Admin
Joseph Drake
The one who started it all. Joseph made our project possible by postulating the project idea, recruiting most of our team members, reaching out to professors to find a lab space and supervisors, and secure equipment for our lab space. In addition to leading the team, Joseph is heavily involved in research. From reading articles to designing primers and vectors to optimizing PCRs, he is one of our most active wet-lab members.
Connor Ritchie
The glue who holds it all together. Connor works closely with Joseph to keep the team organized and busy. He organizes team meetings, manages team documents, and delegates responsibilities to team members. On top of leading, Connor also gets more involved by helping out with any tasks that need more manpower (such as these descriptions!)
Research
Umut Oktay
Our lab MVP of the year! Umut is involved in all aspects of research for our project. He does the majority of our literature research, primer design, technique optimization, and protocol modification. Almost every day, Umut can be found working in the lab and assisting those with less lab experience. He is more than happy to train other team members on common techniques, modified protocols, and the project workflow.
Domenic Marano
Domenic is an enthusiastic researcher who is eager to dip his toes in all aspects of the team. His expertise is primarily focused on the wet lab where he performs common molecular biology techniques such as PCRs and gel electrophoresis. He is also involved in other aspects of the team such as organizing and planning team tasks as well as participating in the promotional video.
Noor Abdelwahab
The queen of organization for research. Noor is primarily involved with organizing lab documentation such as sign-in logs, lab schedules, results data, and literature searches. Her main contribution is compiling our messy lab data into an easy-to-read chronological document.
Preston Tran
A powerhouse in research. Preston is a knowledgeable researcher who gets involved in the lab any way he can. He is happy to perform common tasks and try his hand in new protocols. In addition, Preston provides a good chunk of the equipment for PCRs, assemblies, and mini-preps.
Outreach
Lauren Vrybload — Outreach Director
Our head of outreach. Lauren is responsible for getting our outreach initiative started by booting up our email and social media accounts. She is the master of communication for our team and keeps the social medias updated.
Toqa Abdelwahab — Outreach Director
Putting UAlberta on the map! Toqa organizes all of our marketing initiatives and remains in contact with third party businesses to spread our name around. She also helps maintain our social media initiatives as well as generating creative posts to keep our team unique.
Teresa Nguyen-Pham — Graphic Designer
The mother of our designs. Teresa handles any and all things illustrative. She's made all of our designs for the colour palette, sponsorship package, social media, team wiki, presentation, and anything else that we need to look good! Teresa is also highly involved in planning outreach events and social media posts.
Finance
Poulomi Mondal — Finance Director
The team accountant. Poulomi does a ton of work reaching out to businesses and faculties for sponsorship opportunities. She is responsible for maintaining our budget and allocating money. Poulomi is also active in the lab where she assists in performing common tasks such as transformations, PCR prep, and mini-preps.
Mariane Khoury — Assistant Finance Director
Mariane works closely with Poulomi and helps reach out for sponsorships as well. Additionally, she helps out in the lab performing common tasks for PCRs, transformations, and gel analysis.
Website
Merit Elmerry — Website Director
Our wiki master. Merit is responsible for designing the layout for our team wiki and compiles the plethora of information we've accumulated into an easy-to-read format on our wiki. She also communicates with other areas (especially research) to confirm the information on the wiki and reviews research articles we've referenced.
Kyle McLean — Website Developer
Our programming powerhouse of the team. Kyle is a computer science graduate with the know-how to create websites straight from code. He works closely with Merit to translate her layouts, descriptions, and designs onto our team wiki.
Supervisors & Advisors
Dr. David Stuart — Supervisor
As the primary supervisor Dr. Stuart was the team's engine. From supplying strains and competent cells, to running wet lab training and expert advice, Dr. Stuart did it all. At every turn, when in need of anything, he made himself available. Dr. Stuart also managed to deal with iGEMs immense administrative demands, all while being incredibly busy himself. Our team would not have existed, or at best would have crumbled without his help.
Dr. Anthony Cornish — Advisor
Dr. Cornish, director of the MBSU, put us to shame with his effort and dedication to the team. He freely provided resources, equipment, and meeting space. When in need of advice, materials, or anything else, Dr. Cornish made himself available. To put things in perspective, he provided nearly every piece of equipment we required (which was many), alongside many critical reagents. Furthermore, through his diverse and immense network of contacts across the U of A campus, he was able to obtain funding for the team.
Dr. George Owttrim — Advisor
Dr. Owttrim was a critical advisor in our early stages. His blunt nature and immense expertise helped guide many aspects of the project, and direct our ideas in a more appropriate direction. In person his ardent support of undergraduate research and love of science is a force of its own, and provided ample motivation for many on the team to continue despite the difficulty iGEM brought.
Dr. Ratmir Derda — Advisor
In his role, Dr. Derda acted as the ignition switch for our team, providing us lab space when no other was available. It is because of Dr. Derda that we were able to start our research in the first place.
Dr. Daniel Charlebois — Advisor
Dr. Charlebois and his students proved invaluable in our partnership with U of C, allowing us use of their lab space and expertise throughout the season. We learned how to work with BSL2 organisms, safety cabinets, and perform KB tests. Dr. Charlebois also provided access to many of his lab materials for use in our experiments, saving our team from very costly expenditures.
James MacLagan — Advisor
James, an experienced iGEM participant himself, was able to supply the team with materials at critical points throughout the season. Bunsen burners and gel boxes rank among the handful of items he provided. He also gave advice for AGE optimization which proved very successful.