Meet the Team
Photo by Chirag Sagare
Elsa Arksand
Team Leader
KTH - M.Sc. Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment
Elsa is one of the team leaders this year for iGEM Stockholm! She is a native Swede and is basically the mother of our team, and the master waffle-baker. She joined iGEM mainly to create something really cool and get experience from working together with people in other fields.
Intisar Salim
Team Leader
KTH - M.Sc. Medical Biotechnology
Intisar is more of a paternal figure for the team, she knows what she wants and always makes sure the job gets done. As one of the team leaders of this year, she enjoyed seeing the group reach their goals. Her ambitions and energy are contagious, and with the help of that we aimed for the stars.
Viraj Phatarphod
Finance
KTH - M.Sc. Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment
Viraj is the main money man in the team who makes sure that we do the best with our budget. He comes from India, is a social butterfly and enjoys organising outings and parties with the rest of the team. He loves to hike and stay hydrated while doing so.
Nadine Gelmar
Finance, Entrepreneurship
KI - M.Sc Bioentrepreneurship
Nadine is the reliable backbone in the finance team and entrepreneurship team. She is one of the most responsible members of the team, and she likes to go to bed early. She comes from Germany, but about half the team didn't know that for months because she has a Scottish accent from studying there.
Simon Jernselius
Dry lab, Finance, Entrepreneurship
KTH - M.Sc Medical Biotechnology
Simon is a vital binding point between three subteams, bringing the research and entrepreneurship parts together. He is always ready to lend a hand and is incapable of having a non-deep conversation! Simon joined iGEM to get more practical experience and learn something totally new.
Tereza Viskova
Dry lab
KTH - M.Sc. Nanotechnology
Tereza is in the dry lab team, and hails from the Czech Republic. Tereza always keeps her cool and is never seen without a smile on her face. She is not discouraged to take on new challenging tasks.
Shivani Jambur
Dry lab
KTH - M.Sc. Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment
Shivani is a driving force in the dry lab, even though she worked mostly remotely. She is not hesitant to learn new things and keep the sub team moving forward.
Christina Bekirari
Media
KI - M.Sc. Biomedicine
Christina is a foundational member of the entire team since she is the main voice in our channels. She is the brain behind our promotional video, our presentation, our logo, and our social media! She is a creative whizz, from Greece, and is generally an amazing person to be around.
Arthur Herren
Media
KI - B.Sc. Biomedicine
Arthur, or Nassai, is our external relations guy and our highly valuable wiki-expert. He comes from New Zealand, has the physique of a hobbit and learnt how to code specifically for this wiki.
Maria Calvo Noriega
Wet lab
KI - M.Sc. Biomedicine
With an attitude that says that no problem is too hard not to try and solve, Maria is a source of knowledge, endurance and experience. She is from Spain, and absolutely adores biking and hiking around the country. She is studying her Masters of Biomedicine at KI, which helps her keep everyone sane in the lab.
Joel Tekoniemi
Wet lab
KTH - M.Sc. Medical Biotechnology
Joel is a mainstay of the wet lab, keeping things cool and focused. At the same time his major role in iGEM is making memes. He loves to have fun and party with the rest of the team, and is always seen in the Slack channels afterwards sharing photos and memes of the different events we had over the year.
Ifigeneia Nikolakopoulou
Wet lab
SU - M.Sc. Neurochemistry with Molecular Neurobiology
With Ifis' mastermind, you should keep an extra eye out in the lab. Her go-to attitude makes sure that there is always something happening. She comes from Greece and studies Neurochemistry and Neurobiology at SU, which is different from our project this year. Although the brain and the face are pretty close, so maybe it has helped her during the experiments.
Srijani Saha
Wet lab, Dry lab
KTH - M.Sc. Medical Biotechnology
It is difficult not to have an engaging and open conversation with Srijani. While keeping several balls in the air she finds her way forward in the lab. She loves to hang out with the team and is a master of sarcasm.
Carolin Brombach
Wet lab
KI - M.Sc. Biomedicine
Caro is a reliable mountain in the team and in the lab. She is incredibly clever, having done internships and writing articles for the University of Cambridge! She comes from Germany, and loves her local football team in Cologne.
Lovisa Bjorck
Human Practices, Entrepreneurship, Wet lab
KTH - B.Sc. Biotechnology
Lovisa is a cornerstone in the human practices and entrepreneurship subteam and has also been involved in the cloning part of our project. She is secretly not even a Stockholmer! Despite studying here, she actually lives in Uppsala. She has an infectious joy for life, and is super social and fun to talk to.
Silvija Lialkaite
Human Practices, Entrepreneurship
KTH - B.Sc. Biotechnology
Silvijas energy comes from wanting to contribute to a better world. With her positive, solution driven attitude, she provides a fresh perspective in the team and in the human practice and entrepreneurship subteams.
Ilva Noa Stellingwerf
Human Practices, Finance, Entrepreneurship
KI, KTH, SU - M.Sc. Molecular Techniques in Life Sciences
Ilva Noa is a sharp, upbeat driving force with great ideas for all circumstances. Her ambitious and positive mood is contagious for the rest of the team. She comes from the Netherlands and is super interested in astronomy.
Team photos by Chirag Sagare