We are one of the few Brazilian teams participating in iGEM and this is the fourth time that we represent the Lorena School of Engineering of the University of São Paulo (USP-EEL) in this international competition.
Leadering our team, Ana Paula Contelli Xavier and Giovanni Henrique Silva guided us and did the possible and impossible to achieve our goals throughout the year.
Click on the name to learn more.
Hi, there! People call me “Paula”. I’m a 20 years old Chemical Engineering student at USP. 2022 is my second year participating in iGEM, this time as a team leader. And wow, what an experience! In this game of becoming a scientist, I ended up having to find a way to deal with bureaucracy and get involved in social projects. And I loved every second of it! In these last 2 years, I have grown a lot personally and academically.
I leave my gratitude to my family, who always supported me, even when I had to leave family travel times to attend meetings, and gratitude to my fellow team members, who supported and believed me even in the most difficult times.
It was fun.
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Ana Paula Contelli Xavier
Hey! My name is Giovanni, I'm 21 years old and I'm a Biochemical Engineering student at USP. Since high school, I've always wanted to do something related to biology that could transform people's lives and make the world a better place. So, when I joined USP and later the Synthetic Biology Club I saw the opportunity to realize one of my dreams with the iGEM project. After a year of hard learning at iGEM, I’m writing a new chapter of the journey as a team leader this year! Our project and our effort are a great example of a Rocky Balboa quote that I carry with me since I joined college: “It's not about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.”
Giovanni Henrique Silva
Also guiding us, we count with the leaders of HP, Luiza da Silva Steling and Maria Rita Fadel da Silva, who proposed to integrate the project with society; Larissa de Souza Kawanizi, who coordinated the modeling area with determination; the responsible for the team's financial control, Gustavo Nascimento de Araújo; Júlia Lóris Senosien Redígolo, in charge of visual marketing and Gabriel Kimijima Itaziki for leading the lab activities.
Hi, I'm Gabriel, better known as Cavalo. I'm 22 yo and I'm graduating in biochemical engineering! It is my third year as an igem team member. I am responsible for the wetlab and had been responsible for the drylab last year, can’t tell how much I have been loving this experience and how much I have learned. I like to think that those are my first steps as a scientist! I do consider myself a very curious person for as long as I can remember and that passion is what moves me forward.
Gabriel Kimijima Itaziki
My name is Gustavo, I'm 18 years old and I'm graduating in Biochemical Engineering. I started to get interested in biology and finance in high school, then at university I’m having this amazing experience of being a member of Cbsin. I'm very happy to be the financial leader and modeling member of our team this year and grateful for the great friends I've made on this team and for all of our work on this project.
Gustavo Nascimento de Araujo
Hi, everyone! My name is Júlia, I’m 19 years old and I study Biochemical Engineering at USP. When I was a little girl, I received a small toy microscope for my birthday and I remembered spending hours looking at insect wings, water droplets, and leaf veins on it. From then on, I was fascinated by the microscopic universe and wanted to become a scientist and be able to use a real microscope. Joining the Synthetic Biology Club (CBSin) brought my dreams closer to reality, because I could join the iGEM team right away and have contact with what I loved most even before graduation.
Júlia Lóris Senosien Redígolo
Hello there!! My name is Larissa, I'm 20 years old and a student of Biochemical Engineering at USP-EEL. Now I'm working at Synthetic Biology Club (CBSin) and because of this, I'm in love for Synthetic Biology and its mysteries. Every day I'm learning something new in Synthetic Biology and discovering a lot of opportunities that I can have with knowledge in this area. It has been a giant learning experience as a modeling leader and Human practices member in IGEM 2022.
Larissa de Souza Kawanizi
Hello, everyone! My name is Luiza and I'm a 19 years old biochemical engineering student at University of São Paulo. Currently, I'm the Vice-President of our Synthetic Biology Club, which it's my favorite part of university. The things I love most are reading, learning and studying biology, and joining the iGEM team was a fun way to gather all of it together. It has been great!
Luíza da Silva Steling
Hey everyone! My name is Maria Rita and I am 19 years old. I study biochemical Engineering at EEL-USP. Since I was little I have been passionate about science and especially biology. As soon as I entered the university, I came across synthetic biology and I was delighted, so I decided to join Cbsin (EEL-USP's synthetic biology club). I am currently part of the IGEM-EEL-USP team with the Honorato project and I am the director of events at Cbsin. I am very satisfied with our work and I hope you enjoy the project, which I love so much.
Maria Rita Fadel da Silva
Our members, who contributed greatly to the entire project development.
Hi everyone, my name is Bianca, I’m 21 years old and I study Biochemical Engineering at USP. My passion about synthetic biology was born in CBsin, and I have been dreaming about being scientist since I was a little girl. Being on the team iGEM EEL-USP and to be the president of CBsin is a realization of two old dreams coming true and I am very happy for this opportunity.
Bianca H. de Oliveira
Hi!! My name is Felipe and I’m a 23 years old chemical engineering student at USP-EEL. I fell in love with synthetic biology when I joined the club, that’s why I decided to join the team. It's my second year and it has been a great learning experience so far, and I’m glad I could be a part of this project.
Felipe Machado Reis
Hello, everyone! My name is Gustavo and I’m a 20 years old Chemical Engineering student at USP-EEL. I usually say I’m constantly in love with new discoveries and the science and technology involved in the process. Chemistry, biology, computation, math, all these sciences brought me to the university and the research developed by us. I’ve always loved studying, learning, and, when I first met synthetic biology, I was simply delighted. Joining the CBSin and to the team iGEM was and still being a great achievement which takes me to the way I want to explore and learn each time more!
Gustavo Cabral Ferraz Santos
Hi guys! I'm Isabela, I'm 20 years old and I'm a student in the sixth semester of Chemical Engineering at EEL-USP.
When I was in high school I fell in love and with my teenage head in love decided to take a technical course to spend more time with the person, unfortunately this love didn't work out, but I discovered my vocation through it, chemistry. Today I study to be a scientist and synthetic biology is the path I chose to fulfill my dreams.
Isabela Gonçalves Trevelin
Hi there. I am Jean, a student of biochemical engineering at USP-EEL. One of my biggest passions is evolution and that brought me into the biology area and later, already at university, I met synthetic biology through CBSin and it became one of my biggest interests.
Jean Lucas Ribeiro
Hi there! My name is Lucas, but people call me Lukinha. I’m 22 years old and currently I'm a Biochemical Engineering student at USP-EEL. I have been in love with synthetic biology since I joined CBSin. Being part of this iGEM team is almost a dream coming true, and I’m very excited with this opportunity. I hope my knowledge and my dedication helps us bring a medal home.
Lucas Ribeiro C. de Carvalho
Hi there! My name is Luíza, I'm a 20 years old Chemical Engineering student at USP-EEL and I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t in love with biology and chemistry. Even when I was a kid, these themes would fascinate me, and of course the fact that my mom studied Biology in university, so we shared the same interest, helped the process. The first day I went to my university, I discovered it had a Club of Synthetic Biology, (CBSin), thereby, as I have always loved Genetics, the Synthetic Biology field intrigued me. Since then, I've been part of the club and its iGEM team, and each day I'm learning and falling more in love with them.
Luíza Fonseca Pinheiro
Hello, everyone! My name is William, I’m 20 years old and I study Chemical engineering at USP-EEL. It was in highschool when I first realized that my future would be in a Laboratory. The way the compounds can be transformed, transported or changed if there is a correct settlement of parameters made me fascinated. At university, after discovering my love for Biocathalysis, the Synthetic Biology Club and the iGEM team have caught my attention, and, as I thought, being part of a project that impacts communities world wide applying the subject that I enjoy the most has been an indescribable experience.
William Augusto R. de A. Pereira
And our special thanks to our PIs, Professor Fernando Segato and Professor Talita Lacerda, our advisors, André, Fábio and our instructors Paula!
Fernando Segato is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering of Lorena, University of São Paulo (EEL-USP). He has a degree in Pharmacy and Biochemistry (2002), PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology of Microorganisms from Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto - Universidade de São Paulo (2008) and post-doctorate in biotechnology and development of expression systems from Oklahoma State University, United States, was a researcher in biotechnology at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. He has experience in Genetics, with emphasis on Molecular and Microorganism Genetics, working mainly on the following topics: filamentous fungi, heterologous expression of proteins of biotechnological and industrial interest, interference RNA, drug resistance, prospecting and characterization of enzymes of biotechnological interest, structural biology, degradation of lignocellulosic materials, proteome and transcriptome of thermophilic microorganisms. In 2014, he was responsible for the Implementation of the research and development line in synthetic and molecular biology in the Department of Biotechnology and since then he has been coordinating the SyMB Lab (https://sites.usp.br/symb/), having participated in some iGEM editions.
Professor Fernando Segato
Graduated in Chemistry from the Instituto de Química de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo (2007) and PhD in Sciences in Physical Chemistry from the Instituto de Química de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo (2012). She has experience in Organic Chemistry, with emphasis on polymeric materials. She developed her postdoctoral between 2012 and 2016, in projects related to the synthesis and characterization of polymers derived from vegetable oils and furans (Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos and Department of Materials Engineering - USP), itaconic acid and levulinic acid (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT, Germany). Currently she is a PhD Professor at the Department of Biotechnology of the Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo (DEBIQ/EEL/USP), with research lines directed towards the synthesis and chemical modification of monomers and polymers derived from renewable sources.
Professor Talita Martins Lacerda
Has experience in the area of Chemical Engineering, with emphasis on Biochemical Processes. He was a scientific initiation student in the Laboratory of Synthetic and Molecular Biology under the guidance of Professor Fernando Segato. He graduated from the Biochemical Engineering course at the Engineering School of Lorena - USP, with experience in fermentation and bioreactors. He is currently a master's student in the Interunits Post-Graduation Program in Bioinformatics at the University of São Paulo.
André Tomas Vilela Hermann
Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA); Master's degree in Sciences from the Graduate Program in Industrial Biotechnology at the Lorena Engineering School of the University of São Paulo (EEL-USP); Doctoral candidate in Industrial Biotechnology at EEL-USP.
Awana da Silva Lima
Undergraduate student in Biochemical Engineering at the University of São Paulo (EEL-USP). Former Student Leader and Co-Leader from the iGEM Team USP-EEL Brazil, and currently the Team Advisor for Modeling area. Fábio has worked on a PUB fellowship program on the project Implementation of strategies for improving the quality and dynamics of the discipline Applied Microbiology and Biochemistry, also with experience in Modeling and biochemistry, and probiotics lab.
Fabio Nigro Hoffman Leal
Degree in Biological Sciences from State University of the North of Rio de Janeiro (UENF-2015). Master in Biosciences and Biotechnology (UENF-2017), with emphasis on Cellular and Molecular Biology. She worked as a biology teacher at CEDERJ (2015-2019) and currently is a Doctoral student in Industrial Biotechnology at the University of São Paulo (USP-EEL), where she works with production and heterologous expression of therapeutic human proteins. Has experience in the area of Genetic Transformation of Microorganisms for the Production of Proteins of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry and its application in Cell Biology, specifically in Drug Testing for Cancer Treatment.
Paula Macedo Cunha
