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 Dusseldorf
- 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 Dusseldorf
- 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 Dusseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Bouldering
- Favorite Chemical: Nitrogen monoxide
- Favorite Beer: RheinCraft
Daniela Wall
- Nickname: Dani
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Sailing, Reading, Traveling
- Favorite Chemical: Ethidium bromide
- Favorite Beer:
Eric Behle
- Nickname: Örich
- University: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- 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:
- University:
- Study Path:
- Hobbies:
- Favorite Chemical:
- Favorite Beer:
Jan Maika
- Nickname: Jamaika, Kaiserschmarrn
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Dusseldor
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Football, Badminton
- Favorite Chemical: Hydrogen peroxide
- Favorite Beer:-
Jason Müller
- Nickname: Jay
- University: University of Cologne/ Heinrich Heine University Dusseldor
- 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: The face
- University: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- 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 Dusseldorf
- 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 Dusseldorf
- Study Path: Quantitative Biology
- Hobbies: Drumming and sports
- Favorite Chemical: Cinnamaldehyde
- Favorite Beer: Nonalcoholic wheat beer
Pauline Ott
- Nickname: Pauli
- University: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- 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
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: My pets
- Favorite Chemical: Penguinone
- Favorite Beer: Kölsch (Peters)
René Inckemann
- Nickname: Tollpatsch
- University: Heinrich Heine University
- 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 Dusseldorf
- Study Path: Quantiative Biology
- Hobbies: Orchestra, sports
- Favorite Chemical: Water
- Favorite Beer: Früh Kölsch
Alina Kuklinski
- Nickname: Salad Head
- University: Heinrich Heine University
- 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 Dusseldorf
- 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 Dusseldorf
- Study Path: PhD Biology
- Hobbies: Biking, Inline Skating, Cooking and Baking
- Favorite Chemical: Monosodium chloride
- Favorite Beer: Hansa Pils in a 0,33l can and Bolten (local Alt-brewery)
Marvin Hubert
- Nickname: Hubsi
- University: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- Study Path: Biology
- Hobbies: Sports, music and spending time with friends
- Favorite Chemical: Bleach
- Favorite Beer: Veltins
Nicolas Schmelling
- Nickname: Internet boy, DerSchmelling
- University: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf
- 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
Meeting other teams
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.
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!
