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

Instructors

• Pr. Jacques Haiech
• Pr. Maria Zeniou
• Pr. Christophe Lallement
• Pr. Morgan Madec

Our Universities

• ESBS - Biotech School
• University of Strasbourg

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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.

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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.

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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 exited and motivated about it as him.

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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.

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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.

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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.