OUR TEAM

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Luka Van den Berghe

Meet Luka! She graduated as a biochemical engineer and currently pursuing a master in biophysics, biochemistry and biotechnology. She believes that with joy and passion, both social and environmental challenges can be tackled using SynBio and this is the reason why the iGEM competition was the perfect challenge for her! When she's not in the lab, you will find her in yoga class, art expositions, or a bar in Brussels.
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Elias Maris

Meet Elias! As a pharmacy student specializing in drug development, his interest in healthcare and biotechnology has grown over the years. He’s ready to take on new challenges and learning experiences, he hopes to contribute to the iGEM team and therefore to the world. Apart from the wet lab, he loves hiking, traveling and socializing with other people.
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Eugenia Casella

Meet Eugenia! An Italian, hardworking, resourceful and ambitious statistician with genuine interest in the statistical and analytical field. She chose iGEM because she would like to apply her studies to improve her skills as a future researcher and team member. When she’s not busy with numbers, she likes to spend her time playing the piano and dance swing! !
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Michelle Patricia

Meet Michelle! She is a molecular biology master student from Indonesia. Her biotech background and strong interest in synthetic biology motivate her to join iGEM and make an impactful project. Beside lab experiments, she enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes. Growing up in an island country, she also loves swimming and scuba divin️g.
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Christopher Yap

Meet Chris! He studied biochemistry and had experience as a microbiologist in the USA prior to coming to Belgium. He began studying international business economics and management at KU Leuven. His goal is to bridge the gap between science and business. He loves all things to do with science and he hopes to make the world a better place with it. He loves hiking, boardgames, and reading about history and technology.
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Paula Ventura Barroso

Meet Paula! Our Spanish breeze in the team who loves to bring some fun. She works hard for her goals and likes to create a good team environment. Next to this she is also very sporty.️ She loves basketball. Through her curiosity and background in biomedical science she made herself an integral part of our iGEM team!
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Kristina Yefimak

Meet Kristina! She studies bioscience engineering and has many interests in upcoming and new techniques in the science world. That's why she chose to be part of such a unique project herself with iGEM! Kristina loves to be around people and always brings a twist of enthusiasm in the spirit of the group. She enjoys swimming and never says no for a drink!
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Lory Panossian

Meet Lory! She is an aspiring researcher studying biochemical engineering. Her love for biology and engineering drove her to study biochemical engineering and pursue a career in STEM. She chose to join iGEM to expand her knowledge in the vast field of biology and start her journey as a budding researcher. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking new recipes and painting her worries away.
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Paolo van Dommelen

Meet Paolo! He is an industrial engineering student and passionate developer who is a part of our dry lab team. He decided to join iGEM to expand his knowledge in the field of biology and to apply engineering principles to our project. With a novel look on biology and biosensors, he aims to bring new ideas to the table. In his spare time, he enjoys biking and making electronic music!
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Anh Nguyen

Meet Anh! She is from Vietnam and currently pursuing her master in statistic and data science. She loves manga, listening to music and hiking. As a statistician, she loves seeing the beauty of nature through the eyes of mathematics and statistics. Anh hopes that with her skills through iGEM, she can deliver her view to other people!
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Julián David Mateus

Meet Julian! A Colombian bioengineer wanting to unravel the mysteries of nature with the help of technology. Currently, he is pursuing his master’s in biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, AI. He joined iGEM dry lab team to push his computational biology skills to uncharted realms. Aside from the project, he enjoys playing video games!
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Sushanth Varada

Meet Sushanth! He’s from India is currently pursuing the Erasmus Mundus master’s in nanoscience and nanotechnology. He is very enthusiastic about research in the interdisciplinary field of STEM. He joined iGEM to be a part of a genuine effort and a challenge to tackle a real-world problem. Next to science he likes playing the violin and sketching.
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Lennert Van Bergen

Meet Lennert! He is currently pursuing a master in chemistry. Even though he doesn’t have a background in biology, our triathlete is very familiar with putting himself into uncomfortable and challenging positions. Always hungry for new knowledge on science, technology and education, he believes iGEM can give him the challenging and teamworking opportunities that he strives for!

Our Collaborators

Prof. Vitor Pinheiro
Primary PI
Sarah Vorsselmans
Instructor
Prof. Marjan De Mey
Advisor
Prof. Luc Colemont
Advisor
Prof. Joleen Masschelein
Advisor
Dr. Brecht De Paepe
Advisor
Ishia Opgenhaffen
Advisor
Prof. Abram Aertsen
Advisor