Team
Introducing Team artico
After the tremendous success of team "optoptosis" Duesseldorf in 2016 it was clear that the iGEM spirit would be continued in Duesseldorf. In order to establish iGEM at another university as well, we decided to collaborate with the University of Cologne.
Looking back in time, collaboration between our two cities is nothing to be taken for granted, since the rivalry between the cities Duesseldorf and Cologne has been going on since the early 13th century. Nevertheless, we decided to put our rivalries aside and join forces for a much, MUCH bigger cause. With this year’s project we want to take a step towards synthetic cells by creating a fully controllable artificial compartment. Inspired by our scientific approach we decided to call our team “artico”.
This year’s team consists of 19 members, three instructors and three advisors from the University of Cologne and the Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf. We are especially proud to have built a team that does not only consist of straight forward biologists but also includes quantitative biologists, biochemists and even a physicist, forming an interdisciplinary group of young minds to achieve the best possible results in this year’s iGEM competition.
Gallery
Team
Aikaterini Karapantsiou
Anna Sappler
Bastiaan Tjeng
Daniela Wall
Eric Behle
Fiona Edenhofer
Hendrik Cooper
Jan Maika
Jason Müller
Kristin Gehling
Lisa Wolpers
Manuel Lentzen
Marvin van Aalst
Pauline Ott
Philipp Müller
Philipp Rink
Rene Inckemann
Tobias Brünger
Instructors and Advisors
Alina Kuklinski
Carolin Krämer
Kai Hußnätter
Marvin Hubert
Nicolas Schmelling
Tim Blomeier
Aikaterini Karapantsiou
- Nickname: Katen
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology & Psychology
- Hobbies: Travelling, Reading, Learning new languages, Spending time with my boyfriend and friends
- Favorite Chemical: (5-amino-2,3-dihydrophtalazine-1,4-dione) = Luminol :)
- Favorite Beer: Guinness'n'black
Anna Sappler
- Nickname: Annanice
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biochemistry
- Hobbies: Art, Clarinet, Swimming
- Favorite Chemical: HCl- uncomplicated and useful
- Favorite Beer: Füchschen Alt (local brewery)
Bastiaan Tjeng
- Nickname: Frittenking
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Bouldering
- Favorite Chemical: Nitrogen monoxide
- Favorite Beer: RheinCraft
Daniela Wall
- Nickname: Dani
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Sailing, Reading, Traveling
- Favorite Chemical: Ethidium bromide
- Favorite Beer:
Eric Behle
- Nickname: Örich
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Physics
- Hobbies: Basketball, Biking, Netflix
- Favorite Chemical: Dihydrogen Monoxide
- Favorite Beer: Budweiser (the czech kind)
Fiona Edenhofer
- Nickname:
- University: University of Cologne
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Gymnastics
- Favorite Chemical: Sulfuric acid
- Favorite Beer: Früh Kölsch
Hendrik Cooper
- Nickname: Coopie, Coopsi
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Photography, reading
- Favorite Chemical: 3-Hydroxytyramin
- Favorite Beer: Hacker-Pschorr
Jan Maika
- Nickname: Jamaika, Kaiser Schmarrn, Prinz Hairy, Lord der Lappen, König Alfons, Fürst Wurst
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Football, Badminton
- Favorite Chemical: Hydrogen peroxide
- Favorite Beer:-
Jason Müller
- Nickname: Jay
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Guitar, Piano, Drawing, Bike and Sports in general
- Favorite Chemical:
- Favorite Beer:
Kristin Gehling
- Nickname: Tini
- University: University of Cologne
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Riding my horse, Skiing, electric guitar
- Favorite Chemical: Methyltheobromin
- Favorite Beer: Mühlen Kölsch
Lisa Wolpers
- Nickname: Lisbeth
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Sports, Baking
- Favorite Chemical: ATP
- Favorite Beer: Allgäuer Büble-Bier
Manuel Lentzen
- Nickname: Manu, The expert
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Hiking, Cycling
- Favorite Chemical: Caffeine
- Favorite Beer: Andechs wheat beer
Marvin van Aalst
- Nickname: Christian
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Drumming and sports
- Favorite Chemical: Cinnamaldehyde
- Favorite Beer: Nonalcoholic wheat beer
Pauline Ott
- Nickname: Pauli
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Drawing, German wheel
- Favorite Chemical: Lysergic acid diethylamide
- Favorite Beer: Alt
Philipp Müller
- Nickname:
- University: University of Cologne
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Drums and Reading
- Favorite Chemical:
- Favorite Beer: Reissdorf Kölsch
Philipp Rink
- Nickname: Flippo
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: My pets
- Favorite Chemical: Penguinone
- Favorite Beer: Kölsch (Peters)
René Inckemann
- Nickname: Inckemeier
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Riding motorbike, playing guitar, music
- Favorite Chemical: PvuII
- Favorite Beer: Erdinger Weißbier
Tobias Brünger
- Nickname: Tobi
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Quantiative Biology
- Hobbies: Orchestra, sports
- Favorite Chemical: Water
- Favorite Beer: Früh Kölsch
Alina Kuklinski
- Nickname: Saladhead
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Table tennis, Travelling, Hiking, Partying
- Favorite Chemical: Trimethyl borate- because it is a colourless liquid that burns with a green flame
- Favorite Beer: Tyskie (Polish beer)
Carolin Krämer
- Nickname: Mutti
- University: Heinrich Heine Universtiy Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Cooking, Baking, Reading
- Favorite Chemical: Sodium chloride
- Favorite Beer: Reissdorf Kölsch
Kai Hußnätter
- Nickname: Kai der Becher
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: PhD Biology, Applied microbiology
- Hobbies: Biking, Inline Skating, Cooking and Baking
- Favorite Chemical: Monosodium glutamate
- Favorite Beer: Hansa Pils in a 0,33l can and Bolten (local Alt-brewery)
Marvin Hubert
- Nickname: Hubsi
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Sports, music and spending time with friends
- Favorite Chemical: Ethanol
- Favorite Beer: Veltins
Nicolas Schmelling
- Nickname: Internet boy, Licht boy
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: PhD Computational Biology
- Hobbies: Football, Fantasy
- Favorite Chemical: Testosteron
- Favorite Beer: Founder All Day IPA
Tim Blomeier
- Nickname: Jimmy
- University: Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
- Study Path: PhD Biology
- Hobbies: Basketball, Swimming, Eating
- Favorite Chemical: Fluorescin
- Favorite Beer: herrliches Herforder
The birth of artico
Presentation of various ideas
Deciding on the project topic sets the basis for the team’s motivation and success and enables planning for the next months. Knowing about the importance of this decision it was indispensable to discuss the goals, concepts and realizability with experts, first of all with our principal investigator, Prof. Matias Zurbriggen, head of the institute for synthetic biology in Dusseldorf. Additionally we invited more Professors interested in iGEM to get as many expert opinions and feedback as possible from different points of view. We were more than happy to have Prof. Andreas Weber, head of the Institute for plant biochemistry in Dusseldorf, Jun-Prof. Ilka Maria Axmann, head of the Institute for Synthetic Microbiology and Prof. Michael Feldbrügge, head of the Institute for Microbiology providing us with their opinion. Also Danny Ducat, Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry at the Michigan State University joined.
Before meeting with the professors we focused on three final projects and prepared presentations containing the lab design and possible subprojects as well as the motivation and story behind each topic. After providing an overview we had lively discussions with the professors. They did not only give valuable feedback but also asked critical questions, thereby helping us to look at aspects we did not think of before. Furthermore, Nicolas Krink (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg) helped us to reflect the topics from the point of view as a judge, as he was one at the iGEM-competition in 2016.
We were very thankful to get the opportunity to present the projects. The expertise of all the people who were present helped us to revise the concepts and finally decide on the this year’s project a short time after.
Teambuilding and Project Selection
Shortly after our cooperation team came together for the first time in February, the idea of an external working weekend was born. We wanted to intensively work on our topic selection and our Cologne-Dusseldorf collaboration mission. Another important aspect was to get to know the people we were going to work together with for nearly one year. After a few weeks of paper-reading, internet research and browsing through books, the date and destination of our final decision weekend was set and everybody was excited to finally determine our topic. With a lot of input from previous discussions and meetings, we arrived in Aachen with two really well prepared and quite different projects on which we decided shortly after arrival. This is how the peroxisome turned out to be our fellow team member and test subject for the rest of the year.
The youth hostel in Aachen offered the opportunity to work in a conference room, and so everybody worked on the goal with growing enthusiasm to fully build our project. We discussed possibilities on how to share potential sub projects between Cologne and Dusseldorf since we wouldn’t work together in the same lab. Our instructors gave presentations on basic methods in the lab as well as on several iGEM standards we would use during our work. In the evening we visited Aachen’s inner city, a pub and had a night walk in the forest.
All in all the weekend was a definite success: we set our project topic, the motivation was pushed to the limit and we were ready to get started with the practical work united as a team.
Meeting other teams
European Meetup in Delft
On the 7th of July we were luckily invited to join the European iGEM meetup in Delft. Of course we did not want to miss the chance to listen to interesting talks by the european iGEM teams and speakers from many different research areas! So we took our pens and college blocks and drove to Rotterdam on thursday evening, in order to be fit for the first official day of the meetup.
In the morning we drove to Delft. As soon as we arrived we got in touch with several other iGEM teams like
Graz, Bielefeld and Munich and talked about our projects and possible collaborations.
As the doors opened we were really excited to listen to the first presentation by Prof. Dr. Cees Dekker from the TU Delft, who gave a talk about developing a synthetic cell with molecular components using biophysical approaches. The second speaker, Prof. Dr. Denis J Murphy from the University of South Wales, informed us about using bioinformatic approaches for big Data analysis. Furthermore, he pointed out the importance of computational biology in order to gain biological knowledge that can be used to improve efficiency of agriculture. The last presentation was given by Asst. Prof. Dr. Dirk Stemerding from the Dutch Rathenau Institute. He initiated an interactive and ethical discussion about how science should take social aspects into account like societal needs and values and how it should communicate to the society. It was very interesting to hear the opinions of so many young researchers!
After the talks we had a really nice lunch together with the other iGEM teams in order to regain strength for the upcoming poster presentations. The poster session was a breathtaking experience: It was overwhelming to see how much effort even undergraduate students can put into their projects! Next to providing antiserums against snake-poisons we were informed about the extensions of the genetic code, which demonstrates the diversity and innovation each iGEM team spreads into the world of science! This showed us yet again, how proud each team id of their scientific ambitions. After listening to each project description and building cooperations, all iGEM participants joined for a big photo. Last but not least we all met up for a united BBQ and celebrated each other’s achievements.
We want to thank all participants for this event and especially the iGEM team from TU Delft for organizing of such a big and well prepared experience! :)
German Meetup in Dresden
From the 30th of June until the 2nd of July we participated in the German-Wide iGEM-Meetup. We were invited by the iGEM team Dresden to visit them in their beautiful city. After a long adventurous ride across Germany we arrived in Dresden in the late afternoon. On Friday evening all teams met at the park for some icebreaker-games and a party afterwards. It was amazing to meet people who share the same passion – synthetic biology.
On Saturday every participating iGEM team gave a short talk about their project and some captivating discussions followed. After the student talks Marcel Thiel from Promega gave a talk about qRT-PCR troubleshooting. In the early evening team Dresden showed us around the city and surprised us with a Tortilla-Party. Having their iGEM Goes Green project in mind they served a variety of delicious vegan food and paid special attention to environmental sustainability.
On Sunday they held an iGEM Goes Green workshop to inform us how to reduce our carbon footprint in and outside the lab. It is disturbing how much waste we produce in our labwork and how easy it is to reduce it. The workshop was really impressing and energized for thinking. Furthermore they organized a collaboration speed dating where all teams could discuss about possible ways to help each other. iGEM Dresden put so much effort in this Meetup and it has been fantastic. It was the beginning of so many friendships and collaborations between iGEM teams. Finally we drove home with tons of new knowledge and energy.
Camping with Team Aachen
On the 10th of June we went camping with our dear friends from iGEM team Aachen to fuse our iGEM spirits. For that we rented a little camping spot in the beautiful Heimbach located in the low mountain range Eifel in North-Rhine-Westphalia. As soon as we had prepared our tents we went for a nice hike and took an ice-cold bath in the fresh Eifel-water.
As a nice surprise, we found a rent-a-boat shop and of course took the chance to start a boat trip. We were pretty shocked when we encountered a sea-bear, but luckily our expert and savior Manuel Lentzen drew an anti-sea-bear circle around us, so it just went away. As we returned to our camp spot we played some social games and shared our plans and thoughts about iGEM. As the last activity we went for a night-hike; it was a lot of fun. Because it was a clear night, we decided to forget about our tents and slept under the stars!
The next morning we had a tasty breakfast just before we went home; thank you iGEM team Aachen for this amazing camping trip! :)
Labvolution
The fair-grounds consisted of an enormous hall where every company attending had a booth. Zymo research, molecular devices and sigma centrifuges were big eye-catchers but there were so many others that we immediately realized we would have a hard time talking to everyone. We tried anyway!
Going around and looking at the new and exciting ideas everyone offered was wonderful!
Attending the fair also provided us with the opportunity to personally talk to many of the companies’ representatives.
Among others we talked to people from Sigma, who are experts in centrifuge-design. They were happy to provide us with our own centrifuge, which has been an invaluable addition to our laboratory setup!
We also had the opportunity to meet up with Maike Wirth, who is the Molecular Devices Sales supervisor for Germany and Austria. They lent us a plate-reader which we desperately needed for many of our subprojects!
Next, we got together with Socorex, who excel at fabricating pipettes. They let us test some of their products, which have been used to pipette substantial amounts of liquid.
Zymo research was another company we were very happy to meet. They are now one of our most important sponsors, providing us with wonderful products such as DNA-purification and Gel clean-up systems.
While there were many companies who knew about iGEM, there were also some who had never heard of the competition before! We therefore made a point of informing everyone we could in order to further increase iGEM's reach.
At the end of the day we went home feeling exhausted but full of accomplishments. The ride home took much longer than before and during the next week nearly all of us got sick. However we all agree that it was a worthwhile trip!
