Team:UConn/Team
Team
Sricharan Kadimi
Year: Senior
Major: Chemical Engineering
iGEM Position: President
When Sricharan isn’t in iGEM lab, he can be found running or falling off his bike. He firmly believes he is not superstitious but also thinks that he fell because he forgot to knock on wood before getting on the bike. Eek. Talents include laughing and eating spicy food until he cries, puns (both good and bad), and getting way too excited about “to deliver” graduated cylinders. Sricharan wins the Biggest Nerd Award due to the fact that he dreams about iGEM experiments and he asked for High Fidelity Phusion Polymerase for his half birthday.
Peter Crowley
Year: Sophomore
Major: Mechanical Engineering
iGEM Position: Dry Lab Chair
Peter’s secret talent is impressions, and his favorite pastime is quoting SNL skits or Monty Python and the Holy Grail. His life aspiration is to be a Knight Who Says Ni, although he will never really achieve his goals because he likes green apples. Apparently, Peter just has strange eating habits, though, because he is known to use granola bars as spoons and refuses to eat cold pizza. If you ever need a petty thief, Peter is the one to call, as long as you don’t mind the stolen goods being logged on the online lab inventory.
Ryan Chen
Year: Sophomore
Major: Molecular and Cell Biology
Ryan has one dream for the future of UConn iGEM: iGEM nap time. He plots to hang hammocks in the lab for easy access between experiments. When awake, he is busy working on designing our amazing BASSET logo or eating grapefruit. Ryan is never caught without his Chance the Rapper hat, nor has he ever turned down the chance to make agar plates, earning him the reputation of Plate Guy.
Malik Harris
Year: Senior
Major: Digital Media and Design
If you want someone to talk to about technology for hours on end, Malik is your guy. He loves computers, phones, cameras, and so much more - except printers; they are the bane of his existence. He also enjoys watching horror films, especially late at night. When he's not busy working on our awesome Wiki site, he can be found playing Farming Simulator, meticulously tending to his crops. Malik is a spicy guy, who puts hot sauce on almost anything, and likes to cover his pizza in crushed red peppers. To him, the spice of life is spice itself.
Shannon Doyle
Year: Graduated
Major: Molecular and Cell Biology
For assistance with deciding on an ice cream flavor, please consult Shannon. UConn’s famous Dairy Bar has taught her all the essential skills from how to sneak samples throughout her shift to how to keep ice cream frozen overnight. Although destined to be a Texas cowgirl, Shannon currently keeps the companionship of a sweet German Shepherd instead of a horse. In addition to iGEM, Shannon enjoys discussing the Bachelorette and cajun seasoning (but not on ice cream).
Liz Chamiec-Case
Year: Sophomore
Major: Physiology and Neurobiology
iGEM Position: Wiki Chair
This earthy crunchy, manual Honda Fit-driving, vegan member of UConn iGEM contributes to iGEM by dropping anything that she picks up (what a flubaroo!). She speaks in a sound-based language composed of grunts, extended consonant sounds, and squeaks. Did you know that, in Liz, “uh-uh” means serological pipettor? Fascinating. The quickest way to her heart is to put a squirrel on her shoulder, or squirrels in her bed, or just reference squirrels at all. She’s probably too busy laughing at the bad joke someone made to hear that squirrel reference though. Just watch out for her spinning keys, which have a ferocious bite.
Attributions
We would like to acknowledge and extend our most sincere gratitude to all our team members, advisors and sponsors that supported us all throughout this journey. Here is to a great team and an awesome set of advisors!
Team Leadership
Sricharan Kadimi: President, directed overall plan for team sustainability and development, organized meetings, trained new lab members, and assisted with project planning
Sayan (Neal) Basu: Vice President, planned new member activities and organized project development
Craig Mendonca: Secretary, primary point of contact for communications with advising professors and other iGEM teams, trained new lab members, planned project execution, and provided day-to-day logistics for lab
Helena Newandee: Treasurer, in charge of finances for team, allocated funds for lab/other events
Alex Fisher: Future president
Krishna Channa: Future vice president
Deivydas Giedrimas: Future secretary
Peter Crowley: Dry lab chair, contact for lab organization
Toni Vella: Wet lab chair, contact for lab organization
Liz Chamiec-Case: Wiki chair, directed construction of team wiki, main member of team involved in day-to-day laboratory operation
Kenneth Tran: Community outreach chair, assisted community outreach activities, maintained social media platforms
Malik Harris: Designed, created, and coded wiki
Ryan Chen: Assisted with design of wiki and created graphics
Charlie Wright: Helped to train new lab members
Lab Team Members
Sricharan Kadimi
Peter Crowley
Ryan Chen
Liz Chamiec-Case
Shannon Doyle
UConn iGEM Club Members
iGEM club members spent the academic year learning about past iGEM projects and synthetic biology, helping to take part in conversation and direction of the project.
Christina Yacoub
Faizaan Siddiqui
Shannon Doyle
Charlie Wright
Ashley Laliberte
Katie Tiernan
Advisors and Professors
Dr. Rachel O'Neill: Professor in Molecular and Cell Biology, Director of Center for Genome Innovation, and faculty advisor to UConn iGEM, provided guidance on project execution and laboratory organization
Dr. Kendra Maas: Facility scientist at Microbial Analysis, Resources, and Services, provided instrumentation (e.g. plate reader), lab space, and supervision to team
Dr. John Malone: Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut, provided discussion on bioethics, lab space, and lap equipment (e.g. microwave)
Dr. Derek Lovley: Distinguished University Professor at University of Massachusetts, provided advice on using bacteria for electrosynthesis
Dr. David Walker: PostDoc at Dartmouth College, provided advice on using bacteria for electrosynthesis
Dr. Brian Teague: Postdoctoral Scholar at MIT, provided advice on making competent cells
Dr. Steven Suib: Director of the Institute of Material Science at University of Connecticut, provided advice on enzymes in biological systems and wastewater treatment
Dr. James Stuart: Professor Emeritus at University of Connecticut, provided information on biodiesel production and industry in Connecticut
Dr. Richard Parnas: Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Connecticut, provided advice on lab organization and optimizing a biological system
Peter Gunther: Senior Research Fellow at University of Connecticut, provided advice on conducting an economic analysis of project
Sponsors
We are very thankful for the contributions from the following groups of people that helped make our project possible:
Engineering Undergraduate Programs at University of Connecticut
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department at University of Connecticut