Team:Edinburgh UG/Team

Edinburgh iGEM 2018

Meet the team!

Hey there from Edinburgh iGEM undergraduate team!

Team Members

Eva Steele

Hi Friends I'm Eva of House Steele, First of my Name, the often unknowingly bruised, The Vice captain of EUWAFC 2s and EU Women's Futsal Team, Member of the Great UG Edinburgh iGEM Team, consistent breaker of my bike chain, and Mother of many Plants. I'm heading into 4th year of my degree in BIological sciences, specialising in Plant Science. I like football a lot and play for the University women's team and a local club. I am working on the biosafety side of our project by attempting to put a block on horizontal gene transfer. Here's some controversial opinions: 1- Bobby is the real MVP in Queer Eye, culture and food guy are only there because they're hecking attractive; 2- Sergio Ramos deliberately injured Mo Salah in Champions League Final; 3- The orange and yellow sweets are the best sweets. Things I know to be true: 1- Quokkas are the cutest marsupial; 2- Orchids are the awesomest angiosperms; 3- My Mum and Uncle Gary will like this post.

Freddie Starkey

Greetings, I'm Freddie a 5th year Informatics student. My main interests are in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and hence I've been focusing on the design and mathematical modelling of our killswitch. Outside the lab (I maintain a computer lab is still a lab), I enjoy playing chess and when the Scottish winter allows going Nordic Skiing. Aside from these relatively pedestrian facts I also have a tragic tendancy to have my eyes closed in photos.

Charlie Mathews

Hey I'm Charlie and I've just finished 2nd year of biological sciences, either specialising in development, regeneration & stem cells or biochemistry. For our project I have been in the lab testing methods for producing maxicells and I look forward to making it work sometime! I play quidditch (apparently it's a real sport?) and I spend most of the rest of my free time cooking. Another fun fact is I sneeze when the sun is too bright and in this photo I'm trying really hard not to.

Ben Astles

Hi everyone, I'm Ben. I'm no team elder or nothing, I'm just a fella. I like my beer cold and my jeans blue. I've just finished my third year studying biological sciences, and am looking forward to the next one. I've been involved in the interlab, and am now focusing on adding an alternative selection marker - triclosan resistance - into E. coli. So far I've really been enjoying the project; I've learned so much already, and we've really grown as a team. In my spare time I love watch gritty crime dramas. I've just finished rewatching the wire and am now making my way through the Sopranos. Most of all though I enjoy reading, mostly fantasy but with a little bit of everything else sprinkled in. I hope all of your projects are going well, and I look forward to seeing you all at the jamboree!

Samuel Grainger

Awright ya Bams! It's me Sam MacPherson-Grainger I'm a biologist studying stem cells and regeneration next year and I've done a wee bit o' bio-technology. Oan the team, I'm the mascot and chief morale officer (weather like Scotland makes that the most important job). In the lab I jumped in on many parts of the project but I suppose my baby was the FabV tricloasan resistant plasmid. I love that plasmid as if it were my own child and I hope it grows up to be just like me. OOTside the lab (which has been my home for the past 4 months), I'm just a fun lovin Guy with a passion for fashion. I love tea and recently acquired a cast iron teapot. nice! Got married during iGEM and boasted aboot it aww summer long. Unfortunately I can't make it to the Jamboree so you won't get to see me wearing ma kilt! Much Respects Sam"

Ugnė Baronaitė

Hi there, I'm Ugne (it's quite a fiery name and the right way to pronounce it is ['ʊgnɛ]). I've just started my third year in biological science and aiming to specialize in biotechnology. For the project, I was first working with Inga and Ben (who you'll meet later) on the InterLab task, and now I'm mainly focusing on biosensor part of our project - how well can our Maxicell be applied to construct biosensors. Outside the lab I'm heavily involved with popularizing synthetic biology - I belong to SynBioUK and SynBioEdinburgh committees. If talking about less geeky stuff - I'm sort of sports junkie: from basketball to swimming - I do a looot, though still, most of my free time is spent covered in chalk at a local climbing gym or on one of the crags.

Inga Gražulytė

Hey, I'm Inga and I'm in 3rd-year of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry degree. I am a team photographer, social media spammerand data analyst. I can draw a graph from everything and one of the most satisfying phrases for me is ''R squared equals point nine nine nine....''. As a chemist of the team, I am always complaining about everything that's neither precise nor accurate so a phrase "Calm down, it's Biology" is one of the most common phrases I hear in a biology lab. I enjoy jogging, I love dogs and I like driving tractors.

Tommy Schmidlechner

Hey, I'm Tommy, the team elder and a future mad scientist. I started my biology with genetics, switched to stem cells and again to molecular biology; the next stop might be synthetic biology! I'm aspiring to run a science company in the future. In the lab, me and Sam have been working on most of the gene constructs to be used by others in our experiments. Outside the lab, I've been part of the Murder Mystery Society (society of the year!) since year one - last year as a committee member. Most of my time I spend with my beautiful girlfriend, with whom I moved in together recently.

Ajay Joshi

Hey, it ya boi, Ajay here. I’m just your simple everyday mad scientist. Who loves to take his grandson on crazy adventures through different dimensions whilst drinking squwanch juice. Yes, I have watched every Rick and Morty episode back to back. Anyways that’s my side life, in my main life I’m a 4th-year neuroscience student who constantly getting no sleep. Here are some interesting facts about me that you may not know: My birth tree is a Hazel tree. I’m of Indian descent. I’m the next demon king. My favourite colour is blue. I have a twin brother (who strangely reminds me of Dolly the sheep). I was suuuuuuper salty not to be chosen as Sam's best man. Anyways, guys, that’s me and as always be schwifty.

Victoria Collins

Hi, I'm Victoria and I've just finished my first year of Medicine. As part of the English minority on the team, I've been repeatedly told that something I definitely need to work on is my Scottish accent. So far, I'm nowhere near pulling it off!

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