Team:Heidelberg/Team/Members

Before she decided to come all the way from India to Germany to do her masters in <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> with majors in <b>Systems Biology</b>, Aastha had already a bachelor degree in Bioinformatics from there. Her bachelor thesis was about creating a web tool for calculation of protein interactions which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science. For iGEM, she is a part of the modelling force. Working with systems and synthetic biology has been of prime interest to her and, of course, she thinks with this we can achieve our ultimate goal; Creating tiny pet dinosaurs

Aleksandra (aka Ola) is a student of <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> majoring in <b>Molecular and Cellular Biology</b> at the University of Heidelberg. She completed her bachelor degree in Biotechnology within Job Creation Oriented Biotechnology Program held by a consortium of European universities in Perugia, Italy. Working in labs at K.U.Leuven, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, EMBL Hamburg and ZMBH allowed her to gain wetlab skills. She considers iGEM challenging and great experience.

Elena completed her degree in Biotechnology at the University of Florence, with a thesis in synthesis of new NGF-agonists deriving from D-phenylalanine. She spent 1 year and a half working as research assistant at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a project which aim was the remediation of lands contaminated with plutonium. Currently she is a student of <b>Molecular Biosciences</b>, major in <b>Systems Biology</b> at the University of Heidelberg. Elena is very enthusiastic about being part of iGEM 2010, because she considers it a very challenging and unique experience.

Friederike started her <b>Psychology</b> studies at the University of Trier within the old system for a Diplom (graduate degree). After an academic exchange at the University of Salamanca in Spain, she is finishing her studies at the University of Heidelberg. For her diplom thesis, she is working on neural correlations of emotional recognition in patients with borderline personality disorder. After completing her degree in Psychology, she will go on with a second study in human medicine. Friederike joined iGEM bcause she loved the idea, working in a field of international students, learning something about other disciplines of science and applying her psychological skills.  

Laura has just completed her Bachelor's degree in Biology at the University of Heidelberg this summer before joining the iGem team. For her bachelor thesis she was working on the evolution of transcription factors in the zebrafish retina. Her laboratory experience has so far been focused on neural differentation, development and marine biology. She will further her studies in the major <b>Developmental Biology</b> within the Master's program <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> in Heidelberg. Laura joined iGem in order to experience a novel field of biology and because she is interested in the scientific as well as the socio-cultural implications of synthetic biology.

Stefan is a Master student in <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> - Major <b>Molecular and Cellular Biology</b>. He has finished his Bachelor in Biology one year ago, working on protein-protein interaction characterization. As synthetic biology is a very promising track in developing new methods and tools, he is very enthusiastic about the options given in the iGEM competition. He enjoys working in a versatile team of students and hopes to be able to contribute his wet lab experience. Besides that, he also looks forward to work on a convincing design for project presentation.  

Currently, Thomas pursues the master program <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> with major in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Beforehand, he acquired his bachelor in Molecular Biotechnology at the Technical University of Dresden, already with focus on genetic engineering. In his opinion the fundamental modification of the living world is not only a huge chance for mankind, but also absolute determination. Synthetic biology is the motor that drives this development. Thomas took the opportunity to participate by joining Heidelberg's iGEM team. Besides wet lab work he is also in charge of the graphic design and aims for an appealing presentation of an ingenious project.  

Xiaoting finished her Bachelor studies in Molecular Cellular Biology at the University of Heidelberg and she will go on with her Master studies in <b>Molecular Biosciences</b> (Major <b>Cancer Biology</b>), which is a cooperation between the University and the German Cancer Research Centre. During her studies Xiaoting got highly interested in gene therapy due to several internships at the German Cancer Research Centre, different departments of the University of Heidelberg and Imperial College London. In her opinion, synthetic biology can revolutionize gene therapy by creating non-existing parts which will reduce side effects and increase the efficiency of gene therapy methods. She is glad to work with a nice group of students & advisors and is looking forward to the jamboree!