michiel.karrenbelt@wur.nl
linkedIn

A motivated and enthusiastic individual who is the guiding light of our team. Meet Michiel, the multi-tasker. I can assure you that you cant find a better leader if you go searching for one in broad daylight with a candle (or a glowing algae for that matter). He is doing a dual Master(because apparently one is not enough)in Process Biotechnology and Bio-informatics. Our taskmaster is interested in determining the origin of single cell Aspergillus niger by comparative transcriptome analysis. Also, he is modelling the production of the drug, lovastatin in A. niger. And he is setting up a database for secondary metabolite backbone enzymes in Aspergilli! Phew. In his remaining time he likes to cook, read European history, watch movies and get drunk in the weekends. He regrets, long hours of bench work, long hours of desk work, shaving his beard, travelling everyday to work with our supervisor Mark, life in general.

PS- A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. We believe that Michiel will lead this team on their way to Boston.

shreyans.chordia@wur.nl
linkedIn

Skinny Indian boy who works till midnight, no time to eat every day. Haha, just for humorous effect. (Actually it is the working profile for all of us igemers.) For him, IGEM is a challenging experience and quite a lot of fun. He’s quite a dynamic and open minded partner, work reaaally hard and ready to help others. Additional, a high-effective dreamer. He could always shock us by so many fantastic ideas during lunch meeting. “What I cannot build, I cannot understand. ” is his motto and exactly what he did for his research. Well groomed hair means there would be a presentation. For the rest chaotic hair days, which equals to reading a lot of articles or just watching too much TV series & football matches. ;)
PS: Thanks for your shared solutions, plates and cells, Shreyans!

marit.lingemann@wur.nl
linkedIn

This Bsc Molecular life sciences was born 04-09-1990. From the moment she could walk she knew it: I want to be part of the iGem competition! Her reason to join this year was that she had to do a Bsc thesis and really liked the opportunity of designing your own project and working both individually and as a team. The most awesome moments for her were when she made a picture of her actin-GFP fusion and the group activities. Her hobbies are diverse: horseback riding, ultimate frisbee, playing guitar and transforming fungi. Summarized in ‘one sentence’: iGem is a really awesome competition where you learn a lot & have a lot of fun, where you can work both individually but mostly as a team.

emiel.ten.buren@wur.nl
linkedIn

When describing iGEM with 3 words Emiel ten Buren would describe it as a “really awesome experience”. Emiel, who was born on 16.12.1990, is a master student in the field of biochemistry and did his bachelor in molecular life science. Currently he is working on the chromoproteins we got from Uppsala and Braunschweig to optimize them for A. niger. Next to the practical work he is our hard working secretary and sponsoring person. When asking him why he joined the iGEM team he says that he wants to learn more about synthetic biology and likes the idea of doing it in a competitive way such as iGEM. It might be obvious that Emiel is eager to do his job well. There are a lot of things he likes about iGEM, including the team activities such as going bowling or playing pool. But he also enjoyed attending the molecular interactions symposium in Berlin for a poster presentation.

When you meet Emiel outside of the laboratory you will find a person that likes to do weird Dutch sports such as Knotsbal, football or unihockey. Next to that he likes to read books, play games with friends, watch series, play pool etc.

marjan.verest@wur.nl
linkedIn

Being one of the more experienced students in our team, she has already finished her thesis at virology. Her work is of vital importance, also to our project, as she is working on lovastatin biosynthesis. At the same time she is also concerned with Human Practices and will be presenting at the Jamboree. Her motivation, charisma and gentle voice make her a true addition to the team and excellent spokeswoman at the Jamboree.

vincen.wu@wur.nl
linkedIn

There is no doubt that the most optimistic person in 2013 Wageningen iGEM group is Vincen. You will be impressed by his enthusiasm and vigour. As a Msc student from Medical Biotechnology Programme, he loves this field and plans to continue the research as PhD. Vincen joined iGEM team at the very beginning and also introduced two members to participate. He can always come up with innovative ideas, including Gibson Assembling to produce lovastatin from Aspergillus Niger. “to be able to work and solve problems indepently as a scientist" is the most valuable thing he've learned during iGEM.

jingjing.hu@wur.nl
linkedIn

You better watch out when Jingjing is around, as our safety manager she kept us in check during the summer. She is a biotechnology master student from China and together with Emiel she has been working on the chromoproteins, a colourful project that fits her personality. Jingjing is always cheerful in and out of the lab and very willing to help you out. She started out with iGEM because it is fun to do and innovative, also it enables you to come up with new ideas and then make it come true yourself. Next to that she finds that the biobrick parts are meaningful to synthetic biology. In her spare time Jingjing ejoys playing the guzheng, a chinese instrument, and the accordion or go travelling. The highlight of iGEM for her will be when Aspergillus shows colours.

ying.deng@wur.nl
linkedIn

With only 7 people in iGEM, Denny was the 8th and last person to join. What a wonderful number, because #8 means lucky in chinese and that is what we needed, she indeed delivered. She is studying food biotechnology, even though she doesn’t have enough lab experience, she was eager and determine to learn everything she can during her stay in iGEM, like really restlessly eager. She told me that there’s only one word to describe iGEM “AMAZING!!!!!”, and that’s the attitude I like within iGEM.

Being the undisputed champion of bowling, he is also a charismatic scientist trying to raise his 5yr old son. The first team he supervised included Ruben and Dorett, who are now supervising this years team. Last years’ team did very well and managed to get to Boston. He has experience as an iGEM judge last year, which makes him a knowledgeable mentor. He himself cannot conceive of the notion that there might be things he might not want to know and this reflects in his eagerness to explore new fields. Talkative, outgoing, genuine and always in for a new challenge; he knows how to bring together a group of intellectual individuals and initiate the formation of a team.

She is not as talkative as Mark, but when she speaks it is always worthwhile to listen. Together with Ruben she was part of the iGEM team from 2011 where they worked on a synchronized oscillatory system. Her input during lunch meetings has been very valuable and certainly aided in the development of our ideas and finding the right secondary metabolite. She works real hard and makes long days at lab, thereby enabling the iGEM team to work after hours as well.

Ruben just started his PhD at the chairgroup systems and synthetic biology. He was part of the Wageningen iGEM team 2011 and this experience contributed to his choice for Bioinformatics for his master. This year he is supervising the work on the modeling and database. Together with Dorett he will stay at the lab as long as necessary for team members to finish their lab work, allowing the team to make swift progress.

Leo de Graaff is an associate professor at the chair group Systems and Synthetic Biology at Wageningen University. He is known as the Aspergillus niger expert and has been working on Aspergillus since his PhD, where he worked on the characterization of the xlnD promotor. Besides his input in the form of feedback and ideas concerning the project plan he has also been generous enough to spare us one of his PhD students, Laura van der Straat, and a technician, Tom Schonewille, whom have been shown to be indispensable during the project.

Teresita is a 2nd year PhD student in VLAG school of Wageningen University, whose project is about effect of antibiotic prophylaxis therapy in ICU patients. As a supervisor of the iGEM toolbox about Aspergillus pigmenti, she is always willing to help and give proper instructions. When coming across questions, she is open to discussion and debate. She thinks iGEM competition is a really great opportunity for students to develop some skills in science, to learn about organization and to work as a team with deadlines of the project. During this toolbox, she had a great time participating in the team and learning new things related to A. Niger.

Peter Schaap is the person to see when it comes to bioinformatics, especially in relation to Aspergillus niger. He worked on genome sequencing, comparative genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and analysis of the secretome of Aspergillus niger. He is interested in the single cell transcriptome because it complements the current RNA landscape profile of A. niger and allows for comparison of data from different life stages.

Laura is a very approachable helpful supervisor. Whenever you’re in trouble or in need of some experimental advice, she would be there to help you. Rumor is that she never failed any experiments... Yes! she got that magic hands and we hope that magic effects might rub on to us during our iGEM competition.

Tom is just like the manager of the lab upstairs. As the busiest & happiest guy in the lab, he would be there ready to help you with all kind of stuff, from technical consultant to kits ordering. Any tough problem is just a piece of cake for him with a tune humming. We all very grateful for your help. Many thanks, Jerrys. ; )