Team

Joshua Argote

Joshua Argote is a senior at Nikola Tesla Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics High School in Redmond, Washington with a fascination in research. He was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia—where he has organized several outreach events at–and came to the United States at an early age with Spanish as his first language. In college, Joshua plans to double major in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and Computer Science, with the hope to become a professor and further develop computational methods in cancer research sometime in the future. His long-term vision is to become a professional advisor and advocate for non-profit organizations around the world to spread the early access of quality STEM education. He runs Spanish Club and the TEDxRedmondHighSchool organizing committee for the past three years, and is currently investigating the dual-role of certain receptors in cell proliferation and death. Joshua heavily enjoys the science and outreach aspects of iGEM.

Larry Wang

Larry Wang is a senior at Nikola Tesla Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics High School in Redmond, Washington. In school, he enjoys taking sciences courses and doing research and he hopes to pursue a pre-med track with a double major in Biological Sciences and Biophysics in college. After college, he hopes to become a doctor or a sports physician. Outside of school, he enjoys playing the piano, sports as well as being a member of several different clubs. Larry really enjoys the research aspect of iGEM.

Sarah Alvi

Sarah Alvi is a junior at International School in Bellevue, Washington. She enjoys playing the violin, rowing, participating in her school’s jazz choir, and traveling. Her interest in genetics really peaked after she got the opportunity to explore Institute for Systems Biology. Since then, she has explored other fields but has always come back to biology. Being part of Team iTesla has provided her with a great place where she can learn about topics that truly interest her and have a good time!

Mary Elizabeth Adler

Mary Elizabeth Adler is a senior at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington. Over the past few years she’s been fascinated with all facets of biology, from the evolution of species to the exciting possibilities of synthetic biology. She is one of the leaders of wetlab, and has had such a great time diving head-first into the wonderful world of iGEM. She enjoys reading and napping.

Karen Zhang

Karen Zhang is a freshman at the University of Washington majoring in Chemistry and pursuing a pre-health track. She is the secretary and a wetlab leader for Team iTesla-SoundBio. She started out in iTesla when she was a senior at the International School of Bellevue, and took part in laying the initial groundwork of the team. Her college bucket list includes participating in undergraduate research and studying abroad in Europe. Outside of school, she enjoys reading/gaming/watching anything in the fantasy genre, as well as playing epic film scores on the piano.

Keerthana Thammana

Keerthana Thammana is sophomore at Redmond High School in Redmond, Washington. She is very passionate about biology, and would like to learn more about this vast field of science. She enjoys doing research, and loves the hands-on experience that iGEM offers! In her free time, Keerthana loves drawing, painting, watching and reading.

Matthew Saveliev

Matthew Saveliev is a junior at Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Washington. Since taking AP Biology in his sophomore year, he has had a rapidly growing interest in biology, which has been advanced even further by the fascinating work he’s been a part of with iGEM. In addition to his interests in mathematics and physics, Matthew enthusiastically looks forward to diving deeper into the field of biology.

JJ Wheeler

JJ Wheeler is a junior at Newport High school in Bellevue, Washington. He has been interested in the amazing things that can be accomplished with synthetic biology for a long time and has always wanted to gain experience in an actual lab. He used to dream of one day genetically engineering an actual, real, totally legit, fire-breathing dragon. Now that he’s actually learned a lot and gained that valuable experience through iGEM, his dream is becoming increasingly unrealistic because so far none of the science he’s done has involved dragons in any way, shape, or form. Well, there’s always next year.

Christina Long

Christina Long is a junior at International School of Bellevue. She's been interested in Bio-engineering since volunteering at a lab in 8th grade. She wants to continue to apply and learn more about the field of Bio-engineering and the possibilities of it. Outside of science, she enjoys math and art. When not stressing about school, she can be found napping and staying as far away as possible from assigned reading books.

Instructors and Advisors

Zach Mueller

Zach is a biohacker based out of Seattle, Washington who is the co-founder of SoundBio Lab where he engages in community projects, advises their high school / community lab iGEM team, and oversees general operations. Although Zach has no formal background in biology, he is extremely passionate about synthetic biology and strengthening the power and network of DIY labs. When he is not working after hours in the lab, Zach can be found at his day job working as a Data Scientist at Amazon.

Zach's mission is to push innovation in the biotech community through open-source technologies while lowering barriers for anyone that shares similar passions in biotechnology. Pairing these with his love for travel, he visits community labs around the world to increase collaboration in DIY bio projects worldwide.

Alan Bohn

Alan Bohn is a Research Assistant at the University of Washington and volunteer Lab Manager at SoundBio. He has a Master’s Degree in Microbiology and enjoys sharing science and teaching techniques to others.

Team:iTesla-SoundBio/Team