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Team:Penn/Team
From 2012.igem.org
Meet Our Team
The Penn iGEM 2012 Team consists of 4 undergraduates, 3 advisors, and many others who have provided important contributions along the way. Together, we have learned a lot over the last few months. We have taught ourselves different protocols and developed new standards to synchronize our work. Through our participation in iGEM, we have collaborated to learn more about synthetic biology - from the initial days of cloning constructs to the final days of imaging and analysis. Our idea for spatio-temporal control of drug delivery first originated in late May after weeks of reading papers. Slowly we have been able to piece together different components of the system to help the project materialize to the system it is today. We believe our work in optogenetics and drug delivery has a promising future and we are excited to share the results at the Americas East Regional Jamboree!
Undergraduates
Ashwin Amurthur
Ashwin Amurthur is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying bioengineering and business.
Michael Magaraci
Michael Magaraci is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying bioengineering and management.
Peter Qiao
Peter Qiao is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying bioengineering. He hopes to pursue an M.D/Ph.D in the future.
Avin Veerakumar
Avin Veerakumar is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying bioengineering and management.
Advisors
Dr. Casim A. Sarkar
Dr. Casim A. Sarkar is the Principal Investigator of the Molecular Cell Engineering Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Bioengineering. His research interests include molecular cell engineering, protein engineering, ligand/receptor binding and trafficking, cell signaling and decision making, and computational, synthetic, and systems biology. Dr. Sarkar received a PhD in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Computational Biology at MIT and a BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Mark Goulian
Dr. Mark Goulian is the Edward J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research is focused on the regulatory circuits that bacteria use to sense and respond to the environment. His other research interests include two-component signaling in E. coli and directed evolution of signaling circuits. Dr. Goulian received his PhD from Harvard University.
Dr. Jordan S. Miller
Dr. Jordan S. Miller is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in Dr. Christopher S. Chen’s Tissue Microfabrication Laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering. He is currently also a board member of Hive76 and before his time at Penn, he was a developer at RepRap and and an associate at PTV Sciences. Dr. Miller received a PhD from Rice University and earned his undergraduate degree from MIT.
Acknowledgements
Daphne Ng
Daphne Ng is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in Dr. Casim A. Sarkar’s Molecular Cell Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering. She graduated from Cornell University in 2008 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. The 2012 Penn iGEM team would like to thank Daphne for her contribution to the cloning and design process, as well as providing expression and cloning vectors.
Najaf A. Shah
Najaf Shah is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in Dr. Casim A. Sarkar’s Molecular Cell Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering. The 2012 Penn iGEM team would like to thank Najaf for providing input on cloning, input on system design, and access to advanced imaging facilities.
Sevile Mannickarottu
Sevile Mannickarottu is the Director of Bioengineering Instructional Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania. Before his current post, he was the Philadelphia Operations Manager for Technology Education Awareness and a Project Electrical Engineer at Lutron Electronics. He received an MLA in Religious Studies and a BSc in Electric Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing a PhD in Religious Studies. The 2012 Penn iGEM team would like to thank Sevile for providing his facilities and equipment for use during the project.
Contributions
The Penn iGEM team would also like to thank the following individuals for their significant contributions to the team this year:
- Christopher Fang-Yen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at University of Pennsylvania
- Dan Cohen, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Pennsylvania
- Henry Ma, Engineer at University of Pennsylvania Bioengineering Instructional Laboratories
- Karsticum Computing Inc., Software development company that was instrumental in the construction of VerifiGEM
