Team:UIUC Illinois/Team

Meet The Team!

UIUC 2015 Team Photo


Our Team!

Hello, my name is Caroline.


Hi, I’m James. I’m a chemical engineering major aspiring to become a synthetic biologist. When I first read about BioBricks, I wondered what it would be like to design some myself. This summer I found out, and it was worth the eleven year wait.

Hi my names Sameer! You can call me smeersmeerxtreme. While I’m not protesting food and advocating for our cecums to be microbially or genetically engineered to eat kudzu, you can find me protesting against paternalistic paradigms of medicine or wearing patterned shirts scuttling around campus. This is my second year of iGEM and I still haven’t contracted enterocolitis… physically… maybe psychologically I have though…

Hello, my name is Joshua. You can identify me as the shortest member on the team. I'm also an aspired mainstream hipster, who own a fixie bike, Chrome backpack, and some Levi's 511 jeans. (Definitely should've shaved for the picture.)

Hi, I am Linyang Ju (Andrew), an MCB junior. In addition to eating a hearty meal during a long PCR, I also love to feed those bacterium that cry the most piteously for food and generate electricity to push bands in gel to the correct site.

Hello, my name is Noah. I love long walks on the beach holding hands with the eternal love of my life and listening as the waves crash against sandy beaches tucked within the expanses of my imagination as I day dream through class.

Hello, I'm Miranda Dawson, and I am an undergraduate Bioengineering student. This year I helped with wet lab work and organized our outreach project. Outside of iGEM, I enjoy binge watching reality television and indulging in overpriced coffee drinks.

Hello, my name is Aru.

Hello, my name is Pierce.

Hello, my name is Ashwin.


Our Advisors!

Yong-Su Jin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and a faculty member of the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB). He is a principal investigator of the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), and is also a member of the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Hello, I am Todd Freestone. I'm a graduate student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering working on natural product gene clusters. I've been working with iGEM for the past few years and digging every minute of it.


Hello, my name is Tim.

Greetings, my name is Jessica (Jess) Beaudoin. I’m the laboratory manager for the Biosystems Design and Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering themes at the Carl. R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and an independent research associate on the side. When I’m not wrangling undergraduates or tending to minor laboratory disasters, I enjoy going to shows, playing guitar, and pursuing various art projects. PS- don’t let me catch you in the lab after dark.


Hello, my name is Eric Andersen. The idea of making bacteria produce any molecule you want has interested me since I was in high school, and now I'm a graduate student mentoring an iGEM team.

Hello, my name is Michelle.


Hello, my name is Stephan Lane. I am a graduate student in Food Science and Human Nutrition who studied Molecular Biology as an undergraduate. I get to do quite a bit of genetic engineering in my research, but I was happy to be able to jump on board and help out the Illinois IGEM team with some pure synthetic biology work.

Hello, my name is Zach.


Special Thanks!