Team:UT-Knoxville/Team
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Team:UT-Knoxville/Team
UTK
iGEM
Team UT-Knoxville
From left to right: Thomas Welker, James Ragland, Brandon Wilbanks, Katherine Krouse, Jay Patel, Annabel Li, Jared Clements, Abby Link, David Garcia, Elle Ridley, Neel Patel, Ralph Laurel, Matthew Kubis, Dr. Cong Trinh
Dr. Cong T. Trinh
Cong T. Trinh received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering (with summa cum laude, honors thesis) at the University of Houston and earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. To continue his interests in biofuels research, he has worked at the Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral scholar. His research interests focus on understanding and engineering cellular metabolism with the ultimate goal to design, construct, and characterize cells with optimized metabolic functionalities. These engineered cells are utilized as efficient and robust whole-cell biocatalysts exhibiting only desirable properties specifically tailored for biotechnological applications related to energy, health, and environment.
David Garcia
Originally from Chicago, Illinois, David received his Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Ripon College in Wisconsin. His thesis work seeking to characterize the enzymatic potential of an uncharacterized termitic bacterium was performed under the guidance of Eric Matson. He then worked at the California Institute of Technology performing cryo-electron tomography studies of extracellular structures, before moving to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to assist with the development of biofuel-producing organisms. His current work in the laboratory of Mitchel Doktycz at ORNL is focused on the development and use of cell-free systems for metabolic engineering and biotechnology. David is a graduate advisor for the University of Tennessee Knoxville's iGEM team. In his free time he enjoys reading science fiction, playing tennis, and spending time with friends and family.
Brandon Wilbanks
Brandon graduated from UT Knoxville with a degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering concentrated in biomolecular engineering in 2017 after 5 years of research in the Trinh lab. He participated in UTK's 2012 iGEM team as a high school student, in 2013, 2014, and 2016 as an undergraduate, and is now a graduate advisor for the 2017 team. His previous research in the Trinh lab focused on the use of modular cell concepts for pathway selection and directed evolution. He is currently pursuing graduate studies at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Jared Clements
Jared is a senior in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Dr. Trinh’s lab. His work focuses on utilizing CRISPR and supplied guide RNAs to target cellular essential genes then monitoring the response in cell growth. Jared handled team accounting and led the effort to gain inducible expression of catalytic xylA and xylM genes dependent on the presence of aromatics. He plans to attend medical school upon graduation.
Katherine Krouse
Katherine is a senior in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her previous research has included studying drug delivery techniques using nanoparticles, evolutionary studies to further ethanol production for biofuels, using integrases to make E. coli transformations more efficient, and using CRISPR-Cas9 to fight antibiotic resistance. Her love for research and local outreach programs have led her to work on the iGEM UT-Knoxville Team.
Matt Kubis
Matthew Kubis is a senior student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and an undergraduate researcher in Trinh lab. As his second year on the UTK IGEM team, he took a leadership role designing and characterizing the toxicity subproject. Matt also performed outreach, and collaborated around campus for obtaining various strain’s genomic DNA. He will be applying for graduate studies in genetic engineering this fall.
Ralph Laurel
Ralph Laurel is a junior in chemical engineering who works in plant synthetic biology, growing transgenic soybean, rice, switchgrass, and camelina plants. He became involved with iGEM in order to bridge the gap between scientists and the public. Ralph contributed to the team by coordinating outreach events with the community and organizing collaborations with Dr. Terry Hazen, the Steven Ripp lab, and the Aachen iGEM Team.
Annabel Li
Annabel Large is a senior in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee. She currently works with next generation sequencing (NGS) and automation for synthetic biology. Past research experiences include protein engineering and computational simulations of cellular membranes. Her desire for student-driven biotechnology research motivated her to join iGEM.
Abbigail Link
Abby Link is a senior studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UTK. She was first introduced to iGEM by working with fellow students in the field of synthetic biology in Dr. Trinh’s lab. Abby helped contribute to the success of the team by supporting outreach events and safety protocols.
Jay Patel
Jay Patel is a junior studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a biomolecular concentration. He first learned about iGEM through other students working in Dr. Trinh's synthetic biology lab. He plans to attend medical school upon graduation. Jay's contributions to the team effort included wet work and wiki design.
Neel Patel
Neel Patel is a senior in Chemical Engineering with a Biomolecular Concentration. Neel got involved with iGEM while working for Dr. Trinh’s lab. Neel’s primary experience in Dr. Trinh’s lab consisted of cloning and characterization work for Yarrowia lipolytica. Neel has primarily helped out the team with wet work, wiki design, and literature research. Also, since this was his second year participating in iGEM, he took a lead on the enzyme homologues subproject for this year.
James Ragland
James Ragland is a junior in Chemical Engineering with a Biomolecular concentration. He has a broad range of interests and pursued iGEM with the intent to learn more about metabolic engineering and gain research experience. James's contributions to the team include wet work and literature research.
Elle Ridley
Elle Ridley is a sophomore in the chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She enjoys the wilderness and all things nature, so this has encouraged her to pursue a biomolecular focus and get involved in bioremediation research.
Thomas Welker
Thomas Welker is a junior in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee. iGEM is his first experience with metabolic engineering, and through this he hopes to gain experience in the field of biomolecular engineering. Thomas’ contribution for the Knoxville team was research and lab wet work with the efflux pumps in E. coli.
