Team:UGA-Georgia/Team

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=The Team=
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| [[File:Bsas2012-banderaArgentina.png|100px|]]
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| align = "center" | '''We are the first Argentinian team to participate in iGEM competition, so everything is new for us! Here we are, ready to work hard on our project!'''. '''Meet us, and also check [[Team:Buenos_Aires/Team/BsAs | where we come from]] '''
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== Students ==
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== '''Undergraduate Students''' ==
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Basas2012-Vero.jpg]]
 
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Veronica Parasco - Physics Student'''
 
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|I guess I like to study too much, or the stress and making summaries. I'm about to finish my Licentiate in Physics, when I started to think about what was next, I realized that several of the decision I made took me closer to other career fields. So here I am, learning biology and opening new doors.
 
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[[Image:Michaelbio2.jpg|frame]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Mario J. Rugiero - Chemistry and Computer Sciece Student'''
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|Initially, the iGEM grabbed my attention through its idea of free thought and colaboration, which I consider should be general rule if we want society to progress. Even though my career choice seems remotely related to synthetic biology, curiosity moves me to learn a little bit about everything, which is never a bad idea.
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I'd like to see that this initiative will bring together all the synthetic biology investigation groups in Argentina because I see in this discipline an opportunity to develop and resolve many local, and very important, problems.
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[[Image:MarquiseBio2.png|frame]]
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[[Image:TravisBio2.jpg|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-ale.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''María Alejandra Parreño - Biology Student'''
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|Within the vast field of Biology, i like ALL study subjects, but my specialty at the moment Biological Ecology of Populations (previously known as Population Genetics). Since 2009, I work in conserving the genetic variability of fruit flies which are a plague in Latin America, and I also do so with other insects with economical importance.
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I have another two very strong interests: on one hand, the spread of science, and on the other, the sustainable development of societies and handling of natural and biological resources. So I try to match my academic ocupations with relevant participations in congress and with activities in these two areas.
I love competition, innovation, and challenges, which is what attracted me to participate in iGEM and test my abilities. I see an unexplored synthetic biology field in Argentina, with a great potential to solve scientific and social problems, using wits and creativity as the main tools. As a first iGEM group, we want to impulse these ideas into reality and start off with the right foot!
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[[Image:AnnikaBio2.jpg|frame]]
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[[Image:NicholasBio2.png|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-lucho.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Luciano G. Morosi- Biology Student'''
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| I am currently going through my last year, and i've been an intern in an investigation laboratory.
 From a very young age, I was passionate and interested in natural sciences, and I decided to study biology because you must have knowledge in all sciences to be able to understand it. In this way, my interest in synthetic biology comes from the fact that it is multidisciplinary, and I'm immensely attracted to the idea of being able to create biological systems – or based in biological parts- that are innovative, which carry out specifically designed actions, using and creating standarized and combined parts. I'm not only attracted to science, but also literature, theater, music and sports: for a very long time I participated in gymnastics and swimming, and I still do the latter. I love to write, I feel comfortable writing social, political and cultural papers, and also stories.
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[[Image:KapilBio2.png|frame]]
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[[Image:TuanBio2.png|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-manugimenez.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Manuel Giménez - Computer Science Student'''
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| I'm writing my licentiate thesis on building a tool to automatically reason about regulations. Yes yes, nothing relates to biology. Weird, right? Nevertheless, I've always had an interest for this discipline, mainly molecular biology. When I found out about the existance of iGEM – a couple of months ago- I said ''we have to assemble a team in Argentina''. Coincidence or not, a week later I got an email inviting me to be a part of the first Argentinian iGEM team, and now I find myself taking my first steps in synthetic biology as a member of iGEM BsAs. I'm mainly interested in the engineering vision that synthetic biology has, and I believe from the computer science standpoint, I have several ideas I can bring to this new subject. I love scientific dissemination and teaching; I consider myself a straightforward communicator, and my natural way of working is in groups. I'm part of a political movements in my university, and I try to make my passing through this world the most transforming and engaging possible.
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== Advisors ==
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[[Image:YaredBio2.png|frame]]
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[[Image:BenjiBio2 (2).png|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-alan.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Alan Bush - M.Sc. in Biology'''
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|I'm M. Sc. in Biology and I'm currently doing my Ph. D. in Biology. My studies are in the field of "systems biology", an area which attempts to give a more quantitative and integrative approach to molecular biology, through the use of mathematic modeling tools. It is related to synthetic biology since it uses the same kind of tools and model organisms. However, the focus is radically different; while systems biology aims to understand how the cells work,  the main objective of synthetic biology is to design and produce "biological devices" with a given behavior. My main motivation for participating as advisor for UBA's iGEM team is precisely this approach switch. I'm fascinated with the idea of using our knowledge to develop useful devices which can help to solve concrete problems.
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[[Image:PiyushBio2 (2).png|frame]]
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[[Image:VictoriaBio2.jpg|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-german.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''German Sabio - M.Sc. in Biology'''
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|I'm an extremely curious person, and I've always had a passion for all kind of "bugs" (a highly academic and very complex concept, which includes everything from cell and virus to mammal and aliens) and how "life" works. A M. Sc. in Biology didn't gave me the answer just yet, but kept my curiosity appeased for some years and gave me a big ammount of tools to keep asking new questions.
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Currently, I work on a branch of biology dedicated to living being's development: how, from a single cell, or from a group of similar cells, a differentiated organism gets developed. My Ph. D. discipline is systems biology, which basically studies several biology areas looking for math patterns and predicting (or, actually, modelling) different living systems. Synthetic biology would be the other face of the same coin: while systems biology tries to find and define mechanisms in nature to understand how they work, synthetic biology tries to reproduce or generate new systems with a predetermined function.
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I'm very interested in this chance to take part on an iGEM team, not just for the ammount of tools it represents, but because it's a good and interesting experience to start a group and discuss and work together.
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== Instructors==
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[[Image:RahulBio2.jpg|frame]]
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[[Image:BrandonBio2.png|frame]]
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-nacho.jpg|160px]]
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Ignacio E. Sánchez - M.Sc. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biophysics'''
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|I'm a spanish bioinformatics specialist, currently living in Argentina. Before, I was an in training biophysicist on northern Europe, and before, a chemist, fascinated by biological molecules. Day by day, I study oncogenic virus in the Department of Biological Chemistry's Protein's Physiology Laboratory.
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I think synthetic biology is an excellent chance for developing countries to acquire new capabilities in the subject of biotechnology. Because of that reason, I joined Dr. Nadra in 2011 to promote the formation of synthetic biologists in Argentina. By now, the experience is being highly fun and rewarding.
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| rowspan="2" style="width: 20%; text-align: center;" | [[Image:Bsas2012-alenadra.jpg|160px]]
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Michael Hampton
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| style="width: 75%;" | '''Alejandro D. Nadra - M.Sc. in Biology and Ph.D. in Chemistry'''
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Michael Hampton is a 4th year student at UGA. Michael is majoring in Biology with the hopes of going to dental school and graduating with a degree in general dentistry. He enjoys working in any science setting, from lab work to co-teaching in science classes. Besides his work in the science community, Michael enjoys music. He play bass guitar for the UGA marching band, as well as the guitar and piano on the side. With his spare time, Michael likes to draw, lift weights, and play racquetball.
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|I'm M. Sc. in Biology (2001) and Ph. D. in Chemistry (2005). My subjects of interest are protein's structure/function/folding and their interaction with nucleic acids. Also hemoproteins, evolution and synthetic biology, and others. I did a post-doc with the molecular modelling group in the FCEyN and another one in the systems biology program of the Genomic Regulation Center from Barcelona.
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I started to work as teacher in the FCEyN in 2000 and I'm currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and researcher at CONICET. I'm also a member of the Structural Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Biological Chemistry.
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Given the lack of Synthetic Biology in Argentina, we are promoting the area with Ignacio Sánchez since 2011. For this effort, we organized the first post-graduate course in the subject in 2011, and conducted a course with featured international referents in April 2012. I'm convinced that from my place and given my formation, I can boost Synthetic Biology and begin formation of pure strain Synthetic Biologists. I believe the iGEM competitions are an excellente tool for the education and motivation of students. I'm convinced that from Argentina we can contribute to the subject and be on pair with teams from everywhere in the world. Even though we count on less resources and funds, this lack is compensated with a huge motivation and creativity.
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Peyton Smith
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Peyton Smith is a 5th year senior at the University of Georgia studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Peyton began his collegiate career at the age of 15 by enrolling in the Georgia Academy of Aviation, Mathematics, Engineering and Science (G.A.M.E.S.) program at Middle Georgia College. Peyton is very passionate about research and has been involved in research throughout his undergraduate career. He explains his experience with UGA-iGEM to the UGA student daily, Red & Black, as “the most beneficial, impactful and exciting part of my academic career.” Peyton’s future goals are to attend graduate school as a PhD candidate in Biochemistry. Outside of Science, he competes nationally in archery, loves jamming to Dave Matthews Band and appreciates classic cars.
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Marquise Westbrook
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Marquise Westbrook is a fourth year biology major from Lansing, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Georgia he plans on attending medical school with hopes of becoming an anesthesiologist. When he is not running pcr or loading gels like a boss he can be found at the Ramsey student center wrestling or practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
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Travis Fetchko
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Travis Fetchko is a 5th year senior at the University of Georgia, double-majoring in Biology with Neuroscience Emphasis, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Originally born in McDonough, Georgia, Travis lived 8 years in the frozen mountain wilderness of Stevensville, Montana before coming to UGA, being raised by a family of ferocious grizzly bears. Travis bleeds red & black to his core, and would splice actual bulldog DNA with his own if you let him. Travis plans to attend graduate school to receive his PhD in Neuroscience, working in an area of degenerative diseases. Travis joined iGEM in March 2012 and attended last year's jamboree in Pittsburgh. Some of his hobbies include leading the student section at UGA sporting events, video games, playing intramural sports, and student government.
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Annika Katrin McNally
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Annika McNally is a fifth year Biology and German major at the University of Georgia. She has been a part of the UGA iGEM team since the start in March 2012. She will be graduating in December 2013 and is planning on starting Optometry school in August 2014.
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Nicholas F. Rodriguez
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Nicholas Rodriguez started his career in Biology with a minor in Spanish. He is a senior and plans to attend medical school. His final aspiration is to serve those in poor Latino areas. "The lab was great. Meeting new friends and applying science was a great break from the normal day."
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Kapil Chandra
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Year: Junior
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Major: Biochemistry
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Hometown: Snellville, GA
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Favorite Hobby: Learning and Ultimate Frisbee
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Tuan Anh Nguyen
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Year: Junior
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Major: Biochemistry and Math
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Hometown: Columbus, Georgia
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Yared Aklilu
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Year: Junior
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Major: Biology
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Hometown: Atlanta
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Benjamin Rohde
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Major: Genetics
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Piyush Joshi
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Year: Junior
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Major: Genetics
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Hometown: Smyrna, Georgia
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Victoria DeLeo
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Year: Senior
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Major: Applied Biotechnology and Genetics
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Hometown: Davie, Florida
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Favorite Hobby: Knitting
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Rahul Das Kapoor
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Rahul is a microbiology major at the University of Georgia. He looks forward to attending a DO school in Fall 2014.
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Brandon Burroway
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Brandon Burroway is a 3rd year undergraduate student at UGA. He is majoring in Biology and minoring in Spanish.  He is hoping to apply to medical school in the summer of 2014. Brandon worked with the iGEM team throughout  the summer of 2013. Outside of research and class work, Brandon enjoys volunteering at the American Red Cross and playing soccer at the University of Georgia.
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Bryan Grommersch
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== '''Instructors''' ==
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[[Image:RachitBio2.jpg|frame]]
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[[Image:LZBio2.png|frame]]
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[[Image:NarenBio2.jpg|frame]]
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Rachit Jain (Doctoral student, College of Engineering)
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Rachit Jain, Metabolic Engineer
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4th year Biological and Agricultural Engineering, UGA
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Founding member of UGA-iGEM
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Dr. Zhe Lyu, Post Doctoral Associate, Department of Microbiology
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Affectionately nicknamed LZ by Barny, is a 100% Chinese postdoctoral research associate in William Barny Whitman’s lab. His family name used to be spelled as Lü in Chinese dictionary and textbooks, but just like mutations are constantly taking place in genes, “point mutation” soon changed the name into Lv or Lu when it’s exposed to the world of computers and internet. Unlike mutations emerging in genes, which is a process believed to be largely random. The arising of Lv or Lu is full of human design based upon convenient communication with computers – early computers just didn’t recognize ü. The newest and also the only internationally authorized design so far - Lyu, made its debut just a year ago, as officials might want to set things straight once-for-all. LZ probably prefers such designs would have never happened to him, since it introduces some kind of identity crisis and also brings up endless hassle when it comes to dealing with personal records. However, he sure wants to make it happen on genes – how cool it would be if one can design genes, right? A coin always has two sides – being deprived of the right to design his family name, LZ gets to design genes and operons to let them express in Methanococcus in Barny’s lab. Hopefully, those ongoing gene designs, including the ones for UGA-iGEM team, would tap the great biosynthetic potential of Methanococcus as well as Archaea; hence help to address some of the most challenging problems such as energy crisis and environmental pollution in the 21st century.  
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Narendran Sekar (Doctoral student, College of Engineering)
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PhD student first yr. Biological Engineering
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Narendran Sekar is a Phd graduate student in Nano electrochemistry Lab at College of Engineering. Narendran's expertise in Master’s degree is metabolic engineering, and he has worked on metabolic flux analysis to optimize the production of recombinant beta- galactosidase in E. coli by cloning a heterologous pyruvate carboxylase gene. Currently, he am working on developing Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell using cyanobacteria called Nostoc sp. and understanding its electron transfer mechanism through electrochemical experiments and characterizations.
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== '''Faculty Advisors''' ==
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[[Image:BarnyBio2(2).png|frame]]
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[[Image:YanBio2.png|frame]]
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[[Image:VermaBio2.png|frame]]
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Dr. William B. Whitman, Professor
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Department of Microbiology
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Dr. Yajun Yan, Assistant Professor
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College of Engineering
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Dr. Brahm Verma, Professor
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College of Engineering

Latest revision as of 01:26, 28 September 2013

Contents

The Team

Undergraduate Students

Michaelbio2.jpg
PeytonBio2.jpg
MarquiseBio2.png
TravisBio2.jpg
AnnikaBio2.jpg
NicholasBio2.png
KapilBio2.png
TuanBio2.png
YaredBio2.png
BenjiBio2 (2).png
PiyushBio2 (2).png
VictoriaBio2.jpg
RahulBio2.jpg
BrandonBio2.png



Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton is a 4th year student at UGA. Michael is majoring in Biology with the hopes of going to dental school and graduating with a degree in general dentistry. He enjoys working in any science setting, from lab work to co-teaching in science classes. Besides his work in the science community, Michael enjoys music. He play bass guitar for the UGA marching band, as well as the guitar and piano on the side. With his spare time, Michael likes to draw, lift weights, and play racquetball.









Peyton Smith

Peyton Smith is a 5th year senior at the University of Georgia studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Peyton began his collegiate career at the age of 15 by enrolling in the Georgia Academy of Aviation, Mathematics, Engineering and Science (G.A.M.E.S.) program at Middle Georgia College. Peyton is very passionate about research and has been involved in research throughout his undergraduate career. He explains his experience with UGA-iGEM to the UGA student daily, Red & Black, as “the most beneficial, impactful and exciting part of my academic career.” Peyton’s future goals are to attend graduate school as a PhD candidate in Biochemistry. Outside of Science, he competes nationally in archery, loves jamming to Dave Matthews Band and appreciates classic cars.








Marquise Westbrook

Marquise Westbrook is a fourth year biology major from Lansing, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Georgia he plans on attending medical school with hopes of becoming an anesthesiologist. When he is not running pcr or loading gels like a boss he can be found at the Ramsey student center wrestling or practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.









Travis Fetchko

Travis Fetchko is a 5th year senior at the University of Georgia, double-majoring in Biology with Neuroscience Emphasis, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Originally born in McDonough, Georgia, Travis lived 8 years in the frozen mountain wilderness of Stevensville, Montana before coming to UGA, being raised by a family of ferocious grizzly bears. Travis bleeds red & black to his core, and would splice actual bulldog DNA with his own if you let him. Travis plans to attend graduate school to receive his PhD in Neuroscience, working in an area of degenerative diseases. Travis joined iGEM in March 2012 and attended last year's jamboree in Pittsburgh. Some of his hobbies include leading the student section at UGA sporting events, video games, playing intramural sports, and student government.







Annika Katrin McNally

Annika McNally is a fifth year Biology and German major at the University of Georgia. She has been a part of the UGA iGEM team since the start in March 2012. She will be graduating in December 2013 and is planning on starting Optometry school in August 2014.














Nicholas F. Rodriguez

Nicholas Rodriguez started his career in Biology with a minor in Spanish. He is a senior and plans to attend medical school. His final aspiration is to serve those in poor Latino areas. "The lab was great. Meeting new friends and applying science was a great break from the normal day."










Kapil Chandra

Year: Junior

Major: Biochemistry

Hometown: Snellville, GA

Favorite Hobby: Learning and Ultimate Frisbee








Tuan Anh Nguyen

Year: Junior

Major: Biochemistry and Math

Hometown: Columbus, Georgia











Yared Aklilu

Year: Junior

Major: Biology

Hometown: Atlanta










Benjamin Rohde

Year: Senior

Major: Genetics






Piyush Joshi

Year: Junior

Major: Genetics

Hometown: Smyrna, Georgia








Victoria DeLeo

Year: Senior

Major: Applied Biotechnology and Genetics

Hometown: Davie, Florida

Favorite Hobby: Knitting








Rahul Das Kapoor

Rahul is a microbiology major at the University of Georgia. He looks forward to attending a DO school in Fall 2014.












Brandon Burroway

Brandon Burroway is a 3rd year undergraduate student at UGA. He is majoring in Biology and minoring in Spanish. He is hoping to apply to medical school in the summer of 2014. Brandon worked with the iGEM team throughout the summer of 2013. Outside of research and class work, Brandon enjoys volunteering at the American Red Cross and playing soccer at the University of Georgia.










Bryan Grommersch

Instructors

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Rachit Jain (Doctoral student, College of Engineering)

Rachit Jain, Metabolic Engineer

4th year Biological and Agricultural Engineering, UGA

Founding member of UGA-iGEM





Dr. Zhe Lyu, Post Doctoral Associate, Department of Microbiology

Affectionately nicknamed LZ by Barny, is a 100% Chinese postdoctoral research associate in William Barny Whitman’s lab. His family name used to be spelled as Lü in Chinese dictionary and textbooks, but just like mutations are constantly taking place in genes, “point mutation” soon changed the name into Lv or Lu when it’s exposed to the world of computers and internet. Unlike mutations emerging in genes, which is a process believed to be largely random. The arising of Lv or Lu is full of human design based upon convenient communication with computers – early computers just didn’t recognize ü. The newest and also the only internationally authorized design so far - Lyu, made its debut just a year ago, as officials might want to set things straight once-for-all. LZ probably prefers such designs would have never happened to him, since it introduces some kind of identity crisis and also brings up endless hassle when it comes to dealing with personal records. However, he sure wants to make it happen on genes – how cool it would be if one can design genes, right? A coin always has two sides – being deprived of the right to design his family name, LZ gets to design genes and operons to let them express in Methanococcus in Barny’s lab. Hopefully, those ongoing gene designs, including the ones for UGA-iGEM team, would tap the great biosynthetic potential of Methanococcus as well as Archaea; hence help to address some of the most challenging problems such as energy crisis and environmental pollution in the 21st century.







Narendran Sekar (Doctoral student, College of Engineering)

PhD student first yr. Biological Engineering

Narendran Sekar is a Phd graduate student in Nano electrochemistry Lab at College of Engineering. Narendran's expertise in Master’s degree is metabolic engineering, and he has worked on metabolic flux analysis to optimize the production of recombinant beta- galactosidase in E. coli by cloning a heterologous pyruvate carboxylase gene. Currently, he am working on developing Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell using cyanobacteria called Nostoc sp. and understanding its electron transfer mechanism through electrochemical experiments and characterizations.

Faculty Advisors

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Dr. William B. Whitman, Professor Department of Microbiology













Dr. Yajun Yan, Assistant Professor College of Engineering











Dr. Brahm Verma, Professor College of Engineering

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