Team:UZurich/Team
Team
Members
Nicolas Hesse
Nicolas Hesse
Team Lead, Master student Medical Technology
I joined the UZurich iGEM team because I was looking for a new challenge. I have worked internships in different genetic labs before in Germany and Switzerland, but was looking for a more independent project, which is why iGEM came at a very suitable time. The fact that students organize the whole project themselves intrigued me a lot. I especially wanted to take up the role of Student Team Leader because it was something I had never attempted before.
Sabina Jyrkinen
Sabina Jyrkinen
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biology & Neuroinformatics
I have always been interested in how one can use biology to tackle today’s problems. In my eyes, synthetic biology is a field with immense potential for the future. Not only do I think that it will elevate our understanding of basic biological concepts in general but that it will become a dominant aspect in solving the problems humankind is facing. For that reason I wanted to be a part of iGEM and experience first hand what it means to be a synthetic biologist.
Songyuan Zhang
Songyuan Zhang
Wetlab, Master student Biology
This is my fourth time participating in the iGEM competition, but I can still gain new experiences from it: introducing SynBio to a new research field; using SynBio to solve a real-world problem; talking to experts from different fields; working with excellent peers from different cultural backgrounds… Why is iGEM so addictive? I can’t give it up!
Tianyu Xu
Tianyu Xu
Wetlab, Master student Biochemistry
I always ask myself a question: how can I use my knowledge to contribute to the real world? This question arose since I started my bachelor’s study. I’ve done a few projects during my bachelor but all of them are closer to basic research. When I found iGEM occasionally from its website, I knew it can answer my question. During the project, we applied the knowledge from synthetic biology to solve some real-world problems. And it really gives me the feeling that I’m using my mind to change the world, which is awesome.
Sarah Noser
Sarah Noser
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biology & French
My interest in synthetic biology immediately sparked the first time I heard about it in a lecture. The idea to approach biology from an engineering standpoint was very intriguing to me. So when I heard about our university’s IGem team, I knew I had to join. I mainly wanted to get to work on our own project as well as getting my first lab experiences. And in the end I got much more out of this experience than I ever anticipated.
Jannik Neumann
Jannik Neumann
Wetlab & Finances, Bachelor student Biology, Astronomy & Astrobiology
I first came into contact with synthetic biology during my first year of studies. Ever since then, I was fascinated by it. The possibilities synthetic biology offers are endless, which is why I wanted to get hands-on experience as early as possible. IGEM was the perfect opportunity for that. At this point I am really happy to have joined the competition and I have learned a lot over the last year, for which I am really thankful. I have found my field of interest within biology and will certainly pursue synthetic biology in the future.
Annika Canziani
Annika Canziani
Drylab & Wiki, Bachelor student Biology
I was intrigued by iGEM ever since I first heard about it in my first semester. It was exciting to think that you could work on such a big project as a bachelor student, so I had to give it a go. Though I thought I would be most involved in Human Practices, I ended up investing most of my time into Dry Lab work, which turned out to be much more fun for me! I learned an incredible amount in this short timespan, not only from the work we did but also from the supervisors and my teammates.
David Hogg
David Hogg
Drylab & Wiki, Bachelor student Biology & Philosophy
I saw the perfect opportunity in iGEM to experience what it is like to do research from A to Z on a topic of interest with other people who are driven by the same motivations as I am: Working in a team, meeting new people, realizing an own project and advancing research - simply, what it is like to be a scientist. Somehow I ended up with computers, but I do not regret my choice - dataanalysis is grueling as is programming the wiki, but it is fun nevertheless. I could learn a lot from this project for my future and moreover, my teammates from iGEM became great friends of mine from university.
Anna Stoll-Bickel
Anna Stoll-Bickel
Wiki & Human Practices, Bachelor student Biology & Mathematics
At university, I was always a bit bored by just attending lectures and learning stuff by myself. This is why I was so happy to hear about the iGEM competition: participating in iGEM meant that I could do real research and actually apply my knowledge. Before iGEM, I didn’t realize the potential and possibilities that lay behind synthetic biology, but now I’ve become very enthusiastic about it. I also like the interdisciplinarity of iGEM, reflected by our team and the inspiring people we spoke to: farmers, politicians and of course, scientists.
Maximilian Moser
Maximilian Moser
Human Practices, Bachelor student Biomedicine
I have learned a lot since I joined the UZurich iGEM team. Thanks to the enriching collaboration with my creative teammates, I am now convinced that synthetic biology has the potential to solve a wide array of problems that the world is faced with today. The most fulfilling part for me was the open dialogue about potential applications of synthetic biology with an interested audience as part of the human practices domain.
Raphael Wolfensberger
Raphael Wolfensberger
Human Practices, Bachelor student Biology
After hearing about the iGEM competition during a lecture in quantitative and systems biology, I was intrigued by the idea that real world problems could be tackled with the help of synthetic biology. As sustainability is now more than ever a challenge that we all should face, the opportunity to work on finding sustainable solutions in farming finally convinced me to take part in this adventure. And by talking with multiple experts in and around agriculture, from farmers to politicians and scientists, we gained insights that we very much enjoyed sharing in engaging and creative ways with the rest of the world. We hope that through that we could contribute at least a bit towards a more sustainable future.
Larissa Bison
Larissa Bison
Human Practices & Wiki, Bachelor student English & Biomedicine
I've always been drawn to novelty, and when I first heard about iGEM I couldn't help but think that it doesn't get any newer than this. The opportunities and experience that a path like iGEM brings are very rare and allow you to build a body of knowledge that will remain an important part of my personal growth. Particularly relevant for me was the interdisciplinary nature of the project, it is not a simple biology course that remains in a laboratory: here you go out in the field, you try to understand how practically speaking biology can address and solve a challenge in real life. In the textbooks there are pictures of discoveries that have changed the world, iGEM gives you the opportunity to -for a moment- be not on the side of the people looking at the picture, but of the people who were in it.
Supervisors
Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel
Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel
Principal Investigator
As former Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich (UK) and current Chair of Molecular and Cellular Plant Physiology at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology of the University of Zurich, Cyril has over 20 years of experience in the field of molecular plant sciences.
He welcomed our team’s idea and his entrepreneurial thinking contributed greatly to our project findings. We profited from the ambitious environment in his laboratory, where we were encouraged to challenge ourselves and received valuable inputs towards our ideas.
His research group is focusing particularly on cell surface-localized immune receptors, called pattern recognition receptors, that perceive microbe-derived or endogenous patterns to activate innate immune responses. In addition, they are interested in identifying and engineering immune receptors to improve disease resistance in crops.
We are incredibly thankful to Cyril, as he has not only supported us by providing space and expertise, but also for his personal contribution to our project.
Dr. Kyle Bender
Dr. Kyle Bender
Kyle is a post doctoral researcher in Zurich, and has held the same position in Norwich as well. Kyle is interested in the molecular mechanisms regulating protein kinases for signal transduction. His current projects fall in the field of the regulatory properties of plant receptor kinases. Kyle went above and beyond to support us in our everyday lab life, both wetlab as well as drylab. His dedication to the project, the data analysis and to the team is invaluable to us.
Dr. Philipp Köster
Dr. Philipp Köster
Like Kyle, Philipp is a PostDoc at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Zurich. He is fascinated by different signaling pathways, and currently studies composition of pattern recognition receptors in plants and the molecular mechanisms underlying their function. His dedication to the project, the data analysis and to the team is invaluable to us.
Advisors
Cauã Westmann
Cauã Westmann
Cauã is a PhD student at the University of Zurich. His main interest lies at the interface between Synthetic Biology and Evolutionary Biology. With years of experience in the iGEM competition in many roles, he was able to elaborate on a lot of uncertainties and questions we had concerning our participation in the international competition. He was always just one text message away and made a huge effort to support the entire team.
Timothy Kurer
Timothy Kurer
Timothy is part of the iGEM UZurich team from 2020 and he helped us in all kinds of matters, be it advisory steps to our further choices in our project, improving our project and smoothening rough edges on some parts or simply attending a team event and making it more fun. We thank him for his valuable feedback and all the inputs he gave us.