Team:ESBS-Strasbourg/Team

Undergraduates

• Camille Bernard
• Fabian Stiefel
• Georgio Kourjian
• Jens-Sebastian Kalchschmidt
• Morgane Griesbeck
• Pierre Dillard
• Raphaël Doineau
• Renaud Renault
• Sebastien Pigeot
• Thea Ziegler
• Yohann Lacotte
• Yves Gendrault

Advisors

• Pr. Jacques Haiech

Instructors

• Dr. Maria Zeniou
• Pr. Christophe Lallement
• Dr. Morgan Madec

Our Universities

• ESBS - Biotech School
• University of Strasbourg

Collaboration

Camille has begun her cursus by studying chemistry, physics and mathematics in Classe Prépa. Then she decided to enter in a biotechnology school (ESBS) in Strasbourg because she was keen to learn how the living works. She was interested in taking part of this experience insofar as it is a chance to lead a project since the beginning, from the idea to the culmination. Furthermore it was the opportunity to work with a motivated team and to test our limits. Besides, Camille loves Morgane’s cake; it is the best ATP source in the world!!

Fabian is now in the ninth semester and so at his last year as student at the Ecole supérieure de Biotechnology de Strasbourg (ESBS). Before he entered the ESBS he studied two years of chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany. The idea of trilingual courses in four Universities in three different countries was and is very thrilling to him. He is very fond of synthetic biology and he wants to continue in this domain of research for his diploma/ master thesis. He finds it also very exciting to work with a highly motivated team on a self chosen project for the summer.
Three weeks ago he had discovered a great new game - the blender animation program. Since then, he unleashes his new skills on the innocent ClpXP protease and his friends, stretching and bending them into models and pictures and forcing them to move.

Georgio joined the Ecole supérieure de Biotechnology de Strasbourg (ESBS) after he got his B.Sc degree in Biochemistry at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille France. Currently he is in the last year of the master’s program in this trinational Biotechnology school. He was interested about synthetic biology and the idea of designing and building new biological functions and systems not found in nature that is why he joined the ESBS iGEM team. He thinks that participating at the iGEM competition is a very enriching experience.
For him diploma thesis a part of his work will be the use of synthetic biology for medical purposes.
He was mainly responsible of the wiki creation.

Jens is in his last year as student at the Ecole supérieure de Biotechnology de Strasbourg (ESBS). Before he enrolled in the ESBS he studied 2 years molecular biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He decided to take the chance to continue his biotechnology studies within the trilingual study course biotechnology at the ESBS implicating four universities in three countries. In retrospect, he must say that it was absolutely the right choice and the first long-term contact with the international research community. His research interests focus mostly on immunology and infectious diseases, but the iGEM participation sparked his interest in synthetic biology.

Personal remark: Marathon preparation can be best done during incubation times.

Morgane did her cursus in the so-called « classes préparatoires » where she studied Mathematics, Physcis and Chemistry. She chose then to study Biotechnology, choice she has never regretted. She was very interested in the experience provided by conducting a project from scratch. She was especially attracted by the interdisciplinary aspect of synthetic biology and the juncture of biology and engineering. Besides, Morgane loves chocolate and did amazing chocolate cakes called « Indémoulable de Jean-François ».

Pierre is currently in his ninth semester at the ESBS. Previously he has done two years in CPGE BCPST where he received a good education in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. In the ESBS he specialized himself in synthetic biology because he think that this field can be the future of the biology. iGEM was a seducing project for him because of the intellectual challenge and the team work. To see the evolves of the project all summer long was very grateful. He enjoys also all the new skills acquired during this work.

Raphael is just like the other in his ninth semester at the ESBS. Originally from a math physics and chemistry curriculum he chose the ESBS for his international orientation and the synthetic biology approach of biotechnology. In order to obtain further biological background knowledge and skills, he decided to interrupt his curriculum to perform two six months internships in two different labs before continuing ESBS and joining the iGEM team.

Also known as Reno carré (Reno square) he tends to be famous for his experiments on the lack of sleep on himself. As some of his fellows, he is in the third year of ESBS, after having intensively studied Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and even more for 2 years in Classe Prépa. Since that time, he has been a MATLAB freak, coding some cool stuff you can see on his youtube channel (for instance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm0qQlzh0hw) and earns his living (sushis are quite expensive) by doing clinical trials. He got interested in Synthetic Biology quite early, and more especially with the iGEM competition. He originally got the idea of engineering a controllable protease which was the basis of our project and is really glad that others were as excited and motivated about it as him.

Sébastien decided to study biology after obtaining his A level. He studied for two years in a special school combining half practical courses and half theoretical courses. After completing those two years he decided to travel and did a Bachelor in Science at the Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. Finally, he returned to France to Strasbourg and joined the ESBS (Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg). He discovered a tri-national school with a great atmosphere and he is really enjoying it. He decided to take part to the igem competition with some of his friends because it is a very challenging competition and he was attracted by the fact to be autonomous toward the reflection and the manipulations. So far he has not been deceived in his expectations.

Thea started her studies at the Humboldt University Berlin with the Bachelor program of Biophysics. As the trinational conception and organization of the ESBS captivated her, she left the German capital after finishing the 4th semester and went to Strasbourg to continue with the diploma course in Biotechnology. In the current last year of her studies she decided to specialize in Synthetic Biology and to take part of the iGEM competition. Behind the basic idea of iGEM she was attracted of the opportunity to work independently without limitations in creativity. She is very satisfied with the theme her team chose, the role and functioning of photoreceptors fascinate her since the early beginning of her studies. In the future she wants to continue within this field; for her diploma thesis she would like to work with vertebrate photoreceptors.

Yohann had pretty much the same curriculum than his copartners coming from "Classe Prépa". He is particularly interested in neurophysiology, biophysics and of course, synthetic biology.
He likes to go to movie theatre, draw some manga and sing in the shower, but not at the same time natürlich. Although he really enjoys watching some cartoons on TV before his daily nap, he can also be a brutal extrem lab worker all day AND night long. Unfortunately for us, his good mood is proportional to the success rate of his experiments, but once he decided to succeed, he can manage the impossible. Within iGEM, he thus can be seen as the man of the situation, as far as clearing the hurdles is concerned.

After obtaining his bachelor's degree in Electronique, Signaux et Automatique (ESA), Yves does a Master’s degree in Micro-and Nano-Electronique (MNE) at the Université de Strasbourg (UdS). He discovers the field of Synthetic Biology during an internship in the Institut d'Electronique du Solide et des Systèmes (InESS) laboratory in Strasbourg. During this internship he creates models for several biological processes. Because Synthetic Biology is situated between engineer sciences and biotechnologies, the collaboration with biotechnologists is for him fundamental for a better understanding. He thinks that the iGEM competition is a very interesting experience of this kind of collaboration in an international team.

Jacques Haiech got a M.D. degree in Mathematics and computer science in 1975 and then a M.D. and a PhD degree in Biochemistry in 1978 dealing with cell signaling (focusing on calcium signal in muscle cells). After his PhD, he has been working part time successively at NCI in Bethesda, then at Vanderbilt University and finally at Northwestern University (Chicago) while being research director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, studiyng cellular calcium signals before joining the Strasbourg University as a full professor in 1997. He has founded the first synthetic biology option in an engineering school in France in 2008 along with the first participation of the ESBS-Team to the iGEM competition. Since then, he has developed collaboration with the Strasbourg engineering school of physics on “Design Methodology and Modeling of Synthetic Biosystems”. He is now working in integrating concepts of synthetic biology in personalized medicine.

Maria Zeniou graduated as a molecular biologist in 2002. Her PhD project included genetic studies of an X-linked inherited disorder and functional studies on the protein kinase whose loss of function leads to this disease. After her PhD, she performed a four-year post-doc in molecular and cellular biology. Within this period, she studied the roles and the regulation of lipid modifying enzymes during the process of regulated hormone exocytosis from neuroendocrine cells. In 2007, she joined the Strasbourg University as an assistant professor and since 2008 she participates to the iGEM teams of the Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnology de Strasbourg (ESBS) as an instructor. The aim of her current research project is to better understand the physiopathology of gliomas.

Christophe Lallement received the M.S. degree in engineering from the Science University of Nancy I, Nancy, France, and the Ph.D. degree in engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télecommunications, Paris, France. From November 1994 to September 1997, he was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist with the Laboratory of Electronics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, working on the characterization and modeling of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) in the development team of the Enz-Krummenacher-Vittoz MOSFET model. In September 1997, he was an Associate Professor with the Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Strasbourg, France, and the Laboratory for Physics and Applications of Semiconductors, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Since September 2003, he has been a Professor with the École Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France. He is currently with the Institut d’Électronique du Solide et des Systèmes (InESS), UdS, working on the study and the modeling of advanced devices, very-high-speed integrated-circuit hardware description language analog and mixed-signal systems, and biosynthetic systems. He is the responsible for the group “Integrated Instrumental Systems” at InESS.

Morgan Madec was born in 1980. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in microelectronics from the University Louis Pasteur (ULP), Strasbourg, France, in 2003 and 2006 respectively. From 2003 to 2006, he was with the Laboratoire de Physique et Application des Semi-Conducteurs (PHASE), ULP Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques, Strasbourg, where he prepared a Ph.D. thesis on the design, the simulation and the characterization of optical processors in order to speed up image reconstruction in the medical field.
He is currently a Professor Associate with the Institut d’Électronique du Solide et des Systèmes, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg and teaches electronics in the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Strasbourg, University of Strasbourg.
His research interests include compact modeling of integrated microsensors (Hall-effect sensor, photodiode ...). Since 2008, he collaborates with a team of the Laboratoire d’Innovation Therapeutique. The aim of this work is to put the experience in microelectronics system design to good use in synthetic biology.

ESBS - Ecole Superieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg

The three-year curriculum in Biotechnology is organized by the “Upper Rhine Universities” in Freiburg, Basel, Karlsruhe and Strasbourg. Students from France, Germany and Switzerland receive an interdisciplinary and intensive, trilingual education in biotechnology. Most of the lectures take place at the École Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg (ESBS) in Strasbourg. Intensive laboratory courses and internships are offered by the universities Basel, Freiburg and Karlsruhe.The languages for lectures and exams are French, German and English. Students for this program are selected after successful completion of two years of undergraduate education in sciences or engineering at a university or an equivalent institution.The degree obtained in this program is completed within 6 semesters. Each of the four partner universities is responsible for part of the program, according to their special strengths in research, resulting in a diverse program covering a wide spectrum of current research. All aspects of biotechnology are covered, from molecular biology to microbiology, bioprocess engineering and biocomputing. Lectures in patent law, economics and professional language courses complete the program. In the third year, students can focus on specialized areas, such as bioproduction or bioinformatics.

European by nature and international by design, the University's strengths and assets stem from its active involvement in virtually every discipline comprising the current body of knowledge. As a young university founded on an age-old tradition, it strives to attain cross-disciplinarity so that this mixing fosters new research opportunities and produces courses that meet society's need. The international dimension is fundamental for the University of Strasbourg and thanks to the world wide reputation of its research teams, built on excellence and efficiency, it emerges among Europe's foremost research universities. Each of the University's main academic fields of instruction is based upon research sections that are the driving force of the institution, with over 2,600 professors and 2,000 staff. The Technology Transfer Office, one of the very first developed in a French university, strives to promote the work of the researchers and facilitate partnerships with economic and institutional stakeholders. An essential player in the promotion of scientific and technical culture, the University interfaces with its host city, Strasbourg. Solidly anchored in the European Higher Education Area, the University of Strasbourg, a beating heart of the Alsatian metropolis with its 41,000 students, has the potential to face the challenging international competition.

We set up a collaboration with the iGEM 2010 Team Freiburg_Bioware)Team Freiburg_Bioware, they provided us with the YFP and CFP assembled biobricks cloned into standard pSB1C3 backbone.

We visited the Freiburg Team at their lab. Both teams made a presentation of their project and gave some ideas and impressions about the project and iGEM in general.

After the serious part, we enjoyed together a nice barbecue on the roof of the University of Freiburg.