I joined iGEM because I want to be a part of a cool team.
I joined iGEM because I wanted to work on a project with like-minded people.
I joined iGEM because I searched for an opportunity to develop skills I wouldn’t learn otherwise in my studies, like financing a research project for example.
I joined iGEM because I want to learn more planning and realizing a big project.
I joined iGEM because I wanted to gain more experience in a lab, help bring an amazing project to life from scratch, and connect with more people that have the same passions as me.
I joined iGEM because Molecular Biology fascinates me a lot and I feel like we can solve a lot of the worlds problems with genetic engineering.
I joined iGEM because I have too much free time.
I joined iGEM because it sounded fun, when participants from the last years told me about it.
I joined iGEM because you get to do your own research project and moreover connect with lots of other people.
I joined iGEM because I want to become familiar with the different facets of a scientific project - and of course because I don’t feel fully engaged.
I joined iGEM because I want to get more experienced in lab work.
I joined iGEM because I am passionate about research, want to expand my lab experience and meet inspiring people.
I joined iGEM because The Lab is my playground.
I joined iGEM because my studies are not stressful enough, yet.
I joined iGEM because I love staying in the lab until 11pm.
I joined iGEM because I wanted to learn about synthetic biology.
I joined iGEM because I wanted to learn more about drylab work.
No matter what big problems the team is facing, as a supervisor she always has ideas and valuable advices to move the team forward.
She loves dancing Salsa to some good beats, and on top of that she is eager to learn portuguese!
He has an enormous knowledge about practical wetlab work and pharmaceutical approaches.
In her free time she is flying over the pitch and playing Quidditch.
When she isn’t working (it actually happens), she is cooking delicious vegan meals, spending time with friends or playing piano.
No matter how hopeless the situation is, Laura always has a smile on her face and strengthens the team with her positive energy.
There is almost nothing Thien is not doing and you wonder if his day has more than 24 hours 🤯.
Prof. Dr. Fricker is one of our two very honored PIs that helped us with the development of LNPs.
Prof. Dr. Wölfl is one of our two very honored PIs that helped us with the organization, financing and advised us in the wetlab.
We are a young group of Master’s and Bachelor’s students at the University of Heidelberg from different areas of study such as biochemistry, molecular biotechnology, pharmacy, and medicine. Due to our broad heterogeneity in education and expertise as well as our combined passion for synthetic biology, we were able to assemble into a strong, interdisciplinary team of seventeen talented and motivated students eager to contribute to the rapidly developing world of synthetic and computational biology.
Throughout our iGEM journey, we managed to always keep our spirits up and focused on finding solutions no matter what problems we faced. We managed our many tasks by dividing the team into a total of eight sub-groups responsible for different tasks: wetlab, drylab, safety, finances, human practices, design, wiki, and social media. As it covers a wider range of tasks the wetlab was further divided into: cell culture, siRNA, liposomes, and microfluidics teams. The communication and support between these teams never failed, and we updated each other in weekly meetings. None of our members focused on just one division’s tasks, and everybody was involved one way or another in every aspect of our project. In this way, we think we have succeeded in showing how a true team works.
Our advisors, seven students from former iGEM teams of the University of Heidelberg, who successfully participated in last years’ competition winning a gold medal, continue to contribute to iGEM by constructively critiquing our work and guiding the team throughout our iGEM journey.
The heads of our project are Prof. Dr. Stefan Wölfl and Prof. Dr. Gert Fricker, who support us with the implementation of our project and are always on hand with advice and encouragement.
We thank everybody who has helped us to come this far in our project, you have been a huge motivation for us to continue our lives as excited and inspired scientists to take part in even more projects in the future! We thank the iGEM organization for presenting us with this opportunity to develop and present an idea of our own. Lastly, an applause for ourselves, the dream team!