Team Members

The Tec de Monterrey iGEM team consists of nineteen students and each has a unique personality that complements extraordinary teamwork. Madness, passion, wisdom, honesty, intelligence, talent and friendship are the things you can find in our team, in addition, a lot of double entendres and jokes, so meet us!

Student

Luis Mario Leal

Spontaneous and honest, you will hardly find someone so genuine; he is one of our team leaders. Luis Mario loves Star Wars and he is a gamer by birth. He has a tireless dedication to all aspects of our work.

Attributions:

• Part Designer.
• All around lab work.
• Wiki content editor.
• Internalization module.
• Protein induction and harvest.
• SDS-PAGE.
• Western blot analysis.
• Poster editor.
• In charge of bacterial transformation.
• Team leader.

Miguel Arellano

Quiet and a bit shy, however once you get to know him he is an excellent buddy. Miguel knows more Japanese than anyone else from our team, but he needs a little bit of practice. He loves dogs and he is another passionate gamer. Miguel is one of our team leaders.

Attributions:

• Internalization module.
• Protein induction and harvest.
• Wiki editor.
• Arsenic promoter characterization (Colaboration with Argentina) .
• Hypoxic promoter characterization module.
• Western blot analysis.
• SDS-PAGE.
• All around lab work.
• In charge of parts ligation.
• Team leader.

Camilo Chávez

Fun and a quintessential gamer, pugs lover and part time DJ. Camilo is one of our team leaders and the most hipster of them. He is a very unique member of our team, with a very authentic personality.

Attributions:

• Therapeutic protein production, toxicity module.
• Secretion module.
• SDS-PAGE.
• Part Designer.
• Protein induction and harvest.
• All around lab work.
• Protein induction optimization.
• Wiki editor.
• Team leader.

Luis Fernando Camarillo

Intelligent and perseverant, he will always have a valuable contribution to make. Luis Fernando is one of our team leaders. Quiet and hardworking he sets the example for all to move on and continue.

Attributions:

• Part Designer.
• Wiki content editor.
• All around lab work.
• Secretion module assays.
• Protein induction and harvest.
• Protein induction optimization.
• Purification and concentration of samples.
• Team leader.

Eduardo Cepeda Cañedo

Smart and fair, he lives the moment and enjoys life. Eddie likes to ride horses and most important, he knows how to do it! He had a minor surgery while work progressed in the laboratory and the next day showed up to work, that's compromise!

Attributions:

• Wiki content editor.
• All around lab work.
• Biorreactor conditioning and hypoxic promoter characterization.
• Competent cells and transformation.
• Bacterial lysis.
• Purification and concentration of samples.
• Protein induction and harvest.

Minerva Castellanos

Compromised and sparkling, almost full time worker in the project. Mine is always laughing and joking, she has a beautiful smile. Mine is the perfect example of perseverance, service and devotion to lab.

Attributions:

• Wiki content editor.
• All around lab work.
• Protein induction and harvest.
• Specialist in SDS-PAGE.
• Arsenic promoter characterization (Colaboration with Argentina).

Mercedes Vázquez

Smiling and courteous, she has beautiful feelings. She is a very hard worker and clever girl, a constant presence in the lab. Meche is a pug lover, like Camilo, and enjoys trying new things. Be careful! She bites.

Attributions:

• In charge of the Internalization module.
• Internalization assay.
• All around lab work.
• Wiki content editor.
• Arsenic promoter characterization (Colaboration with Argentina).
• Protein induction and harvest.

Salim Rubio

Serious and a little bit grumpy, he loves tacos. Salim likes listening to classic and old music, besides he enjoys climbing and rappelling. He is always available for work or fun.

Attributions:

• All around lab work.
• Involved in hypoxic promoter characterization and bioreactor conditioning.
• Purification and concentration of samples.

Eduardo Serna

Creative and visionary, he is the artistic member of the team. Lalo is a half cineast and a half biotechnologist, besides the tasks in the lab he makes our videos and some of the pictures of our team. Also he likes literature and jazz.

Attributions:

• In charge of Video making and image aspects of the team.
• Purification and concentration of samples.
• All around lab work.

Cinthya Cadenas

Innocent and sagacious, she is an authentic team member. Always willing to collaborate in the lab, Cinthya enjoys going to the movies, playing piano and cooking desserts. She is the youngest one of the team.

Attributions:

• In charge of fundraising.
• Resource management.
• Antibiotic stocks preparation.
• All around lab work.
• In charge of the notebook.

Esdras Ambriz

Kindness and cheerfulness are the words to describe him. He is always willing to learn something new and collaborate. Esdras enjoys reading, dancing and is an excellent actor. Also he has really helpful business and networking skills.

Attributions:

• All around lab work.
• In charge of logistics and travel planning.
• Wiki editor.
• Resources management.
• In charge of fundraising.
• In charge of public relations (Facebook and Twitter pages).
• Promoter characterization.
• Arsenic promoter characterization (Collaboration with Argentina).

Germán Caballero

Organization and collaboration, Germán is the perfect example of an enterprising student. He is the visionary of team, the man who sees beyond the things and thinks ahead about the future and our possibilities.

Attributions:

• Mammalian cells maintenance.
• Mammalian cells assays for therapeutic protein activity.
• Protein secretion assays.
• Quick Look development.
• Wiki content editor.
• In charge of fundraising.

Ana Cristina González

Simpatic and extroverted, she is like a shine in the team. Ana Cris is a passionate scientist and a great friend. She is the sportswoman of the team, she also likes playing tennis and the saxophone.

Attributions:

• Restriction gel analysis.
• DNA digestion.
• All around lab work.
• Antibiotic stocks preparation.

Benjamín Miranda

Deliver and action, he has an incredible glibness. Benji enjoys investigating and reading, he also likes playing the guitar. He's enthusiastic and he's always willing to help.

Attributions:

• In charge of Human Practice.
• All around lab work.
• Purification and concentration of samples.

José Garza

Reserved and available, he is a very collaborative team member. José enjoys watching anime. He also loves swimming and going to the movies. José is also known as "Gels destroyer".

Attributions:

• Basic labwork.

Yazel Nava

Clever and multitasking, she is a little bit introverted but very capable. Yaz loves painting landscapes. She plays piano and enjoys listening to music especially pop and jazz.

Attributions:

• Basic labwork.
• Helped with human practice.

Héctor Vargas

Friendly and another quintessential gamer, he is quiet and he is always available for a little fun. Héctor enjoys playing drums and listening music like rock and metal. His favorite game is League of Legends.

Attributions:

• Therapeutic proteins (Apoptin, TRAIL) production.
• Purification and concentration of samples.

Pau Viader

Disposition and initiative, everything start with the wish of participate and Pau is an example of that.

Attributions:

• Quick look development.
• Hypoxic promoter sample analysis.
• Purification and concentration of samples.

Axel Gómez

Weird and pragmatic, he defends his ideas with determination and tenacity. Axel likes reading theories related to metaphysics.

Attributions:

• DNA digestion/extraction.

Instructor

Ph.D. Guy Cardineau

Dr. Cardineau began his career in the field of Agricultural Biotechnology in 1983 as a Scientist at a small start-up company, Sungene Technologies, where he also served a short time as Manager of Market Development. He moved and then Director of Molecular Biology.

He has 28 issued US patents and 19 published applications and over 140 patent and application worldwide. These works include; broad enabling patents describing the earliest production of vaccines in transgenic plants, the synthesis of genes to improve their expression in a foreign host and the only plant made vaccines approved by a regulatory authority for commercial release. He is also very cool.

David Nahum Caldera Rodríguez

David is a film maker, gamer and loves the art, also, enjoys going to the cinema. He´s always creating and designing scenes and videos. Additionally he has an enormous programming knowledge and when he´s working, he looks the most patient and happy person cause enjoys everything of work design.

Advisors

Ph.D. Sergio García

One of our team's advisors, he enjoys listening to music, going for a walk, discovering new restaurants (quite a few vegetarian ones). Sergio might be a little bit mysterious but he has great advice for our project, although but he also likes to teach us the correct method the hard way.

Sergio ángel García Echaudi is a researcher in the FEMSA Biotechnology Center at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in México, where he is currently working in his Ph.D. His early formation was in the Autonomous University of Baja California, where he obtained his title as a Biologist. He then carried out a thesis on the Isolation and Identification of Psychrophilic Organisms from the Antarctica and Expression of a Superoxide Dismutase from Deschampsia antarctica in Escherichia coli. During the influenza outbreak in 2000, Sergio was part of the team that developed a novel technique for its detection and the creation of a recombinant vaccine against the A/H1N1.

Biologist Cesar Ortiz

One of our team's advisors, he is a relaxed person who enjoys helping every possible time and way. He is a critical and empathetic offering an opinion to improve the work of the others maintaining serenity and harmony in his work. César is a graduate biologist from Baja California and is currently working at the Biotechnology Center at the Molecular Biology Division of the EBA.

M.Sc. Irasema Romo López

She is a great and happy woman who loves the lab work. Her long and shine hair is one of the most good looking at the Biotechnology Center, she is always helping with a great smile also. Irasema has a master degree in Biotechnology, knowledge in marine food biochemistry and aquatic resources in ambient division. She is also specialist in mammalian cells culture and she is currently working at the Biotechnology Center.

M.Sc. Israel Ramírez Alanís

He is a research of the EBA, he has a master degree in science with specialty in biotechnology and currently he is in a PhD in Biotechnology.

Special Thanks

We would like to thank to the people who helped us during these months in the research process. Teachers, friends and family gave us support during the long and hard days and nights working at the lab. We dedicate a small part of our wiki in comparison of how much they support was useful. Every kind word or small gesture, we treasure at heart. From all Team Tec Monterrey 2013, Thank you!

Felipe López Pacheco

Antibodies provider: Felipe López Pacheco has a technical degree in Biotechnology and is currently majoring in Biotechnology Engineering. As part of a joint project between the Landsteiner Pharmaceutical Group and ITESM, he is in charge of performing ELISAS to find antibodies.

Delia Serna

She was on of general advice provider.

Julian López Meza

Biotechnology Engineering accentuated in Bioprocess. He is PhD candidate in ITESM, Campus Monterrey. He supported us with bioreactor conditioning.

Adrian del Arenal Martín

Engineer in Biotechnology at ITESM, he helps us in the guidance in bioreactor conditioning.

Dra. Karla Mayolo Deloisa

Silver reactive provider.

Vanessa Aguilar

Biobusiness Intelligence Analyst at ITESM-TEC salud, she help us in the guidance in quicklook development.

Kari Estebes González

She was crucial person in contacting us to the regional Otomí community in Monterrey, Mexico.

Dabadi Thaayrohyadi

He supported us by translating the self-examination cancer manual as part of our Human Practices.

ONCOLOGISTS

To validate this project, there have been some experienced oncologists who have validated our research to continue the tests and to know the potential of project for new cancer therapies. During the theoretical research process, we interview many doctors specialized in oncology to ask a review and to discuss about the health implications of our project.

• MD. Luis Mario Villela. Head of Endowment hematology and cancer. Professor Investigator. School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Dr. Jesús A. Limón Rodríguez. Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología.
• . César González de León. Christus Hospital Muguerza, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Dr. Servando Cardona Huerta. San José Hospital, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Dr. Jorge Luis Martínez Rodríguez, San Jóse Hospital, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Dr. Augusto Rojas Martínez, UANL, Monterrey.
• Dr. Alfonso Dueñas González, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología.

Wiki Design

The WIKI content was edited by Tec de Monterrey iGEM team, however, the programming design and image aspects of the team were in charge of Eduardo Serna (Team member) with the guidance of David Nahúm, our programming instructor.

For the selection of themes, colors and pictures, we had the collaboration of Animation and Digital Design and Communication students who created the overall look of the page. These students were selected through a call to learn and to practice in scientific design. Thank you guys!

Alejandro Velázquez

Luis Eduardo García Besnier

Jorge Eduardo Reyes Aguilar

Tec de Monterrey

We are the Tec de Monterrey iGEM team from Mexico and we are representing Tecnológico de Monterrey university. Our university institution was founded in 1943 by Eugenio Garza Sada and a group of businessmen formed a Civil Partnership, nonprofit, called Higher Education and Research, A.C.

The Tecnológico de Monterrey is a multicampus system with common parameters among which are: the culture of responsibility and attachment to work, integrity and honesty, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on the results of an extensive consultation, our institution defined its new mission in the following terms: "To be persons of integrity, ethical standards and a humanistic vision internationally competitive in their field who are citizens while engaged in the development economic, political, social and cultural life of their community and to the sustainable use of natural resources ".

During the past years, the institution has turned its attention to biotechnology heavily investing in infrastructure, teaching and laboratory equipment creating the Biotechnology Center.

Biotechnology Center

The FEMSA Biotechnology Center in the Tecnológico de Monterrey integrates researchers from several academic departments to create interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary groups. Also, it's dedicated to generate research, knowledge transfer and business design models in food and biotechnology areas. The Biotechnology Center emerged 15 years ago as a response to the growing trend in scientific and technological innovation in the country and the whole world.

To development our research and project, we have been supported by the EBA (the Biotechnology and Food Division), giving us the necessary space to work. At this center, we had access to the Laboratory of Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Diagnostics, which became our workplace in where we performed most of experiments. We also collaborate and form part of a chair for students called i4 belonging to the EBA, the Biotechnology and Food Division.

i4 CHAIR

We belong to one of the EBA research programs, the i4 Chair for students that is a series of curricular and co-curricular activities that provide the opportunity of augmenting the capabilities of:

1. Imagine.
2. Investigate.
3. Innovate.
4. Incubate.