Team:UCDavis/Team

UC Davis iGEM 2015

WHAT UC DAVIS IGEM IS ABOUT!


Gabriel Freund

Gabe Bio

Andrew Michelmore

Andrew Mich BIO

Muntaha Samad

Muntaha BIO

Andrew Shephard

Andrew Shep BIO

Joanne Wu

Joanne BIO

Logan Vinson

Logan BIO

Dr. Justin Siegel - Advisor

Jesse Starger is a junior at Tufts University majoring in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Jesse has research experience in the polymer field as he continues to work in the Yi lab with overarching interests in sustainable and environmental engineering. Outside of class, Jesse is a member of the Tufts University Men’s Rugby Football Club in addition to being the Eco-Rep for his dorm. While with the Tufts iGEM Team, Jesse hopes to increase his exposure to other academic fields through more independent forms of study than what a traditional undergraduate education may typically allow.


Dr. Ilias Tagkopoulos - Advisor

Petar Todorov majored in chemistry with an established tradition in research. During the last five years he has worked on projects spanning biophysics, molecular biology, and biomedical engineering. He currently works on elucidating restriction enzyme mechanisms in the Walt group at Tufts. Mr. Todorov established Tufts iGEM in early 2013. Since then he has worked to help the group secure funding, laboratory space, and faculty support in addition to guiding literature searches and drafting proposals outlining potential routes of research. Beyond the bench, he is interested in the intersection science, technology, society, and ethics. Mr. Todorov was one of the students involved in organizing the Institute of Global Leadership’s 2013 professional workshop focused on Privacy and Progress in Whole Genome Sequencing. Outside the lab Petar enjoys travel, photography, and reading in Bulgarian, English, and Latin. Petar has served as an advisor to the team since graduating in May.


Dr. Marc Facciotti - Advisor

Michael is a junior from Columbia, SC, majoring in Biopsychology. He first got involved with Tufts iGEM shortly after its founding in February 2013. As director, he has helped organize a conference on the Future of Phage Therapy and Synthetic Biology and worked with faculty and administrators to secure funding and housing for our team. Michael has worked in several labs at different universities, and he is also involved in Tufts Sustainability Collective and Active Minds on campus. He enjoys being outdoors, going to the gym, and rock climbing.


Alex Carlin - Advisor

Michael is a junior from Columbia, SC, majoring in Biopsychology. He first got involved with Tufts iGEM shortly after its founding in February 2013. As director, he has helped organize a conference on the Future of Phage Therapy and Synthetic Biology and worked with faculty and administrators to secure funding and housing for our team. Michael has worked in several labs at different universities, and he is also involved in Tufts Sustainability Collective and Active Minds on campus. He enjoys being outdoors, going to the gym, and rock climbing.


Russell Neches - Advisor

Michael is a junior from Columbia, SC, majoring in Biopsychology. He first got involved with Tufts iGEM shortly after its founding in February 2013. As director, he has helped organize a conference on the Future of Phage Therapy and Synthetic Biology and worked with faculty and administrators to secure funding and housing for our team. Michael has worked in several labs at different universities, and he is also involved in Tufts Sustainability Collective and Active Minds on campus. He enjoys being outdoors, going to the gym, and rock climbing.


Andrew Yao - Advisor

Tufts University, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Dr. Nikhil Nair is a professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of the Engineering School of Tufts University. His research focuses on altering various aspects of microbial physiology with the aim of not only engineering them for applications, but also to understand why various features of life evolved the way they did. He believes that, as an engineer, building a synthetic system is one of the most powerful methods to understand the intricacies of that system. Dr. Nair is the advisor of the Tufts Synthetic Biology team.