After finishing his bachelor studies in Madrid Autónoma University with a bachelor thesis in directed evolution of dihydroxyacetone kinases, Alejandro spent a year working in the Biocatalysis department of a Japanese company with the program Vulcanus in Japan. Currently he pursues the master program on Molecular Biosciences with major in Systems Biology in Heidelberg University. One of his strongest reasons to join iGEM was the unique opportunity of combining science with creativity, something that does not happen very frequently. He thinks that synthetic biology can help mankind take steps forward at the same time it provides some insight about the basic principles of life.
Aleksandra (aka Ola) is a student of Molecular Biosciences majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology 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.
As member of the first iGEM team Heidelberg, he participated in the iGEM competition in 2008 and is in love with the concepts of synthetic biology and iGEM eversince. After completing his bachelor thesis on synthetic chemotaxis fusion receptors, Dominik did an internship in the research group of Dr. Richard Cohen at Boston University in summer 2009. Being back on the iGEM-track now, Dominik is very happy to be a member of the team Heidelberg 2010 again and he is looking forward to work in this years creative and motivated team and to a throughout great and fun iGEM summer.
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 Developmental Biology within the Master's program Molecular Biosciences 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.
Systems Biology is the major curriculum and the most intriguing scope of science for Lorenz. Now, he is a student of the international Master's program of Molecular Biosciences at Heidelberg University. His Bachelor Thesis focussed on bacterial chemotaxis networks in silico and in vivo. It is an honor for Lorenz to be a member of the iGEM Team Heidelberg which allows to get insights into the nascent discipline of Synthetic Biology. Engineering biological circuits attracts exceptional interests of theoreticians and experimentalists alike. Lorenz wants to benefit from offered interdisciplinary collaborations to illuminate the design principles of life.
Rebecca studies Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Heidelberg and just recently finished her bachelor thesis on drosophila microRNA binding site identification.
Currently, Thomas pursues the master program Molecular Biosciences 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.