Victor Di Donato

Victor Di Donato was in charge of organizing and recruiting the QGEM 2022 team. He was also responsible for the teams finances and sponsorships and all the logistical items such as safety forms, judging forms and parts pages. He was also heavily involved with the in-silico modelling using software’s such as YASARA, GROMACS and MATLAB. He also worked in the wetlab with protein transformation, expression and LAMP. He also produced and edited the teams promotion video.

Nicoletta de Maat

As the wet lab lead, my primary responsibilities included designing and running all experiments, such as PCR, LAMP, and protein expression. With each of these reactions came added tasks like designing primers to target specific conserved 16s rRNA regions of our target pathogens and testing different concentrations of HNB as a colour indicator. Another large part of this role was altering standard Bst DNA polymerase to enhance LAMP reactions via mutagenesis and protein fusion. Extending past wet lab-specific responsibilities, I also designed our team logo and wrote a scientific journal article focusing on the improvements made upon Bst DNA polymerase.

James Petropoulos

As the dry lab lead, my responsabilities included designing and testing all of the components that were put together to make the filtration device. I used CAD softwares and as well as coding IDE's to predict the behaviour of the device, as well as to fully design and assemble it. Further, I also coded the wiki for our team in html, css, and javascript to give it a nice aesthetic while also making it user friendly and responsive.

Avery Mooring

As the outreach lead, my primary responsibilities included building rapport with stakeholders, creating educational initiatives, and collaborating with other iGEM teams. One of the most important parts of my role included meeting with stakeholders such as Chief Don R Maracle, Dr. Stephen Brown, and the Office of Indigenous initiatives. I elicited information from these meetings to analyze the relationship between how our project could affect society and how society could affect our project. Furthermore, I created a multidisciplinary program of educational resources to accomplish the goals of our sustainable curriculum. Lastly, I worked with many students from across the globe to support each other in our project’s goals.

Yamin Ben Letaifa

Worked with the dry lab team. Researched filtering systems and worked on the development and styling of the website.

Caroline Pundsack

Caroline was a member of the dry lab team and helped inform stylistic choices of the team’s wiki. She also developed a CAD model for one of the filter caps and facilitated an outreach event with a local summer camp for high school students interested in STEM.

Ryan Wei

I researched information regarding different filter designs and modern testing kits. I also provided ideas for the general design of the wiki.

Binadi Diddeniya

As a wet-lab volunteer, I designed primers for the LAMP reaction, cultured E-coli K12 cells and carried out mini-prep, PCR and cloning procedures. I also assisted in website design regrading LAMP protocol.

Bryant Han

Bryant Han worked in the wet lab, researching on different approaches to accomplish our goal of synthesizing a new polymerase. He was also directly involved in making adjustments to the DNA sequence for our modified Bst polymerase, in addition to performing requested protein simulations.

Eric Wen

Eric helped with the literature review and design of the Bst Polymerase fusion protein. He was also responsible for modelling the fusion protein through AlphaFold 2 and designing an appropriate linker for the protein.

John Hargreaves

John was a member of the wet lab team, helping research and identify fusion proteins and their binding sites used to increase the processivity of Bst Polymerase. He also assisted the outreach team by leading DNA discovery experiments for local high school students. John was best known for his in lab moral boosting.

Xuanqi Wang

Xuanqi is a member of the wet lab team and was in charge of researching relative material for the experiments.

Rachel Neita

Rachel Neita was a member of the wet lab team. She was involved in researching methodologies for the protein hybridization of BST and phi29. She also helped register used parts to the iGEM registry.

James Liu

Looked into different protocols, polymerases and components of polymerases that would constitute a synthetic biology project.

Hannah Schwartz

Hannah Schwartz was a member of the community outreach team. She helped create the biweekly newsletter and made Fact Friday posts about bacteria. Hannah interviewed professionals in the field of water treatment and aquatic pathogens, contributing to an educational podcast series.

Jiaxin Jiang

I participated in Girl SySTEM and helped to lan the Virtual Workshop. I joined the Science Quest workshop and taught children how to make microbio models. I joined the DNA workshop with Connections engineering, and I assisted high school students with experiments on scraping oral DNA cells. I contacted professors for iGEM podocasts.

Caitlin Hemsley

Caitlin was a member of the outreach team and helped run virtual workshops such as presenting for Girls SysTEM. She was also responsible for creating an entrepreneurial literacy handbook to provide important information on building a science based business.

Janushan Hariharan

Janushan was a member of the outreach team and helped run in-person workshops with the Enrichment Studies Unit. He was also responsible for contacting professors for our podcast series.

Kristen Di Stefano

Kristen was a member of the outreach team and helped us coordinate with the academic community. Kristen interviewed professionals in the field of water treatment and aquatic pathogens, contributing to an educational podcast series. Lastly, she also helps make Fact Friday posts for our social media.

Dr. John Allingham

Dr. Allingham was the primary investigator for our team and oversaw the project from the beginning to the end. He acted as a guide and mentor to guide the team in the right direction and ensure all of our work was achievable and ethical.

Dr. Stephen Brown

Dr. Brown is a professor at Queen’s University in the Chemistry and Environmental Science department with a water pathogen detection device on the market. Dr. Brown was a consultant for the project and provided many great insights into experimental methods, device design, outreach and implementation for our project. Dr. Brown also provided us with heat-killed samples to test in our LAMP assay.

Dr. Thamali Kariyawasam

Dr. Kariyawasam is a postdoc in the field of genetics and molecular biology. She provided the team with knowledge and insights on existing LAMP POC devices.

Dr. Bas Virens

Dr. Virens is an environmental engineer in the department of Geology at Queen’s. He provided the team with insights on existing water treatment solutions, helped us troubleshoot our device and the infrastructure of many Indigenous communities.

Dr. Geof Hall

Dr. Hall is a civil engineer and president of Spring Ridge Training Institute. He provided the team with insights on existing water treatment solutions, helped us troubleshoot our device and the infrastructure of many Indigenous communities

Kody Klupt

Kody is a master’s student and 2020 Queens_Canada wet lab coordinator. He has been a consultant for vetting project ideas, developing assays, looking at the biochemistry behind ideas, assisting with laboratory techniques, composing the deliverables, and more.

Andrea Petkovic

Andrea is a master’s student at Queen’s University. She was an essential part of the wetlab team by teaching the protocols and performing countless demonstrations to aid in the process of protein cloning, expression and purification.

Nolan Neville

Nolan is a Ph.D. candidate at Queen's University and a former Queens_Canada iGEMer. Nolan helped the team throughout the summer in the lab with experiments and teaching our team protocols

Byron Hunter

Byron is a Ph.D. candidate at Queen's University and a former Queens_Canada iGEMer. Byron helped the team throughout the summer in the lab with experiments and teaching our team protocols

Pooja Sridhar

Pooja is a PH.D candidate at Queen’s University and helped us with the protocol for our final Western Blot.

Aidan Booker

Aidan was the previous Queens_Canada director and assisted with setting up the teams this year. He guided the team through registration and gave suggestions for sources of funding and sponsorships.

Aaron St. Pierre

Aaron is the associate director for the Queen’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives. He was a consultant for the team to ensure our work was ethical and practical for Indigenous Canadians. He also provided insights on the water crisis and Indigenous Canadians in general.

Allen Doxtator

Allen originates from the Oneida First Nation of the Thames near London, Ontario and is a member of the Bear clan and is also part of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. He was a consultant for the team to ensure our work was ethical and practical for Indigenous Canadians. He also provided insights on the water crisis and Indigenous Canadians in general.

Chief R. Donald Maracle

Chief R. Donald Maracle is the chief of the Mohawks Bay of Quinte Canadian First Nations Territory, which is the closest First Nations territory to our institution. Chief R. Donald Maracle was a consultant for the team and provided us an abundance of information and insights about the water crisis and Canadian Indigenous culture in relation to water and its cyclic nature.