Marc-Sven Röll

Biology (ERASMUS Exchange student from Düsseldorf, Germany)

About

Biology was always my major interest. When I was a child, we were living close to a zoo. I spend a lot of time there watching animals and dreaming about being an elephant.

At university I focus on plant science, because the sufficient feeding of the global population is an important topic and a huge challenge.

I joined the iGEM competition, because it offers the possibility to realize your own ideas. In our team I am responsible for the organization and the progress in the Lab.

My free time I am spending on the basketball court, because it is the best way to keep a clear head.

Caroline Skar Mjønes

Molecular Bioscience

About

The reason I got interested in the field of biology is because of a science teacher I had in High school. She made biology interesting and allowed her students to be curious about science.

This again created a classroom environment where no questions where wrong and where different aspects of biology were the focus. Its because of her I first got excited and interested in biology.

I joined iGEM because it seamed like a great challenge. It was opportunity to take part in all aspects of research and not only work in the laboratory.

In my free time I play soccer and run. My dream for my future is to get taller then my little sister!

Ole Boye

Molecular Bioscience

About

My master’s project is about using hydrogenase enzymes in solar cells. I like this project because microbiology fascinates me and because hydrogen technology is exciting.

I signed up for iGEM because iGEM is a great project and an opportunity to learn and to meet scientists from all over the world.
Health and safety is my responsibility for UiO iGEM.

In my free time I like running in the woods, reading novels and hanging out with friends.

In the future I would like to do teaching, science communication and working with bioengineering bacteria.

Hanna Noordzij

Molecular Biology

About

Once upon a time I studied arts, but found out quickly that I wanted to do something more useful. Biology is incredibly interesting, can be used to solve many local and global problems and, most importantly, is challenging like trying to solve a giant puzzle!

I joined the iGEM team to find other motivated students with whom I could design and work out a project from scratch. My main role in the iGEM project is reading and writing. I have been scrolling through PubMed to find as much relevant information as possible which is used in the design, progress and writing stages of our project.

Besides biology and study related activities, I have a busy home life with a husband and two children with whom I try to discover the Norwegian nature at every opportunity. At home we have a project to write and draw a comic book, and to get away from them and work I train in the martial art of Ju Jitsu.

Vladimir Levchenko

Chemistry

About

I am in my first year of a Master of Science majoring in Chemistry. There I work on design and development new and ”green” organometallic catalysts for pharmaceutical and fine chemical synthesis. I aim to pursue my career in pharmaceutical industry where I believe combination of chemistry, synthetic biology and pure engineering would make the Earth to be a better place to treat diseases.

To appeal to my ”bio” side, I decided to participate in iGEM project where I could gain an outstanding knowledge in how life under the microscope (and even deeper!) works and try to fill the gap between synthetic biology and chemistry.

My previous background is Engineer’s Degree in Industrial Pharmacy, therefore to satisfy my ”engineering” side, I contribute to this project with developing and assembling a filter along with maintaining sensors and final testing of the whole system.

In normal life, I work as a tutor in chemistry and as mechanical engineer. So I truly hope, that all the experience I possess and awesome people I met will make me a better person to be.

Chiharu Kimura

Molecular Biology

About

Before I came to the University of Oslo, I had worked in totally different field from science for a long time. But when I worked for a pharmaceutical company, I was drawn to molecular biology. Thankfully I got an opportunity to study it, and realized that I really need more practical experiences.

That’s why I decided to participate in iGEM. My main charge is working in the lab. I aimed to take part in the lab works as many as possible.

In this January, I started to receive Ju Jitsu training. My dream is to become an extremely strong researcher!

Sigmund Ramberg

Molecular Bioscience

About

I'm a transhumanist polyamorous wannabe dandy, currently taking my masters degree at the Univeristy of Oslo. My thesis project is about population dynamics of e.coli in human infants, and I picked that because I wanted something where I could do bioinformatics and practice my coding.

I joined the iGEM project because I'm passionate about synthetic biology and the possibilities it holds, and I'm a fan of modularity as a general design principle and wanted to get some experience with BioBricks. On the project I'm mostly the code-monkey for the wiki, help Marc study sequencing results, and work in the lab.

In my spare time I play games of all kinds, read, dress up fancy and try and spend as much time as possible with my wonderful girlfriends, who sadly at the moment live in different parts of the country.

In the future I want to work with curing aging, make vat grown meat, or experiment with biocomputing.

Max Lycke

Molecular Bioscience

About

I am doing my Master’s degree in molecular bioscience; my thesis is about stem cell biology. I wanted to study this because I’m interested in developmental biology. I also think stem cell biology is exciting because of the potential it holds for biomedical applications.

I joined iGEM because I liked the whole concept. It’s a course where we finally do something applied, where we get to design our own project and create something that actually maybe works. It seemed fun as well, it’s social and you get to travel to iGEM conferences.

My main responsibility is sponsorship, but we all work on the main project as well.

What I do for fun? What are you talking about? I work in the lab and then I go wait in the dark for a new day to begin, so I can return to the lab... Oh ...before my life in the lab I used to socialize, I enjoyed most water-related activities, and played guitar.

My dream for the future is a world without anthropogenic methane emissions, bot flies, or camel spiders.

Dirk Linke

Professor - Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology

http://www.mn.uio.no/ibv/english/people/aca/dirkl/

"Methane degradation is an important environmental topic, not only in agriculture, but also in the oil industry. The iGEM project of this year's team will therefore create - I hope - lots of public interest in Norway. For the team, I hope that they do not only enjoy the competition and learn a lot about synthetic biology, but also that they benefit from their exposure to the media, the general public, and to sponsors."

Paul Grini

Professor - Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology

http://www.mn.uio.no/ibv/english/people/aca/egrini/

“The iGEM competition is a fantastic exercise for the students since they have to cope with all aspects of science that they will encounter in their future careers as researchers. This year’s iGEM Team has embraced this challenge fully - not only have they embarked on a hot and important topic but they have also been successful in achieving their goals. Given the environmental and societal impact of the project the Team has managed to give “MetHane InCorporated" the broad angle that it deserves.

I’m always positively astonished by the achievements of the iGEM Teams, and this year is no exception. I hope you had fun and cross my fingers for Boston.”

Eric de Muinck

Postdoctoral Fellow - Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis

http://www.mn.uio.no/cees/english/people/researcher-postdoc/ericde/index.html

“This team is bright and highly motivated. They have come together and generated good insight into a difficult problem. In addition to individual development, their results provide a platform for others to build on.”

Bård Enger Mathiesen

Staff Engineer - Section for Physiology and Cell Biology

http://www.mn.uio.no/ibv/english/people/adm/baardma/

“This years' team has an interesting approach that could have a very real impact should the end goal be reached. The use of a common, well known and easy to use bacteria for the purpose of degrading methane has a lot of potential uses in all kinds of industries for removing methane from the atmosphere.

The group has a lot of different strengths they use together to pursue their common goal and I have high hopes they will produce some exciting results.”