Team:UNSW Australia/Team

Team

The 2021 UNSW iGEM Team is composed of 15 undergraduate students studying a range of disciplines across science, engineering, business and design.
The team is supported by Dr. Dominic Glover (PI), and mentors Joshua McCluskey, Gustave Severin and Sakthirupini Ramamurthy.

Members

Ana Bilic

Human Practices Team Member

Imogen Kelly

Wet Lab Lead

Karina Guo

Science Communication Lead

Konstantina Harellis

Wet Lab and Dry Lab Team Member

Larae Kale

Design Lead and Wiki Team Member

Leonie Dickson

Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member

Monika Vesse

Human Practices and Wet Lab Team Member

Naomi Warren

Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member

Nikola Vekic

Dry Lab Team Member

Preethika Subash

Human Practices Lead

Richard Wang

Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member

Ryan Tchan

Wiki and Design Lead, Dry Lab Co-Lead, Admin Co-Lead

Sarah Chong

Wet Lab Team Member

Vivian Lieu

Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member

Ying Fei Liew

Wet Lab Team Member and Admin Co-Lead

Ana Bilic

Human Practices Team Member

Ana is in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Advanced Science and Commerce, majoring in Pathology, Marketing and Information Systems (quite a handful haha). She was extremely interested in working on a sustainable solution to protect our reefs. The iGEM Human Practices team turned out to be the perfect opportunity to learn about diverse stakeholder perspectives, deepen her understanding of the interplay of social sciences and synthetic bio while collaborating with a fun team. Her passion for reef ecosystems stems from her love of ocean swimming, snorkelling and watching docos.

Imogen Kelly

Wet Lab Lead

Imogen is in her third year of a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Microbiology. Imogen was excited to participate in her first taste of real science, outside of class and running a project with a very cool group of people. The highlight of the project for her was time in the lab and getting to know the ins and outs of all the project’s technical aspects. She definitely lived out her mad scientist dreams, even if just for a bit. When she isn’t in the lab or studying, Imogen enjoys her hobbies of sewing, drawing, painting and knitting (she tends to lose track of all her in-progress projects).

Karina Guo

Science Communication Lead

Karina is a third year student in her degree of Bachelor of Advanced Science, with a major in Ecology and a minor in Chemistry. Her participation in this year’s iGEM was in a strive to participate in a synthetic biology conservation project, outside of her comfort zone in ecology.

She worked in the Science Communication subgroup to help spread the word, and help connect parts of the community together to strive for a better environmental footstep. She supported her team, and together they brought engagement with both the general public and the Indigenous People to bring insights on the reality of climate change. Her love for science and conservation all stemmed from her love of plants, which she is a parent to hundreds!

Konstantina Harellis

Wet Lab and Dry Lab Team Member

Konstantina is currently in her second year of a Bachelor of Medical Science. Her eagerness to apply the practical skills she has acquired throughout university stimulated her to participate in iGEM to offer multi-angled solutions to coral bleaching. She worked in the Dry Lab and Wet Lab teams which allowed her to gain new skills in structural and mathematical modelling, experience how research is conducted in the laboratory, and connect with colleagues and academics. When not in the lab or the library, Konstantina adores playing the violin, painting, dancing ballet and riding her bike with her friends.

Leonie Dickson

Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member

​​Leonie is in her fourth year of a double degree in Bioinformatics Engineering and Science (majoring in Statistics), and was excited to join an interdisciplinary team approaching synthetic biology from a variety of angles. She worked in the Dry Lab and Wiki teams, which was a great opportunity to apply her existing computing and bioinformatics knowledge, and challenge herself by delving into newer areas such as biochemistry. In her time away from her laptop, Leonie enjoys exploring nature and indulging herself in mediocre phone photography!

Monika Vesse

Human Practices and Wet Lab Team Member

Monika is a third-year Advanced Science student majoring in Biotechnology. Monika joined the Wet Lab and Human Practices teams because she loves the idea of using synthetic biology to find solutions to help preserve the natural environment. During her involvement in the UNSW iGEM Team, she has developed a better appreciation for the Great Barrier Reef and the people dedicated to preserving it for future generations. Monika believes there is always something useful to learn in any situation and has been grateful to have gained so much knowledge and experience working alongside such a bright and motivated group of people.

Naomi Warren

Dry Lab Co-Lead and Wiki Team Member

Naomi is finishing up her penultimate year of a degree in Bioinformatics Engineering (Honours), and was keen as a bean to use the skills she’d learnt (and a bunch she had to discover) to solve problems in synthetic biology! She loves doing puzzles, especially when the pieces are macromolecules involved in physical- and bio-chemistry ... The project was a fantastic opportunity to be part of a fun team of people doing real science. She particularly enjoyed developing skills in structural and kinetic modelling, since both consider the energy of systems and interactions, but in different ways to produce unique insights! She also had a ball learning from “The Master of Web Dev” Leonie while coding up the wiki. When she isn’t coding away behind a screen, you might find her performing at a Rhythmic Gymnastics competition, writing fantasy novels or listening to theology podcasts.

Nikola Vekic

Dry Lab Team Member

Nikola is a second year Medical Science student, majoring in Medical Pharmacology. Nikola entered the iGEM competition and Dry Lab team because of his passion for biochemistry and furthering his understanding of novel, synthetic biological processes. Throughout this experience as part of this journey, he was able to have a deeper appreciation for the scientific processes involved in developing practical solutions to real world problems, an opportunity provided through the iGEM competition. Looking at different catalytic intermediates and models of sHSPs developed by our team was a prime highlight of his. The insight and contribution the Dry Lab team made toward one of Australia’s greatest national treasures - the Great Barrier Reef - is both a rewarding and satisfying thought. In his spare time, you may find Nikola going for a run, at the gym, playing indoor soccer with his friends or online playing FIFA.

Preethika Subash

Human Practices Lead

Currently in the third year of her Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) degree, Preethika was eager to translate the knowledge she had amassed from University, to a project that focused on ameliorating the conditions of our environment. During her time in the Human Practices team, she was grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a storyteller - listening to the consortia of voices who had been impacted by coral bleaching had allowed her to begin understanding the complexities that make up Australia. In her spare time, you’ll see her cooking up a storm in the kitchen and completing 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles with her roommates!

Richard Wang

Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member

Rick is in his final year of a Bachelor of Science majoring in Microbiology and Pathology. Rick was interested in joining iGEM as it presented an opportunity to apply learnt theory to a practical application, paired with a more open ended and practical approach to an issue of national significance. With present circumstances, his focus has shifted more to research and experimental design, and examining how the benefits of synthetic biology can be presented to the wider public. In his downtime, he enjoys bushwalking around Sydney, cycling with friends, training in kendo, and spending excessive amounts of time in front of a computer to satiate an amateur interest in history and geopolitics.

Ryan Tchan

Wiki and Design Lead, Dry Lab Co-Lead, Admin Co-Lead

Ryan is a third year Medical Science student majoring in Medical Microbiology. Ryan joined the Wiki & Design team and Dry Lab team because of his passion for wanting to learn new hard skills. He also volunteered himself as Admin Co-Lead given his experiences in other team management and leadership positions. Throughout the duration of iGEM, Ryan has developed a greater awareness for the methodical yet creative process in designing solutions for real world issues. In this way, he has learnt a lot about the creative journey that underpins research based careers and is excited for the foreseeable future where conservation of the Great Barrier Reef is better appreciated. In his spare time you may find him catching up on some much needed sleep or bothering his dog who likes to laze around all day.

Sarah Chong

Wet Lab Team Member

Sarah is in her third year of a Bachelor of Advanced Science, majoring in Microbiology. She joined iGEM in hopes of learning about the real-world applications of synthetic biology and to gain lab experience. She is a member of the Wet Lab team and enjoyed the challenges inside and outside of the lab throughout the project. While not succumbing to her crippling Instagram addiction, Sarah spends her time curating Spotify playlists and occasionally goes hiking.

Ying Fei Liew

Wet Lab Team Member and Admin Co-Lead

Ying Fei is a third-year Bachelor of Medical Science student majoring in Molecular Cell Biology and Pharmacology. She is excited to have the opportunity to explore the possibilities of synthetic biology and applying scientific knowledge to solve real-world problems. Throughout her iGEM journey, she particularly enjoyed the time spent in the lab. Her involvement in iGEM opened up her perspective on the different aspects of science that are equally important as the scientific research itself. During her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to podcasts and going on walks in nature.

Larae Kale

Design Lead and Wiki Team Member

Larae is in her final year of a Bachelor of Design (Honours). Larae was interested in joining iGEM as it presented an opportunity to apply her honours research on the intersection of science and design. She was also excited to apply her skills to improve a current world problem. During her experience with iGEM she particularly enjoyed developing scientific concepts and information into interactive graphics. She is a bit of a design nerd with her interest in interactive UX design! In her downtime, she enjoys anything active and adventurous such as bush walking, amusement parks and spending time with her doggo!

Vivian Lieu

Science Communication and Wet Lab Team Member

Vivian is in her third year of a Bachelor of Advanced Science, majoring in Biotechnology and Molecular Cell Biology. During her time in iGEM, she has gained more knowledge about how to apply synthetic biology to real-world problems and make science more accessible to the broader community. She particularly enjoyed putting her inner creativity to use through designing children's books, merchandise and puzzles for the scicom team. During her free time, Vivian likes to explore nature by going on long walks, listening to chill music, playing the piano, and doing crafty things.

SPONSORS

Project Description

Engineering
Parts
Contribution

Experiments

Heat Shock Protein
Glutathione System

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Notebook
Protocols & Safety

Modelling

Heat Shock Protein
Glutathione System

Human Practices

Proposed Implementation
Inclusivity

Science Communication

Educational Package
Board Game
Collaborations

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Virtual Exhibition

Team

Attributions

Judging

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iGEM 2021
UNSW Australia