Isaac comes to the Synbiologica team with a diverse background of experience along with a keen enthusiasm for science and innovation. His strengths come from formal scientific training in neuroscience and having participated in the iGEM competition for 2 years. Isaac also brings great leadership to the group, developed through scientific and former experience as a community coach.

Erin’s commitment to interdisciplinary academic excellence and her value of hard work make her an excellent addition to Synbiologica. She had been doing research in biochemistry laboratories before entering university, including participating on the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team. Erin is a motivated team player and a strong administrative leader having organizing multiple high school science programs.

Mackenzie’s academic excellence and aptitude for valour make her an excellent attribute to the Synbiologica team. In addition, she displays excellent application skills mixed with a creative mind and a sense of dedication. Experience with teaching and leadership in a team environment make Mackenzie a perfect fit for being one of the two chief science officers.

Harland brings a creative attitude to development and problem solving, along with a strong backing in biochemistry and molecular biology. Having participated in the iGEM competition for the past 3 years along with working in a research lab at the university during his undergrad he has developed skills for researching, troubleshooting, and multitasking in laboratory work.

Amrinder is a high school student in Grade 12 taking the IB diploma programme. His previous experience with biochemistry was with Lethbridge High School iGEM. In High School iGEM, he was primarily involved with designing the wiki, but did perform some lab work. This time in iGEM, he is involved with wiki design. In his free time, he likes to explore new concepts in web design, web development and programming.

Dr. Gerlinde Metz investigates the influence of experience and environment on behaviour and brain plasticity. Her work was the first to show that stress affects motor system function and diseases of the motor system, such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke. This research indicated that adverse experience at any time in life can become a predisposing or precipitating factor of disease. More recently, her laboratory has developed a rat model of transgenerational prenatal stress. This model allows the study of transgenerational inheritance of health and disease and epigenetic linkages from early development to old age. Her contribution to Synbiologica will include work in animal models of disease and physiological manipulations and assays, and related behavioural studies.

Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden is an Associate Professor of Physical Biochemistry at the University of Lethbridge and an Alberta Ingenuity Faculty member. He received his Ph.D from the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany. Dr. Wieden is an integrated member of the Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute, and a Canada Research Chair (TIER2) in Physical Biochemistry. He Is actively engaged in and over see’s the University of Lethbridge iGEM team and the Lethbridge High School iGEM team. His background in Synthetic biology and physical biochemistry brings molecular insight into the inner workings of BEAR.

Dr. Roy Golsteyn is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Lethbridge and a member of the Alberta Ingenuity Faculty.  He earned his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, England and continued his studies in cancer biology at the Institute Curie in Paris. Prior to joining the University of Lethbridge in 2007, he directed a drug discovery laboratory in Oncology in the pharmaceutical company, Servier, Paris (22,000 employees, $3 billion annual revenue). Today, he directs the Cancer Cell Laboratory where his team studies how cancer cells survive chemotherapy, and continues to work with the biotechnology industry. He has over 70 research publications and holds 4 patents. He strongly supports science as a board member (Technology/Research) for Economic Development Lethbridge and sits on the National and Local Committees of the Canada Wide Science Fair 2013.

Mr. Michael Kelly is the Manager of Real Estate and Land Development for the City of Lethbridge. Mr. Kelly received his Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Regional Studies from the University of Lethbridge. Mr. Kelly is occasionally a guest lecturer for the Geography Department at the University of Lethbridge. He has expertise in business and accounting, writing resumes and strategic planning.

Dan Kazakoff is Director, Theory Into Practice Programs in the Faculty of Management at The University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He is also the Chair, Small Business Institute Advisory Council at the University. Previously, he worked in the private sector and was a consultant with numerous clients in both the private and not-for profit sectors. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and a MBA degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Dan is the recipient of two National awards for innovative Program Development for undergraduate students as well as numerous teaching and community awards. He has published articles on small business in various newsletters, newspapers and most recently in the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. Over the past fourteen years Dan has supervised over 125 consulting projects with local small business and non-profit organizations. His current research interests are in small business management, strategic planning and management education.