The Team

The iGEM Team Hamburg consists of 16 students from University of Hamburg and Technical University Hamburg-Harburg. Studying Biology, Nanotechnology, Molecular Life Sciences, Chemistry or Engineering, there is a great interdisciplinary exchange resulting in a project taking into account all fields of study represented by the students.

Members

Daniel Wedemeyer

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I participated at iGEM in 2016 for the first time with our project Finding Chlamydory. In 2017, I acted as an Advisor for Team Hamburg. This year, I decided to again do my best to make the world a better place, and dove right into the next iGEM project. This time, fighting the most deadly disease there is – exciting stuff. Having accumulated two years of iGEM experience, I am very happy to share everything I learned with my team, and in turn continue to learn new things every day. iGEM is so diverse, I could possibly do nothing but iGEM and still grow with every project. But this is the last time. I promise…

Nicole Freese

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I’ve always been fascinated by natural sciences and especially love the practical work. But developing a project from the very beginning and therefor experiencing the process through all the different stages from having an idea to the actual product is nothing you pick up by studying. You don’t know what difficulties can arise and which problem you can solve how – that’s why I joined iGEM. iGEM gives me the opportunity to have a closer look on a scientist’s daily work and to do what I enjoy: Standing in the lab and having the chance to do some greater good.

Bjarne Klopprogge

Field of study:	Nanosciences 4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I have always been curious and loved the possibilities to learn new and fascinating things. This way I got involved into iGEM. Personally, I especially appreciate the interdisciplinary approach of iGEM allowing a fluid transition between biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and informatics. But in addition to many valuable experiences and new knowledge the most important part is that you get to know a great deal of awesome, like-minded people from all around the world.

Dominika Wawrzyniak

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Leader

My interest in the field of synthetic biology and the field’s creative possibilities initially made me participate in iGEM 2016. Over the course of the competition year, I was able to learn far more than lab work - how to develop an idea into a real world application, interdisciplinary collaboration, science communication and much more. This led me to participate again in iGEM 2018, this time using my experiences to lead and organize the team with the goal of contributing to the fight against malaria with our innovation. And I am still learning new skills, new points of view and new solution approaches.

Alexander Kartheiser

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Leader

iGEM has provided me with the opportunity to understand and solve interdisciplinary problems alongside a diverse group of talented students with various scientific backgrounds. I was delighted to witness the development of our project from start to finish and to bear the responsibility as team leader for its success. I am very grateful for the many positive experiences I could make over the course of iGEM and I look forward to applying them in future projects.

Nele Burckhardt

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in biology, bombarding all of my family and friends with thousands of questions. Since my first own little project in school, I am keen to work in interdisciplinary teams. Working on our iGEM project means learning about the essence of science. Science is not just working in the lab, rather it is passion to conduct experiments and draw the consequences, passion to organize and plan, passion to tweak and reevaluate your own thoughts.

Oda-Emilia Meyfarth

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I fell in love with synthetic cellbiology and its potential to solve so many problems in this world since I start studying. And with iGEM, my team and I have the opportunity to have our own project which is build only on our own innovative ideas and creativity, and we have the chance to push it towards realization. I love to work in a team (especially in a interdisciplinary team in which we can learn from each other), talking about the process, motivating each other, and standig together for the same thing with all the ups and downs. And besides all these aspects I like on iGEM, we all aquiere more skills (including sponsoring, human practices, social media etc.) than ever in our studies. iGEM fullfills all my expectations of the future I work toward.

Lisa Pütthoff

Field of study:	Biology 6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Leader

I always felt the desire to create something new, to help the people and save the world with my inventions. When I first heard of iGEM I thought my friend was kidding, because it seemed too perfect to be true. Young naive students with innovative ideas creating their own project and working in the lab all by themselves. From second one I was into it! Every week we faced new challenges and liked the idea of being part of the solution. iGEM gives me the space to make my childhood dreams become reality.

Nadine Fischer

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

Since I heard about iGEM, I wanted to be a part of it. The idea of creating something new to solve any kind of problem and maybe even help the people using synthetic biology amazed me in the first place. But iGEM is much more than just standing in the lab and pipetting all day long. It is about teamwork. From designing a project from scratch and financing to human practices, this is such a massive task. I love to challenge myself and iGEM is definitely the right place to do so. But with my team, I really enjoyed this year. Thank you!

Dustin Krüger

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I love the opportunity iGEM offers young scientists. To create your own scientific project in a team, learn new things, become more independent in your lab work and get connected with like-minded people around the globe. I’ve always been fascinated by cells and their huge diversity. When I heard that there was a possibility to work with synthetic cell biology to solve problems we have nowadays, it was absolutely clear, that I wanted to be a part of it.

Lea Daniels

Field of study:	Molecular Life Sciences 4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

iGEM is a great learning opportunity. On top of practicing and improving my lab skills, I got to learn about planning and organizing projects and problem-solving in and outside the lab. I always enjoyed finding elegant and creative solutions to logical puzzles and riddles. With iGEM, I not only get to do that on a much larger scale, but with a great team of like-minded people. Learning from each other and exploring the vast and fascinating possibilities synthetic biology offers in finding creative solutions to global problems - that is why I joined iGEM.

Alan Wypych

Field of study:	Biology 4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I am a third year Biology B.sc student who puts the “bio” into biochem. I joined iGEM to extend my experience in the lab and in a team I always wanted to work apart from the regular course and iGEM offers me excatly this opportunity. It is a unique opportunity to have biologists, chemists and life scientists working together to creating their own project. I learned many things about me, about teamwork and I also learned a lot from all other members of our team. I discovered much about the realization of a project for this competition. I really enjoy the way we can mix science, teamwork, sponsoring and management. Therefore, I am glad to be a part of the iGEM team!

Markus Winkler

Field of study:	Chemistry 6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I am Markus Winkler and im currently studying chemistry. I joined the iGEM team of the University of Hamburg, because im convinced that there are a lot of important problems of our thriving world that can be handled by resolutions taken from the field of Synthetic Biology. I am sure that there is a lot of potential when creative undergraduate students come together from different fields of study to discuss and improve the ideas that finally lead to an answer for the problem that has to be taken care of and I am very glad that I could get a chance to participate in this process.

Finni Speckenheuer

Field of study:	Chemistry 6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

I am Finni Speckenheuer and I am an undergraduate chemistry student in Hamburg. What I like the most about the iGEM competition is that nevertheless how exhausting the everyday-lab-work is the feeling when you finally get closer and closer to the desired product is motivational and inspiring and more than a reparation for the time it consumed to come this far. I hope that the work the whole team has invested in this project will pay off but for me it already did because of all the interesting things we learned throughout the whole time.

Nico Domschke

Field of study:	Chemistry 6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

The opportunity to bring in my passion for chemistry into the biologically-chemically intertwined field of study called synthetic biology instantly drew my interest to iGEM. The process of implementing your own, novel ideas from the ground up sold it to me. It is a pleasure to work in such a motivated team that I can also count on as friends.

Carla von Salisch

Field of study:	Chemistry 8th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

After being part of the 2017 iGEM Team here at the University of Hamburg I was excited to experience the work in this interdisciplinary project again. As a chemistry student this project is a nice change to all the lab experience we had during our normal curriculum due to the possibility to choose our own field of research in the multitude of ideas synthetic biology has to offer.

Jonas Hoffmeister

Field of study:	Mechanical Engineering 6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:	Student Member

Engineering is a broad topic. Engineering something genetically is definitely none of my specialties. While a particular genetically altered thing may be a breakthrough, it still needs a physical application in some cases though. Understandably, that is not generally a specialty of genetic engineers and where my basic knowledge of manufacturing and other parts of mechanical engineering were demanded in our case. Working on this big project is definitely something different to programming, structural analysis and load analytics. It is something for a change where actual creativity is required beyond the usual considerations.

Team:Hamburg/Team