Team:East Chapel Hill/Team

Team Description

The ECHHS iGEM team is made up of eight high schoolers from East Chapel Hill High School. Our team is composed of eager and science-loving 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. Through iGEM, we have been able to apply our passions for the sciences in a professional lab setting. With the assistance and support of our advisors, we have conducted research at the genetic research lab of UNC-Chapel Hill over the past year.

Team Members

Cecilia (Chae Hyun) Lee

Role in iGEM: Team leader
Grade: Junior
Why iGEM?: Being able to participate in cutting-edge synthetic biology to approach global problems with a team was never something I could turn down.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Late-night video calls with the team, selling concessions at football games to fundraise.

Maddie Lorie

Role in iGEM: Head of Human Practices + Team Member
Grade: Junior
Why iGEM?: iGEM allows me to mix my passion for science with my passion for outreach and educating the public on topics dear to my heart. iGEM is also such a cool way to bring students together.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: My favorite part of iGEM was the Southeastern iGEM Mini-Convention because I got to meet a lot of cool people from Duke and Gaston Day.

Ananth Murthy

Role in iGEM: Team Member
Fun Fact: Only sophomore on the team
Grade: Sophomore
Why iGEM?: Learning about synthetic biology, new and upcoming scientific fields, and competing with friends is something I couldn’t resist.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Going to the lab and working in the summer, selling concessions at UNC football games to fundraise, and late-night video calls with the team.
Nickname: Spicy Curry

Lindsey Yan

Role in iGEM: Team Member
Grade: Junior
Why iGEM?: iGEM expands students’ knowledge in the field synthetic biology and furthers the lab skills they learned in school.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: The weekly meetings during the summer where we would perform lab experiments and learn about different lab techniques.

Karlie Tong

Role in iGEM: Team Member
Grade: Senior
Why iGEM?: iGEM goes beyond the classroom setting of simply stating global problems. It challenges people to come up with solutions, to engage in synthetic biology, and to work as a team.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Doing bake sales door-to-door. Members were sweaty from walking and shifts were long, but we all grew closer because we shared the common goal to compete in iGEM.

Amy Westerhoff

Role in iGEM: Team member
Grade: Senior
Why iGEM?: I joined iGEM to be a part of a unique global community that focuses on improving widespread issues using innovation and scientific discovery.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Filming an educational “Tasty-inspired” video to teach viewers about serial dilutions.

Nancy Liu

Role in iGEM: Team Member
Grade: Senior
Why iGEM?: I found it fascinating that there was a club out there that could not only come up with real life solutions, but could help change society for the better. I’ve always been fond of science and being able to work at a University Lab was a good experience.
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Going weekly to the Kuhlman Lab to help conduct labs and research.

Abia Ahmed

Role in iGEM: Team Member
Grade: Junior
Favorite experience in the 2017 iGEM season: Making the East Chapel Hill iGEM website was a very rewarding experience.

Instructor and Advisors

Joseph Harrison

Role in iGEM: Instructor
Position: Research Professor in Brian Kuhlman's Lab, Biochemistry & Biophysics, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Medical School
Email: joseph.scott.harrison@gmail.com

William Vincent

Role in iGEM: Advisor
Position: CTE Engineering Teacher at ECHHS
Email:wvincent@chccs.k12.nc.us

Patricia Berge

Role in iGEM: Advisor
Position: CTE Biomed Teacher at ECHHS
Email: pberge@chccs.k12.nc.us

Bo Zhao

Role in iGEM: Advisor
Position: PhD candidate at Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Minnie Langlois

Role in iGEM: Advisor
Position: Graduate student in Brian Kuhlman's Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Siyu Wang

Role in iGEM: Advisor
Position: PhD student at Prof Bruce Donald's lab, Program of computational biology and bioinformatics, Duke University
Email: siyu.wang@duke.edu