Team:Gaston Day School/Team
Team
About Gaston Day School
Gaston Day School is a K-12 College Preparatory School located in Gastonia, North Carolina where 100% of graduating students attend a four-year college. With representation from Gaston,
Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Cleveland, and York counties and international students from Asia and Europe, Gaston Day is not simply confined to those residents of the surrounding area.
Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Gaston Day is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, the Southern Association of Independent Schools,
and the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools and approved by the North CarolinaDepartment of Education. The Gaston Day iGEM team has been competing in iGEM for over
10 years and plans to continue its honorable legacy as a high school competing on a collegiate level.
Gaston Day School and Shangde Experimental School
This year, our team went international. Our team is comprised of members from both Shangde Experimental School in Shanghai, China and Gaston Day School in Gastonia, North Carolina, United States
of America. Every Friday night at 9 P.M. on the East Coast of the United States and 9 A.M. in Shanghai, China, you will find our team on our weekly Zoom meetings. Although being a team around the
globe poses its challenges -- such as cultural differences, language barriers, and being confined to a largely virtual project environment -- this opportunity has added depth, new perspectives, and
individuals always willing to help with our iGEM project this year.
Team Members
Brooke Dillingham is a senior at Gaston Day School and a co-leader of iGEM this year. This year, she has been doing a lot of wet lab work and project management. She loves to spend time with her six
dogs, play sports, read, and eat good food.
Kate Klinger is a senior at Gaston Day School and a co-leader of the Gaston Day iGEM team. She is the lead wiki designer, a researcher, works in the wet lab, and helps with project management.
Outside of the lab, she loves to play soccer, run cross country, read, spend time with her friends and family, and create art.
Neha Patel is a senior at Gaston Day School and co-leader of iGEM. She is a researcher, works in the wet lab, helps with project management, and is in charge of Human Practices. Outside of the science lab,
She plays Varsity Golf and enjoys spending time with her brother. She is an avid reader who enjoys volunteering at the local library almost as much as she likes working behind the scenes at the school
productions.
Tiancheng Lan is a senior student from Gaston Day School. As one of Gaston Day iGEM team co-leaders, he has participated in the team for about two years and is working on research study, as well
as connecting Gaston Day and China together. In addition to iGEM, he loves trying different sports and is eager to help more people all over the world. Attending iGEM is a really amazing experience
for him and he hopes the team can gain more achievements in the future.
Cecilia is a new member from Shanghai and helps with improving upon existing parts as a researcher. Outside of iGEM, she loves to spend time with her friends and family.
Yijun Yang “Jacob” Yang is a researcher on the team this year. Aside from iGEM and spending time with the team over Zoom.
Haoyuan Li “Kevin” Li is a team member from Shanghai that loves helping everyone around him and supporting the Gaston Day iGEM team. He also likes to hang out with friends in his spare time.
Charlie Zhang is one of the new team members from Shanghai. He is a researcher on our team. Aside from learning and iGEM,
he enjoys playing table tennis and badminton and learning new skills such as video editing to enrich his leisure time.
Nadia Luo is a hardworking and studious person and member of our iGEM team. In her daily life outside of the lab, she likes painting and watching movies.
Fiona from Shanghai is a new member of our team. She helps with reading papers and research.
Celine Li from Gaston Day School is a good team player and always willing to help. She is confident, always energetic, and a master of team coordination.
In addition to science, Celine also has great enthusiasm for sports, such as skiing and dancing.
Max Shedd is in 10th grade at Gaston Day School. His role on the team is working in the lab. Outside of iGEM, he enjoys playing soccer.
Ahmad Alyasjeen is in 12th grade at Gaston Day School and is also a new team member. He helps out in the lab, is a researcher, and is always willing to lend a helping hand.
Besides iGEM, he enjoys playing video games and hanging out with his friends.
Winston Baker is a sophomore at Gaston Day School in Gastonia, North Carolina.His role is to help out with lab experiments during our morning meetings.
He also enjoys watching the Carolina Panthers Football team in his free time as well as playing games and watching anime.
Yahoo Wu is a 11th grade student who works as a researcher and wet lab worker in the team. Apart from iGEM, she also likes drawing, singing, and snowboarding. In her spare time, she loves to read
novels and listen to music. Besides, she likes spending time with her friends during cross country practice and psychology club meetings.
Dirge is a new member of the Gaston Day team from Shanghai. This year, he serves as a researcher. Outside of iGEM, he loves
playing basketball and reading as well as photography and cooking dinner for his family.
Mingxiao "Blake" Ma is working on Human Practices, wet lab and reserach for iGEM and is a student member. Besides biology, he also likes math, track, cross country, and playing instruments.
Will Vanderploeg joined the team recently and is excited for this year's cool iGEM project. He does not have an “official” role but is always available and working in the wet lab.
Outside of IGEM, he likes space, engineering, math, and scuba diving.
Ashlee Shedd is a junior at Gaston Day School and a new member of the team. She wears many hats, including being a lab hand, organizer, and researcher.
Outside of iGEM, she likes to play soccer, run cross country, and swim.
Yixuan Tang is a 10th grader at Gaston Day School and works in the wet lab and as a researcher for Cadmium sensors.
Jingpeng Sun is a member from Shanghai and works on reading and pulling useful information from research papers.
Robert is a committed teammate working on the wiki and in the 3D-printing department. The team works on providing adaptive equipment for people who have certain disabilities. Apart from iGEM,
Robert is passionate about computer vision and its applications. He also loves playing soccer and enjoys sport climbing with his friends.
Rong Bao is a member of the team from Shanghai. I actively participate in sports activities during my spare time, and he is a first-level national waterpolo player.
Additionally, he is also a big fan of all types of music.
Chao Zhang “David” Zhang is a member from Shanghai who reads, annotates, and discusses papers.
Yi Wang, a member from Shangde Experimental School in Shanghai, China, is a researcher on the Gaston Day iGEM team.
Nathan Loupus designs and 3D prints adaptive learning equipment for students with disabilities. He is a new team member.
Jordan Baker is in 9th grade and is a new team member. She decided to join iGEM because she has always enjoyed experimenting and learning more about DNA, chemicals, and biology as a whole.
She has helped participate in experiments whenever she can help the team and has taken notes of any new findings that she has noticed.
Advisors
Anne Byford is the Gaston Day iGEM main supervisor and instructor. She has been advising iGEM at Gaston Day School for over ten years, and is the primary Instructor and Upper School Biology
and Research Methods. Outside of the lab, she is also a foster mom for a local animal rescue.
Constance Tina Heracklis has been the Chemistry and Environmental Science teacher at Gaston Day School for four years and is an assistant advisor to Ms. Byford.
Fiona X is the mediator and connection between students in Shangde Experimental School and Gaston Day School. Without her, this year's project would not be possible.