Difference between revisions of "Team:UMaryland/Team"

Revision as of 01:05, 19 September 2015

Meet the team

The UMaryland iGEM Team consists of 15 undergraduate students with a variety of backgrounds.

Iowis Zhu: President, Fearless Leader

4th year: Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics, Public Leadership, Statistics, Tech. Entrepreneurship

"No worries, it'll be fine."

After leading last year's inaugural iGEM team to a gold award last year, Iowis returned this year to further grow the team. Outside of iGEM, he studies the characteristics of DNA looping protein in Dr. Kahn's lab. He has had the entire periodic table memorized since 8th grade. Outside of lab, he loves reading manga, watching sports (as a Boston sports fan), and following the global politics. He recently visited India last winter and Germany last summer. After graduation he plans to enter MD/PhD program.

Stephanie Sansbury: Vice President, Team Mom

4th year: Molecular Genetics, Arabic Studies

"I'm gonna science as hard as I can!"

Stephanie is a senior at the University of Maryland researching mechanosensitive channels in V. cholerae. When she's not in the lab, you can find her wandering organic farms trying to find her spirit animal or exploring the rocky paths of the local Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River. In addition to basic scientific research, she is interested in science education and policy and plans to work in that arena after earning her PhD.

Kevin Fan: Finance Director, Tallest Asian

4th year: Neurobiology, Technology Entrepreneurship

"Can I eat that?"

Standing at 190 cm, Kevin is the tallest Asian on the team. He joined iGEM because of its fast-paced, multidisciplinary, problem solving nature, as well as its connections to entrepreneurship. He is the founder of SuperScore Inc, and serves on the national board of Kids Are Scientists Too. He hopes to attain a MD/MBA someday. In his spare time, Kevin enjoys boxing, parkour, and reading.

Robert Hand: Community/Outreach Director

3rd year: Bioengineering

"Always happy to lend a hand."

Rob is currently a junior bioengineering major. He joined iGEM because of its innovative, creative nature and how it addresses so many different aspects of synthetic biology. Outside of the iGEM lab and our human practices efforts, he enjoys reading about virtually anything, learning about vegetarian cooking recipes, being out in nature, exploring my new found hobby of SCUBA diving with the Maryland Terrafins, exploring, learning about issues in Bioethics, and spending time with his wonderful friends.

Chun Mun Loke: Website Director, Best Kohai

2nd year: Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics, Physics, Music

"Has Iowis-senpai noticed me yet?"

Hailing from Singapore and Australia, Chun Mun's strong interest in genetic engineering prompted him to join iGEM. He hopes to conduct research in this field after attaining an MD/PhD. Outside of school, he is a self proclaimed piano prodigy, having won consecutive local competitions and finalizing in international ones. He can solve a Rubik's cube in a very slow average of 17 seconds and is an avid video gamer. He is actually not a weeaboo as some aspects of his profile may suggest.

Aditya Biswas: PCR Design Director

4th year: Bioengineering

"My PCR machine doubles as a hairdryer."

Aditya is a senior at the University of Maryland who is studying Bioengineering. Aditya brings five years of wet lab research experience including one prior year with Maryland's IGEM team. This year, Aditya's main foci are the design of an inexpensive and effective PCR machine and modeling metabolic pathways of engineered E.coli. In his free time, Aditya enjoys the movies, making food for the team, and visiting cows.

Kimia Abtahi: Photographer

2nd year: Neurobiology

Kimia is a sophomore majoring in Physiology & Neurobiology and on the pre-med track. She is considering pursuing obstetrics in the future. She would like to travel and apply her knowledge to developing countries or disaster relief. Beyond that, she has interests in nutrition and business. Kimia is a student photographer for the Honors College and plays on the Women's Ultimate Frisbee Team. Her favorite way to spend her free time is staying active in nature, such as jogging or doing adventure courses.

Adam Wahab

4th year: Neurobiology

Adam is a senior neurobiology and physiology major at the University of Maryland. This is his first research experience and exposure to synthetic biology. In the future he hopes to attend medical school and pursue more research opportunities. Outside of the lab, he is a huge news junkie and loves following politics. He also enjoys traveling, weight lifting, and browsing reddit.

Juhye Kang

2nd year: Neurobiology

Juhye is a sophomore Neurobiology and Physiology major in the Integrated Life Sciences honors program. Currently, she is a member of an epidemiology lab at UMD focusing on creating a support program for Korean breast cancer patients, in addition to iGEM. She hopes to attend medical school after graduation to become either a dermatologist or an oncologist. Outside of school, she enjoys reading, dancing, and binge watching countless crime and cooking shows. Her favorite movie of all time is Finding Nemo, and her favorite food is macaroni and cheese (or just cheese in general!).

Kara Huie: PCR Design

2nd year: Bioengineering

"Get your lemonade and pink lemonade here!" (Refering to liquid cell culture w/ & w/o RFP)"

Kara is a sophomore bioengineering major at the University of Maryland. While at this point in time she isn't sure what exactly she plans to do in the future, she hopes that experiences like iGEM will help her to find her interests and give her more exposure to the many careers related to biology. Outside of school, she enjoys running and keeping up with track & field. She also enjoys doing kungfu (martial arts) and just recently started indoor rock climbing this summer. Basically, she loves doing sports.

Dylan Taylor: PCR Design

2nd year: Neurobiology, Mathematics

"This looks safe, right?"

Dylan is a sophomore Neurobiology and Physiology and Mathematics double major in the Integrated Life Sciences honors program. Dylan was heavily involved in the design of various components of the team’s PCR machine. He's not sure what he wants to do out of college yet, and he hopes his experience with iGEM will help shape this decision. This is his second research experience and first wet-lab experience. Outside iGEM, he is a member of the University of Maryland Gymkana Troupe, a performance gymnastics team. He also collects and solves various twisty puzzles and loves to read Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels.

Dania Benalla: Programmer

2nd year: Computer Science, Microbiology

Dania is a sophomore Microbiology and Computer Science major in the Integrated Life Sciences honors program. After graduating, she hopes to attend medical school to become a neurologist. Outside of school, Dania enjoys reading, watching TV and sleeping.

Samiha Ahmed:

2nd year: Physiology & Neurobiology, Public Health

"Don't touch my shoulders."

Samiha Ahmed is a sophomore Neurobiology and Physiology and Public Health Sciences double major in the Integrated Life Sciences Honors program. She hopes to go to medical school one day, and she loves all things arts and crafts related. Outside of the science world, she works on board for United Muslim Relief, a global humanitarian organization that provides aid and relief globally. She also works with kids, having been a Sunday school teaching assistant and a volunteer at a hospital working with newborns. When she isn't working, she likes to paint, draw, read books, read anime, watch shows, cook, bake, run, dance, eat and sleep. Basically, she enjoys a wide variety of activities in life and always loves trying new things.

Sarah Wain: Programmer

2rd year: Chemical engineering, Computer Science

Sarah is a sophomore and member of the Gemstone Honors Program. She was predominantly involved in the Wiki design. In addition to iGEM, she works in a Microfluidics Chemistry lab and enjoys finding as much free food as possible. Post graduation, Sarah hopes to pursue a career in industry working as an engineer in at a large company. Outside of academics, Sarah like playing the ukulele and exercising.

Pavel Vlasov

4th year: Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics

"Wanna hear a joke?"

Pavel is a senior and member of the Integrated Life Sciences Honors Program at UMD, originally from the distant land of Russia. Outside of iGEM, he also has another internship at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, where he works with thyroid cells. Outside of academics and scientific work, his hobbies include video games, model kits, fencing, anime, and writing science-fiction stories.

George Zhang

4th year: Bioengineering, Statistics

George is a senior Bioengineering major and Statistics minor at the University of Maryland. He hopes to attend medical school. In his time outside of the classroom, he enjoys running, playing basketball, and taking long naps in the library when he really should be studying. Recently, he has also been occupied with self-learning new computer programming languages. He says to expect big things from UMD iGEM this year – go Terps!

Advisors

We are very fortunate to have worked with these fabulous advisors, without whom our projects would not be possible.

Dr. Jason Kahn

UC Berkeley, 1990

Jason D. Kahn is a biophysical chemist who studies protein-nucleic acid interaction and engineering. He is best known for studies of DNA looping, bending, twisting, and cyclization, as well as hybridization thermodynamics for modified bases. He teaches a variety of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology courses, which he credits for initiating his interest in synthetic biology. Dr. Kahn was a graduate student at UC Berkeley and a post-doc at Yale before coming to Maryland in 1994.

Dr. Edward Eisenstein

Georgetown University, 1985

Edward Eisenstein is a Fellow in the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research and an Associate Professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Trained in modern structural enzymology, his current research interests are focused on protein and biosystem engineering for discovery and application in plants and microorganisms.

Dr. "Boots" Quimby

Emory University, 1997

Dr. Quimby is Associate Director of the Integrated Life Sciences honors program in the Honors College at the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at UMD as a full-time instructor, she earned her Master's of Arts in teaching from the University of South Carolina, after which she taught high school science in Atlanta, Georgia for eight years. She then returned to graduate school and received her doctorate in genetics and molecular biology from Emory University.

Nathan Barber

University of Maryland 2015, Bioengineering

Nathan is a former vice president of the UMaryland iGEM team and had served many roles this past year as the team formed. He graduated with a degree in Bioengineering and currently works in the Life Sciences consulting field while also working as a mentor and advisor to this year's team. His background primarily consists of metabolic and genetic engineering research, and in his spare time he is an avid rock climber and plays ice hockey!

Naren Bhokisham

Graduate Student: Bioengineering

Naren is a Graduate Student in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Biotechnology from St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Anna University, India. He works in the intersection of synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and biomaterials, involving assembly of enzyme cascades on various interfaces to generate small molecules and engineering microbes to display novel phenotypes in response to small molecules. Apart from science, his pursuits include traveling, running and latin dancing.

Dr. Tanya Gordonov

University of Maryland 2015, Bioengineering

Tanya is a recently-graduated graduate student in the Bioengineering program. Synthetic biology has been her interest for many years, and being an advisor for the UMD iGEM team had been a great mentoring experience for her. In addition to synthetic biology, her research interests include bioelectronics and the construction of lab-on-a-chip devices. She's very proud of how far the team has come and knows they will do great at the competition.

Navadeep

Graduate Student: Chemical Engineering

Navadeep is a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His primary research interest is in predicting metabolism in cells by interplay of computational modeling and experiments, more specifically in the application and development of computational methods to minimize experimental work in making reliable metabolic flux predictions. Prior to his doctoral research in cellular metabolism, Navadeep has worked in the areas of computational fluid dynamics in microfluidic systems and petroleum refining. Rugby union, cricket, badminton and motorcycles are some of his other obsessions.

Testudo

School Mascot

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+Navadeep is a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His primary research interest is in predicting metabolism in cells by interplay of computational modeling and experiments, more specifically in the application and development of computational methods to minimize experimental work in making reliable metabolic flux predictions. Prior to his doctoral research in cellular metabolism, Navadeep has worked in the areas of computational fluid dynamics in microfluidic systems and petroleum refining. Rugby union, cricket, badminton and motorcycles are some of his other obsessions. </p>
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