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Where we're from
Meet the EPFL! Who are we? To cite our university's propa information page: "EPFL is Europe’s most cosmopolitan technical university. It receives students, professors and staff from over 120 nationalities. With both a Swiss and international calling, it is therefore guided by a constant wish to open up; its missions of teaching, research and partnership impact various circles: universities and engineering schools, developing and emerging countries, secondary schools and gymnasiums, industry and economy, political circles and the general public." And so is our team (that is, international)! Here are a few pictures:
Meet our team!
Advisors
- ID:
- Bart Deplancke
- Cell line:
- Belgian
- Differentiation:
- EPFL iGEM big boss
- Specific functions:
- Alternatively pressure applier and optimism provider with occasional trolling.
- Productivity increased by:
- Controls controls controls !
- Greatest ambition in life:
- More cloning schemes!
- Special features:
- Founder of the school of "quick and dirty ligations followed by 100 colony PCRs".
- ID:
- Sebastian Maerkl
- Cell line:
- German
- Differentiation:
- EPFL iGEM big boss
- Specific functions:
- Help desperate iGEMers in need and allow us to spend money for our surprise at Amsterdam!
- Productivity increased by:
- The percentage beer his grad students (i.e. Matt) owe him
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Collect ALL the iGEM trophies/medals and have his lab covered in iGEM stickers and random goodies.
- Special features:
- Replaced his old 2009 iGEM hoodie with a new one!
- ID:
- Sowmya Balasubramanian
- Cell line:
- India(H-) - Special strain with height gene knocked off
- Differentiation:
- PhD student in Biotechnology and Bioengineering (Wurm Lab)
- Specific functions:
- Teach us the art of mammalian cell culture
- Productivity increased by:
- "Graphs are good, I like graphs! They make me want to work more" ...and Indian street food....and chocolate.....and cakes......
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Get a paid flight to Boston.
- Special features:
- Master of the falcon tube swirl.
- ID:
- Matthew Blackburn
- Cell line:
- American
- Differentiation:
- PhD student in Biotechnology and Bioengineering (Maerkl Lab)
- Specific functions:
- Teaching us sorcery like PCR, spend tons of money for us.
- Productivity increased by:
- Beer drinking, coffee, cycling
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Go on an adventure in the underground dungeons of the MIT with us
- Special features:
- "Don't kill yourselves! But if you do, call 911."
- ID:
- Pascal Damian Odermatt
- Cell line:
- Swiss
- Differentiation:
- PhD student in Biotechnology and Bioengineering (Fantner Lab)
- Specific functions:
- Teach us a ghetto way to load a gel
- Productivity increased by:
- C8H10N4O2 (central nervous stimulant)
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Developing an artificial caffeine releasing organ
- Special features:
- "He's the other Matt (Odermatt)" (Diego)
Undergrads
- ID:
- Mouna Cerra Cheraka
- Cell line:
- F1 generation of a monohybrid Swiss x Algerian cross
- Differentiation:
- Bioengineering
- Specific functions:
- Provider of all sorts of silliness for the wiki, resident artist, PCR adept.
- Productivity increased by:
- Increasing coffee intake beyond vital dosis (i.e. > 5 cups/day)
- Greatest ambitions in life:
- Invent time traveling, regeneration and owning a pet dragon
- Special features:
- Honorary metal viking, which probably explains the bleached out Algerian phenotype...
- ID:
- Alexandra Iouranova
- Cell line:
- Swiss, I swear! (Actually, 100% Russian in disguise)
- Differentiation:
- Bioengineering
- Specific functions:
- Drew the arrow that sticks on our wiki menu.
- Productivity increased by:
- The smell of LB on agar plates. This might be an addiction, don't tell anyone.
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Being able to clone herself, several times, just in case. The clones would instantly kill each other, though.
- Special features:
- Who needs sleep anyway.
- ID:
- Sander Kromwijk
- Cell line:
- Dutch
- Differentiation:
- Computer Sciences
- Specific functions:
- Cultivating mammalian cells, styling the Wiki, that kind of stuff.
- Productivity increased by:
- Software patch for prefrontal lobe
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Perform all lab work behind a computer (robots!), but still keep lab coats on. Lab coats are cool.
- Special features:
- Can build a computer from sticks and mud.
- ID:
- Juneseung Lee
- Cell line:
- Korea
- Differentiation:
- Neuroscience!
- Specific functions:
- Making stupid face while listening to French speakers
- Productivity increased by:
- Good results
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Developing mechanical and artificial human brain.
- Special features:
- Je ne comprends pas le français, mais je l'aime!
- ID:
- Diego Marcos
- Cell line:
- Español
- Differentiation:
- Engineer differentiated in Mathematics currently doing synthetic biology
- Specific functions:
- Read all the papers and model everything
- Productivity increased by:
- Asking ALL the questions!
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Make a model of a sandwich so accurate, you can eat it.
- Special features:
- Matlab guru
- ID:
- David Moi
- Cell line:
- WT feral human
- Differentiation:
- Bioengineering
- Specific functions:
- Overly enthusiastic voice from the videos!
- Productivity increased by:
- Redbull for breakfast
- Greatest ambition in life:
- NO FUTURE!
- Special features:
- Hipster (e.g. Had a science mohawk before it was a meme)
- ID:
- Shreya Narasimhan
- Cell line:
- 100% Swiss and 100% Indian!
- Differentiation:
- Life Sciences
- Specific functions:
- Keep track of time and guess which cells farted.. Indian style- Western - blot guru to be and FACS screenshot fabuloso
- Productivity increased by:
- Laughing, Sleeping and eating instant noodles
- Greatest ambition in life:
- Creating a robot master of cloning and then command it with her mind. Wouldn't mind creating an automatic programmable western blot machine either...
- Special features:
- Better at stirring up some DNA than some food!!!
