Our team consists of highly motivated students from different study courses like Biology, Applied Biology, Molecular Biomedicine, Immunobiology and Chemistry. Like in the years before, the composition of the team is notably international - with people even from Egypt, Montenegro, Indonesia or Iran. In this years project, creative and highly diverse characters worked as a team, with every member being equally entitled to participate in directing the project. It was an unparalleled pleasure!

Advisors

Balthasar Schlotmann

Balthasar is the speckled, rusty figurehead of the iGEM Team Bonn. His magnificent beard represents his wisdom, cleverness and persistence (which is also shown - according to him - in his favorite operating system: Archlinux). But he exhibits some signs of his long serving time lately, as the day rarely goes by without him telling us about the good old times and anekdotes of his life.

Bùi Hoàng Duy

Duy... waiting for a bus that never comes. Although you can never trust the busses in Bonn you can be sure that if help is needed Duy will try his best to come by immediately and help. He knows best about all the safety forms needed and if you ever have any question Duy will be able to explain it on point. In the meetings you could get the impression that he is a rather serious person but then out of a sudden he makes up the funniest jokes causing all of us to laugh.

Michael Teske

Michael, better known as Mikey, has a wardrobe only consisting of blue shirts, pants, socks and also probably blue underwear. He’s the reason we have a blue logo and therefore a blue team-shirt. You would think he should have a blue-collar job for that matter, but he is a really ambitious scientist and the labcoat-white also suits him well. He recently developed a theory of bearded men being less successful, soon to be published in Nature®. Currently he is trying to grow a beard (and making this appear in the wiki - hopefully).

Nico Reusch

Nico Reusch, which means Fearless Leader in Swahili, is our Immunobiology Masters student, and our unofficial leader. He is the Darth Vader to iGEM Bonn's Death Star. Organized, motivated, and determined, he is an invaluable asset both inside and out of the laboratory. Nico spearheaded the organization of the SELEX project planning, and contributes probably more time than he should towards our project, hosting each meeting and organizing experiments each week. Nico is serious when he needs to be, and always a good sport, even in defeat, which happens more than we would like to admit.

Simon Pflug

As one of our teams most recent additions, Simon is this year team’s only chemistry student and he’s of special importance when it comes to enzyme assay design and any question related to a chemical background. He is a good team player and always willing to help his fellow students, which makes him a great enrichment to the team.

Student Members

Alexander Kania

Don't let his tough exterior fool you: once you get to know him, he is actually one of the calmest and kindest people you could come across. The reason he's so quiet? Well he's probably thinking about food…uhm.. we mean, a new and innovative way to prevent caries!

Ariana Natalie Klappert

Ariana is in her second year of iGEM. She is an enthusiastic personality and can experience joy over the little things in life. However this does not stop her from being very serious over challenges the team has to face. Nobody would want to miss this special personality. iGEM would just not be the same without her.

Christina Hanenberg

Christina has a good taste in everything: clothing, music and food. Calmly and attentively she observes her environment, before she shoots out a smart joke just in the perfect moment. As the friendly and enjoyable person she is, equipped with the necessary lab-skills, Christina is a valuable addition to the team.

Fiona Roß

Fiona is one of our biomedical students. Her irresistible smile made hear a figurehead of our human practices, particularly being persistent with the citizens of Bonn in our city booth and organizing the panel discussions. Her pleasant nature and professional approach enrich our project and shared leisure activities.

Janis Lisa Transfeld

The purple streak in her hair might have faded away with time, but the impact that Janis left in the lab this year can never be erased. Eager to apply the practical experience she had in Rheinbach, Janis always completed her tasks in a timely and efficient manner. After missing out in 2016, she finally got the iGEM experience that she wanted and now, to the best of our knowledge, she's enjoying her time in the sun (literally) in the radiant Spanish city of Valencia while finishing her bachelor's degree there.

Jonas Gockel

Legend says he was born in a laboratory... Our quick-witted, laid-back microbiology and lab guru. Being part of iGEM-Bonn since 2015, Jonas took on a leading role in this year’s project. His calm and down-to-earth way of doing Science (in the presence of metal music) imprints on everyone working with him. Outside of the lab, Jonas one-of-a-kind Meme-generating capabilities create a lot of laughs in team chats and meetings.

Kenneth Wolters

Better known as Kenny, is one of the key members in case of the project's plan-making- process. With his knowledge about biology and stuff in general, he is one of those who starts long discussions to bring in new ideas. Kenny also is a very good team-player and with great effort to answer questions. Besides him being a very good scientist, he is present at almost every party and always in a very good mood.

Lars Melcher

Lars impresses with the calm and serenity of a serial killer. In addition to that, he rarely talks about his private life. But let's focus on the important things: his taste in memes is exemplary and his vivid imagination enables him to engage in the most amazing discussions. Beside his sophisticated and sociable way of dealing with people, Lars demonstrated an initiative and motivated character and drove forward the lab work, especially the enzyme assays.

Laura Lang

One of our Biomedical students from the Uni Bonn. Laura is a calm presence in the team and she managed to cram in public outreach activities despite her busy study schedule. Laura likes the lack of hierarchical politics in the team and tends to be the one voicing arguments that all the other members miss.

Mandana Daraei Fathabad

Mandana is an iGEM-Bonn-newcomer, who joined iGEM in July. Since there is hardly a moment when Mandana is not smiling it is no surprise that she quickly broke the ice between her and the team and became a valuable team member. In addition, she is the best-dressed member, and no one has ever made a lab coat look more glamorous than her. Mandana is always offering to help with projects and her ideas are a great source of inspiration for our meetings.

Nemanja Stijepovic

Nemanja is the No.1 person you must call if you need a high-quality design one hour before the deadline. As you would expect from an applied biology student, his personality is very complex and mysterious. Not only is he the inofficial Prince of Montenegro, but, due to his superior taste, also the personal stylist of Miss Meckenheim - have you followed Miss Meckenheim on Instagram? Nemanja is a fun guy to have around and his contributions to this year's project made him an indispensable part of the team!

Nicholas Gallagher

Nick is one of the greatest achievements we’ve accomplished in this year’s project. His intellect and humor convinced us to give him a chance to sacrifice his life for iGEM. With a lot of commitment and cleverness, he soon became the coronated king of the lab. More than once he saved his people from severe brain damage by reminding them to stay HYDRATED. Always up for a joke, he can motivate you when nothing seems to be working out.

Sarah Phoebeluc Colaiuta

Sarah comes from Indonesia but started to study molecular biomedicine in German. To keep a balance between German and her mother tongue, you would usually find her busy during the weekends organizing some sports events for a huge group of Indonesian international students. She enjoys taking pictures of people with old-fashioned cameras which led to some fabulous after-iGEM-meeting pictures. In addition, she enjoys singing just as much as her neighbors do not enjoy her singing after 10pm. Due to her curiosity she learned a lot during iGEM and helped planning the wiki.

Yara Nabawi

The most easy going member of our group, at least when she’s not running a petition to fight for the right of female basketball players to compete while wearing headscarves. Whenever Yara is around, the atmosphere is always fun and relaxed. Being the most sociable member, she takes care of most of the human related activities like looking for sponsors and socializing our project to the mass.

Team:UBonn HBRS/Team

Our Team

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