Team

Group photo of team UOregon

Committees:

Our team split into committees very early on in the summer so that we could start developing specializations and have multiple parts of the project in progress independently of one another. Every member participated in at least one committee, as well as a separate research group.

Lead: Oliver Loreto

The wiki team was in charge of writing, reviewing and editing content for the wiki. They were responsible for collecting and synthesizing the team’s work and findings into wiki pages, as well as uploading it to the wiki and designing the visual layout of the website.

Members:

  • Oliver Loreto
  • Arushi Singhal

Lead: Tulsi Patel

The human practices team was in charge of connecting to the University of Oregon community as well as the international community. They maintained communication with athletics professionals and members of the UO community to ensure that our team worked towards goals which benefit our community. They also have engaged with other iGEM teams, with the goal of establishing relationships and sharing resources with other teams.

Members:

  • Tulsi Patel
  • Ava Komons
  • Peter Weisel

Lead: Meaghan Smith

The fundraising team was in charge of raising money, writing grants, and soliciting donations for the team’s activities. These funds went towards buying lab supplies (gene fragments, proteins, petri dishes, etc.), competition registration fees and tickets, travel expenses, marketing, and more. The entire team assisted in these efforts by contacting various companies for support. The fundraising team worked closely with the social media team when managing the DuckFunder fundraising platform.

Members:

  • Meaghan Smith
  • Adelin Alfred
  • Rose Hoang

Lead: Theo Seah

The organization team was in charge of wet-lab maintenance as well as managing and coordinating the project activities, planning, and execution. They made sure that everything went smoothly and safely.

Members:

  • Theo Seah
  • Keane Deas

Lead: Oliver Loreto

The modeling team was in charge of creating a proof of concept for our project in silico, verifying that protein-protein interactions and binding worked as expected before moving on to the wet lab phase. This is the same group as the computational research group, but the modeling team's purpose is to test our whole system (binders,linkers, and complementation systems) while the computational research group encompasses all other computational work such as determining binder effectiveness or running docking simulations.

Members:

  • Oliver Loreto
  • Mindy Tran
  • Peter Weisel

Co-Leads: Mindy Tran & Alonso Cruz

The social media team was in charge of the public-facing side of our project: creating and managing our team twitter and fundraising platform. Our social media efforts included spreading awareness about our fundraising milestones, introducing the team members, and collaborations with Knight Campus social media teams.

Members:

  • Alonso Cruz
  • Mindy Tran

Lead: Carmen Resnick

The leadership team was in charge of managing team overall goals, and ensuring communication between the different subgroups. They set tasks, ensured they were completed on time, aligned team goals with medal requirements, and represent the team.

The leadership in iGEM strives to encourage all the students to take ownership of their work and act independently as leaders in their community as well. We hope to cultivate a team that is excited to learn, design, and build the first iGEM team at the University of Oregon. We hope to establish a solid foundation for future years of introducing undergraduate students to the world of synthetic biology and research.

Members:

  • Carmen Resnick

Research Groups:

Our team also divided into research groups, to develop specializations for specific aspects of the project. These are separate from the committees, but required largely the same amount of work from each member.

The computational group simulated binding interactions between promising biomarkers identified by the biomarker group and protein sensors identified by the complementation system group to see if the interactions were feasible. If the interactions were promising, we tested that combination in the wet lab.

Members:

  • Oliver Loreto
  • Mindy Tran
  • Peter Weisel

The complementation systems groups studied the complementation systems to be included in our sensor and how to detect a readout, using a split protein complementation system that catalyzes a signaling reaction when the protein fragments rejoin.

Members:

  • Keane Deas
  • Tulsi Patel

The golden gate assembly group was in charge of researching the combinatorial golden gate cloning method. We designed a two-level cassette system that allowed us to have both parts of our split protein system in one plasmid to ensure that both halves of each complementation system bind to its other half. Primers were made to add sequences into our binders, linkers, and complementation systems to have them fit into our final vector in a specific order.

Members:

  • Alonso Cruz
  • Theo Seah

The biomarker group looked into the biomarkers' approximate physiological concentrations, both before and after mTBI (concussion). This helped us to determine their concentrations when we added them during the experimental phase.

Members:

  • Adelin Alfred
  • Arushi Singhal
  • Ava Komons
  • Meaghan Smith
  • Rose Hoang
  • Tulsi Patel
Headshot of Calin Plesa
Calin Plesa — PI
Year: PI

Calin Plesa’s research interests lie at the intersection of biochemistry, protein engineering, microbiology, synthetic biology, genetics and technology. Currently, Plesa’s work primarily focuses on large-scale gene synthesis, which plays an important role in functional characterization of DNA sequences and for the development of synthetic biology. Current efforts in this area are slowed by their high cost. Plesa developed a method called DropSynth, which allows the generation of large libraries of thousands of genes and functional testing of all possible mutations at relatively low cost. This opens many new avenues of research and potential applications previously deemed too expensive.

Headshot of Parisa Hosseinzadeh
Parisa Hosseinzadeh — Secondary PI
Year: PI

Parisa Hosseinzadeh is an Assistant Professor in the Knight Campus at the University of Oregon, where she has been since 2020. She received her bachelor’s degree at University of Tehran, Iran. She then moved to the States to pursue her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she studied and designed metalloproteins. She then moved to the Institute for Protein design at the University of Washington to pursue her postdoctoral work in the field of protein design. Her lab now works at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and computational biology to develop new molecules and tools to address the challenges of the 21st century. She is the recipient of NIH F32 postdoctoral award, Washington Research Foundation innovation fellowship, and NIH new innovator DP2 award.

Headshot of Anissa Benabbas
Anissa Benabbas — Instructor
Year: Graduate
Major: Biology

Hello! My name is Anissa, and I'm one of the instructors for the UOregon iGEM team for 2022. I'm currently a third-year graduate student in the Plesa lab, and my interests revolve around using machine learning methods to optimize protein engineering. Prior to graduate school, I spent five years in industry, mostly conducting synthetic biology research on immunotherapies.

Headshot of Justin Svensden
Justin Svensden — Instructor
Year: Graduate
Major: Biochemistry

Hello! My name is Justin Svendsen and I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Hettiaratchi Lab here at the Knight Campus. My research involves applying rational design and directed evolution approaches to developing binders for cell-signaling proteins involved in cellular regeneration pathways. The opportunity to mentor students in translating curriculum and textbook based knowledge to wet-lab research is a strong motivating factor for my involvement in iGEM. To this end, It is my hope to help foster an inclusive and interdisciplinary environment for Socratic discourse.

Headshot of Noora Azadvari
Noora Azadvari — Instructor
Year: Graduate
Major: Bioengineering

I am a first-year graduate student in Hosseinzadeh lab. My work involves using computational methods for understanding peptide properties. I greatly enjoy problem-solving activities, ideation, and designing something from scratch. And I guess that's what iGEM is all about!

Headshot of Oliver Loreto
Oliver Loreto — Wiki Lead & Computational Lead
Year: 1
Majors: Biology, Data Science

I’m a first year student studying bioengineering, biology, and data science at UO. I decided to join iGEM this summer because it was a way for me to learn about synthetic biology firsthand and do impactful research, even as a first-year student. Outside of the lab, I love cooking overly complicated desserts and hanging out with my cat. I can't wait to see how our project turns out!

Headshot of Carmen Resnick
Carmen Resnick — Team Leader
Year: 4
Major: Biochemistry

I am a senior Biochemistry major in the Plesa Lab at the University of Oregon, studying evolution of antibiotic resistance from a large library of DHFR homologs. I first fell in love with research during science fair projects in middle and high school and have been pursuing new topics ever since. Outside of school and lab I am a competitive climber and I play ultimate frisbee. I have a cat named Juniper, I have a garden, and I love to cook and eat fresh food. I am so excited to be a member of this year's inaugural iGEM team at UO to inspire students to find passion in genetic engineering and to contribute to the ever-growing body of knowledge cultivated through this competition.

Headshot of Meaghan Smith
Meaghan Smith — Fundraising Lead
Year: 4
Major: Chemistry

I've always had an interest in baking and transitioned it into an interest in science and chemistry in high school. Starting out as a Chemistry major, I decided to explore other interests by adding a bioengineering minor. I was motivated to join the iGEM team after starting my minor and taking a class on synthetic biology. Outside of academics, I enjoy exploring new cafes and bakeries, going to the farmers market, and doing puzzles to name a few.

Headshot of Mindy Tran
Mindy Tran — Social Media Co-Lead and Communications Lead
Year: 4
Majors: Biology, Data Science

I am an undergraduate at the University of Oregon studying biology and data science. With iGem, I hope to strengthen my knowledge in synthetic biology and scientific communication. I’m also excited to work more closely with other undergraduates. Outside of the lab, I enjoy baking, cooking, and hiking.

Headshot of Alonso Cruz
Alonso Cruz — Social Media Co-Lead
Year: 3
Major: Human Physiology

Hi, I'm Alonso! I'm a pre-med undergraduate student at the University of Oregon. I was motivated to participate in iGEM because it stood out to me as a unique opportunity to share our work with a large international community of scientists. As a pre-med student, I enjoy working on projects that have the potential to positively affect health outcomes in people. When I'm not in the lab, I like to play basketball, play the drums, lift weights, and explore new places.

Headshot of Tulsi Patel
Tulsi Patel — Human Practices Lead
Year: 3
Major: Human Physiology

I’m a human physiology major with minors in chemistry and science communication. I’m an avid documentary fan and love spending time outdoors. I joined iGEM after developing an interest in bioengineering and the process of how ideas are turned into life-changing products.

Headshot of Theo Seah
Theo Seah — Organization Lead
Year: 4
Major: Human Physiology

I go by Theo (She/her/hers) and am an international student from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am an undergraduate researcher with the Guldberg lab and my work focuses on musculoskeletal regenerative rehabilitation. When I heard about IGEM and the opportunity to learn about the synthetic biology side of research, I was eager to jump onto this project. When I am not doing science, I love being outdoors and climbing big cool rocks.

Headshot of Arushi Singhal
Arushi Singhal
Year: 4
Major: Environmental Science

I'm going into my 4th year at University of Oregon. I'm majoring in environmental science, with minors in computer science, biology, and sustainable business. I was motivated to participate in iGEM because this project is unique in that the skill set needed is quite diverse and there is a lot of room for growth and learning. There is also a lot of opportunity for teamwork and networking.

Headshot of Ava Komons
Ava Komons
Year: 2
Majors: Biochemistry, Psychology

I am a double major in biochemistry and psychology. I’m a goalkeeper for the ducks' club soccer team. I loves the outdoors and sports. My interest in iGEM stems from interest in synthetic biology and engineering, as well as a desire to work in a fast-paced learning environment.

Headshot of Keane Deas
Keane Deas
Year: 1
Major: Biology

Hi! My name is Keane Deas and I'm a freshman at University of Oregon. I am studying biology, and am super interested in synthetic biology and the areas of aging and the immune system. I was motivated to join IGEM because I had very little experience in a lab setting and I wanted to be able to research a topic that actually was interesting to me, unlike the labs I have asscociated with my classes. I also knew that I would learn a ton of valuable skills by participating!

Headshot of Peter Weisel
Peter Weisel
Year: 3
Major: Biology

As an undergraduate student interested in gaining as much research experience as I can, I am always looking for opportunities to explore new research projects. I have recently become interested in computational biology (e.g., bioinformatics) and I think that iGEM is a great program to explore those interests. When I am not in the lab, I enjoy volunteering on the weekends, going to the Saturday market, and playing with my dog!

Headshot of Adelin Alfred
Adelin Alfred
Year: Post-Grad
Majors: Human physiology and Neuroscience

I am passionate about medicine, and preventative health- specifically neuropsychiatric preventative health. That is why our project on creating a biosensor for early detection of concussion is important to me. I decided to join iGEM to get one step closer to finding a solution for accurate, objective, and early diagnosis of concussion so correct measures can be taken to eradicate the effects of concussion quickly and efficiently.

Headshot of Rose Hoang
Phuc (Rose) Hoang
Year: 3
Majors: Biology and Chemistry

Hi, I'm Phuc Hoang and I go by Rose. I am an international student at the University of Oregon, where I major in Biology and Chemistry. I am interesting in healthcare and science, so iGEM is a great opportunity where the two disciplines meet to create impactful innovation to human health. Besides schoolwork, I work as a pharmacy technician. The society have been providing me opportunities, so I hope to contribute back to the people when I still in school.