Major: Biology
Year: 2018
Where are you from: US/Taiwan
Something interesting about yourself: My spirit animal is a sloth.
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? I’ve always been interested in engineering and was curious to see how I could combine both passions.
Alex Cho
Major: Biology
Year: 2020
Where are you from: South Korea
Something interesting about yourself: I’m a South Korean soldier next year.
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? You don’t say no to these things.
Diego Kleiman
Major: Biology
Year: 2020
Where are you from: Argentina
Something interesting about yourself: I am interested in exploring what can be learnt at the interface between biology and other disciplines.
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? I think that iGEM is a great opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary project that draws upon biological knowledge to solve a real-world problem.
Fathurur Said
Major: Electrical Engineering
Year: 2020
Where are you from: Indonesia
Something interesting about yourself: I was 5 days away from getting struck by Tsunami (Huge tidal wave).
Why do you want to participate in iGEM?Who says engineers can’t join Biology competition?
Khairunnisa Mentari Semesta
Major: Biology
Year: 2018
Where are you from: Indonesia
Something interesting about yourself: In my life I’ve survived multiple earthquakes and volcanic eruptions… #Indonesian
Why do you want to participate in iGEM?My synthetic biology class introduced me to iGEM - I couldn’t wait to get hands-on experience in my final year!
Laura Karpauskaite
Major: Biology
Year: 2020
Where are you from: Lithuania
Something interesting about yourself: Went to a 30km cross-country skiing marathon without knowing how to ski
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? It seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about synthetic biology.
Pratik Maisuria
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Year: 2019
Where are you from: Fiji
Something interesting about yourself: Not many people can find Fiji on the map.
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? I get to work with machines and organisms, experimenting and creating a hybrid of life and automata.
Saad Sultan
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Year: 2019
Where are you from: Pakistan
Something interesting about yourself: Snorkelled with Sharks, sea turtles and dolphins at three different reefs in the Maldives.
Why do you want to participate in iGEM? I’ve always had a love for biology and, well, biology and engineering together just sound irresistible so I couldn’t hold myself back.
Sampanna Bhattarai
Major: Computer Engineering
Year: 2020
Where are you from: Nepal
Something interesting about yourself: I haven’t seen snowfall yet (I’m from Nepal).
Why do you want to participate in iGEM?The array of experiences required for iGEM, not only confined synthetic biology, instigated me to work on this project.
Professors
Primary PI: Kourosh Salehi-Ashtianii
Kourosh Salehi-Ashtiani received his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL, USA). His group aims to define the metabolic potential of eukaryotic genomes and use this information to identify strategies for improving bioproduct production in algal systems, as well as to remediate metabolic perturbations associated with human disease states. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Biology and as the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Algal, Synthetic, and Systems Biology at NYUAD.
Secondary PI: Yong-Ak (Rafael) Song
Rafael Song received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University (Aachen, Germany) and has worked at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology as a Senior Research Scientist. His lab is focused on applying microfluidics and nanofluidics to a broad range of bioscience challenges, targeting the interface between biology, physics and engineering. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering and as the Principal Investigator of the Micro- and Nanoscale Bioengineering Lab at NYUAD.
Instructors
Ibrahim Chehade
Ibrahim Chehade received his M.Sc. in Integrative Biology at Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) in the field of Environmental Toxicology and Endocrinology. He currently serves as an Associate Instructor of Biology at NYUAD.