the research field.

Nickname: Hello Abby

Abbie Gottert is from a small acreage just outside the town of Hinton, three hours away from Edmonton. Currently, she is studying Nanotechnology Systems at NAIT.

She has a huge fascination with travelling and discovering new things. Abbie loves animals (mostly owls and sloths), running, Hello Kitty, tattoos, and naps. She is also a proud owner of a beautiful dog named Tori, and an adorable little kitten named Saki. In our team, Abbie has been primarily doing research with a side of basic designing and fundraising. By the end of the summer she’ll being getting her hands dirty doing lab work and she will love it!

Her future plans are to further her education in microbiology and possibly engineering. She also hopes to learn how to fly a helicopter and get her motorcycle license.

Kevin Setzer

Nickname: Master Shi Fu

Joy Ramielle Santos is a second year Mechanical Engineering Technology student at NAIT. Prior to attending NAIT, Joy also earned her B. Sc. at the University of Alberta in 2014.

A self-professed nerd, Joy loves math, science, computers, pandas and video games. In our team, she has been primarily working on coding and designing our Wiki and (hopefully) producing the 3D animations and visualizations of our project in Autodesk Maya and Mathematica. However, occasionally, you might find her in the lab cloning and transforming plasmids like a pro.

After graduating from NAIT, Joy plans to finish her degree in Engineering, and perhaps explore the world of Bio-Medical Engineering.