Team:Purdue/Team
Team
Introduction
Just to give you a little background on what iGEM is all about: The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is the premiere undergraduate Synthetic Biology competition. iGEM began in January of 2003 with a month-long course at MIT. This design course grew to a summer competition, which has evolved over the past ten years to include over 300 teams from all over the world. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts at the beginning of summer. Working at their own schools over the summer, they design and build biological systems and operate them in living cells.
2006 marks the year that Purdue began its journey toward making a difference in the world of synthetic biology, entering the competition with seven undergraduate members and three advisors. Purdue continued to compete for the next four years, earning bronze medals almost every year but never anything more. Facing some trials and tribulations along this journey, Purdue did not field a team in the 2011 iGEM competition. Fortunately, the team was revived with enough interest and support to not only field a team in 2012 but to also receive a gold medal and advance to the international competition at MIT for the first time in the team’s history. Then in 2013 Purdue iGEM achieved an unprecedented success, ranking third in the undergraduate division of North America at the 2013 regional competition.
Now the Purdue Biomakers are back again, better than ever. With more members, increased funding, and a focus on upholding Purdue’s strong legacy in agriculture, conservation, engineering, and technology, you can expect the 2017 iGEM team to continue to redefine success, striving to reach even greater heights in this year’s iGEM competition!
Executive Board
Paige Rudin
Barrett Davis
Archana Kikla ☼
Caleigh Roleck ☼
Melissa Robins
☼ denotes member of the summer team
General Members
Arren Liu
Hana Kubo
Suraj Mohan
Andrew Santos ☼
Kathryn Atherton ☼
Kevin Fitzgerald ☼
Vi Ka Chaang ☼
Archana Kikla
Treasurer
Archana is a junior majoring in Genetics and pursuing a minor in Biotechnology. As a third-year iGEM member, she holds the position of Treasurer and is determined to have the team be rolling in dough. She is currently involved in a research project working with protein that has similar characteristics to CRISPR. After completing her studies, she hopes to research and cure genetic mutations. Archana loves jamming out to indie bands ranging from the 60s to modern day and drinking coffee in hipster looking cafes. Ask her to travel with you to a big city and she'll agree in a heartbeat.
Back to Top
Caleigh Roleck
Director of iGEM
Caleigh Roleck is a junior in biochemistry. This year, she has the honor of serving as the project director for Purdue’s iGEM project. When not doing iGEM, I also conduct research on Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformations of plants and serve as the treasurer for Purdue’s Pugwash chapter, an organization dedicated to the promotion of ethics and social responsibility in science and technology. After graduation, I hope to earn a PhD in biochemistry and then to pursue a career as a government or military scientist. She would like to thank Red Bull for fueling her life*.
*Caleigh Roleck and Purdue iGEM are not sponsored by Red Bull, but that would be pretty cool.
Back to Top
Andrew Santos
Andrew Santos is a soon-to-be sophomore majoring in physics. When he’s not dropping various objects from the top of the bell tower, you can find Andrew studying the romantic language of French (business French, technically). You might also see him doing math with sidewalk chalk and an iPhone calculator. Maybe he’ll be looking at the Sun through a telescope. He’s minoring in these areas. Because money is important, Andrew is the treasurer of the Science Student Council and the Beering Student Scholar Association. His favorite pastimes include soccer with shin guards (safety first), singing, playing piano, and making horrible puns. He would like to give a big shout out to his favorite two organisms, frogs and Azospirillum brasilense. It is no coincidence that they both live in grass.
Back to Top
Kathryn Atherton
Kathryn Atherton is a junior studying Biological Engineering with a concentration in Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering; she is also working toward minors in Spanish and Biotechnology. Along with her involvement with iGEM, she is a Supervisor for Purdue's new student orientation program, Boiler Gold Rush, and the All Member Meeting Chair for the Society of Women Engineers chapter on campus. Kathryn loves to travel as far away as financially possible, binge-watch Netflix (Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill are two of her favorites, but she is always looking for new shows and is open to recommendations), and plan out the rest of her life on Pinterest while hoping that she will eventually make enough money to fund her expensive taste.
Back to Top
Vi Ka Chaang
Vi Ka is a junior majoring in Genetics and minoring in German. Her favourite food is sushi, and she hopes to be able to try pufferfish sashimi one day. She has travelled to every continent except Antarctica and Africa, and would like to go on a backpacking trip with friends in Europe one day in the near future.
Back to Top
Team
In this page you can introduce your team members, instructors, and advisors.
Inspiration
You can look at what other teams did to get some inspiration!
Here are a few examples:
What should this page contain?
- Include pictures of your teammates, don’t forget instructors and advisors!
- You can add a small biography or a few words from each team member, to tell us what you like, and what motivated you to participate in iGEM.
- Take team pictures! Show us your school, your lab and little bit of your city.
- Remember that image galleries can help you showcase many pictures while saving space.
