Team:Nevada/TheTeam

Joe Alexander is a senior biochemistry major with his sights set on medical school. His portion of the project was to work on the expression plasmid and proof of concept through the use of red fluorescent protein. Joe loves gaming, snowboarding, and hanging out with friends.

Chris Clifford is a senior biochemistry major at the University of Nevada Reno. His future plans include graduating in the spring of 2013 and attending medical school. Chris is on the thiamine binding protein team where he works with his lab partner Jeremiah Pavelka to produce a thiamine-binding protein attached to a starch binding-protein to bind to rice. His other interests include, playing for the UNR Orchestra, staying physically active, and participating in clubs and organizations at UNR.

Justin Emlen is a senior at UNR studying biology and biochemistry. He is originally from Vacaville, California, which is halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. Aside from school, Justin is very active in sports playing basketball and golf as much as possible and is a devout Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers fan. Justin worked on the vitamin B12-binding protein portion of Nevada’s iGEM project and hopes to continue working with such ideas in the future.

Jasmine Jiang is a junior at the University of Nevada double majoring in biochemistry and philosophy who hopes to one day get a Ph.D. (or two) and actually get paid for doing cool research projects like iGEM. In addition to her work on the RFP portion of the project, Jasmine has been working very hard on everything design-related, such as the website, posters, and T-shirts. Jasmine is also a proud corgi owner, a horror movie enthusiast, and a pretty good cook if she says so herself.

Michelle Ngo is a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno majoring in Biochemistry and Nutrition hoping to pursue a career in Pharmacy one day. She is a happy biochemist who loves the beach, music, palm trees, snowflakes, and big urban cities. Michelle loves educated discussions and hanging out with the plasmids, genes, and microbes. Her ultimate goal for this project is to bind lysine-rich protein to starch-binding protein in rice to form an iRICE complex with her team. Michelle loves eating rice and can't wait to try iRICE! Mmm!

Dafne Ordonez is a biochemistry major third year undergraduate student at the University of Nevada Reno. She is from Genoa Nevada, a town of only two hundred people. Dafne worked with Justin on the thiamine-binding protein and generally helped out everyone in the lab. She loves to play with her standard poodle and eat Thai food.

Jeremiah Pavelka is a senior at University of Nevada Reno majoring in biochemistry and minoring in philosophy. A Veteran of the United States Army, he is now pursuing a career in medicine. He enjoys research and in the future would like to do his own on gene therapy. On iGEM, he worked on the thiamine-binding protein. Jeremiah works part time, volunteers at a local hospital, and serves as president of his school’s chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success. He enjoys scuba diving, rappelling, and snowboarding when the time permits.

Cody Sarcinella is a sophomore currently studying biochemistry at the University of Nevada Reno. Cody participates in the team by assisting in various project tasks as necessary such as mini preparations and various other objectives, and also by creates buffers, agarose gels, antibiotic stocks, and LB plates. Cody came to the iGEM team to learn as much as possible. Cody's hobbies outside of iGEM include reading, hiking, riding dirt bikes, and practicing archery.

Ronald Truong is a senior this year in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Nevada. He hopes to one day become a physician scientist and to work with underprivileged kids in the future. As a former Team Nevada iGEMer from 2011, Ronald contributes to Team Nevada by helping organize little task so his iGEMers can focus on research. Ronald spends his nonexistent free time kayaking Lake Tahoe, playing Big 2, and eating all the of sugary goodies he can find.

Dr. Christie Howard has been a faculty member at University of Nevada, Reno of 14 years. This is her fourth time participating in Nevada iGEM and she is always impressed by her students’ motivation and energy.

Dr. David Shintani is an Associate Dean in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada. His research focus is in the area plant biochemistry and metabolic engineering with an emphasis on rubber biosynthesis in plants. David has participated as a faculty advisor for the Nevada iGEM Team since 2009.

Dr. Chong Tang is a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Nevada. He is interested in insect and plant biochemistry research, as well as public health molecular biology research. He loved working with his students to explore the iGEM project, and believes that iGEM has been one of the most important experiences in his life. Chong also loves cute dogs.