Team:Calgary/Team
THE TEAM
THE MEMBERS
Sam Wilton-Clark
Sam is a third year biomedical science student and part of the Gene Integration subgroup within the wet lab. He spent the summer making sure that both the eukaryotic and prokaryotic components of the project were in order. In his free time, Sam cooks a mean scrambled egg, although he won’t admit it. He is proud to call himself a Health Science student.
Sara Far
Sara is a third-year plant biology major and music minor. She spent a lot of time in the lab troubleshooting and optimizing many protocols for the Gene Integration subgroup and probably holds the world record for highest number of PCR reactions run in a day. She holds an undying love for the composer Tchaikovsky in her heart, but her love for her HEK cells is a close second.
Cassie Sillner
Cassie, nicknamed “Cas9”, is a fourth year biological science student and an integral member of the Gene Maintenance subgroup. When she isn’t in the lab tirelessly digesting, ligating, and transforming parts, she enjoys windsurfing and crocheting. She insists on calling the incubator a 'warm fridge' and cannot be convinced otherwise.
Christian Emond
Christian, nicknamed “CRISPn” is a third year cellular, molecular, and microbial biology student and a member of the Gene Integration subgroup. As his name suggests, he worked closely with the CRISPR-Cas9 component of our project. Chris never fails to lighten the mood in the lab with his sick rhymes and cool beats.
Rainer Lim
As a key player in the dry lab software group, Rainer designed the GUI and scraping algorithm for SARA, and graphics for the wiki and the presentation. He is a third year software engineering major and enjoys long walks on the beach (pending sand temperature). He once ate the chocolate off of a CÉLÉBRATIONS™ cookie and tried to pin the crime on a research assistant.
Sarah Walker
Sarah is a third year student studying computer science. She provided the text summarization algorithm and fine-tuned the scraper for SARA as a member of the dry lab software group. In August, Sarah ate some questionable cheese and disappeared for two weeks. She also keeps her love of discotheque a closely guarded secret.
Erika Fung
Erika is a third year Bioinformatics student and a member of the dry lab software group. She assisted with developing functionality for SARA and coding the team’s wiki. Erika managed to get hit in the face with a basketball twice in July, establishing a new low in her life. In billiards, she has impeccable technique and always plays by the rules.
Sebastian Alvarez
Sebastian is a third year Chemical Engineering major and undoubtedly the best dancer on team. He took a lead role on the team by spearheading the microfluidics component of our project and he also helped in optimizing procedures for other subgroups. Sebastian has an amazingly radiant smile and he wears it confidently - check it out at the Jamboree!
THE MENTORS
Kaitlin Schaaf
Kaitlin is one of our TAs and has been an incredible teacher for our team. Nicknamed “grandmother Kaitlin”, she cares deeply for all of our team members and never fails to make sure everyone on the team is doing okay. Her grandmotherly habits don’t stop there - she is an amazing crocheter and gives great hugs.
Thomas Coderre
Tom is a TA on our team and an incredibly intelligent man. He contributed lots of useful advice to our team members and worked his way through more papers than anyone else on the team this year. He has worked hard to create a strong foundation and support system for our team.
Jacob Grainger
Jacob is a TA on our team and also the resident HEK cell expert. He has more lab experience than anyone else and wowed the team with his knowledge in synbio. According to Jacob, the word of the day is always “efficiency.”
Lalit Bharadwaj
Lalit is a TA on our team and has helped out a bunch by supervising the team members during late nights and weekends. Despite breaking a collarbone this summer, Lalit always wore a smile in the lab. He was always on the ball about keeping the team on track throughout the year.
THE SUPERVISORS
Dr. Mayi Arcellana-Panlilio
Dr. Mayi is a Senior Instructor in the Cumming School of Medicine and has mentored University of Calgary iGEM teams since 2011. She firmly believes in the iGEM project being the students’ work from ideation and development to execution and dissemination. However, she also believes in being there for her students, as listener, adviser, sense-maker. Everyone knows she’s a real taskmaster.
Dr. Elke Monika Lohmeier-Vogel
Dr. L-V is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences and has been involved in a support capacity (basic biochemistry advice) with iGEM teams for the past 3 years. It has been exciting to watch the the iGEM teams struggle a bit in the beginning and emerge victorious usually 24 hours before Wiki-freeze. Dr. L-V “only” comes for the chocolate cookies available during weekly iGEM meetings.
THE TEAM
THE MEMBERS
Sam Wilton-Clark
Sam is a third year biomedical science student and part of the Gene Integration subgroup within the wet lab. He spent the summer making sure that both the eukaryotic and prokaryotic components of the project were in order. In his free time, Sam cooks a mean scrambled egg, although he won’t admit it. He is proud to call himself a Health Science student.
Sara Far
Sara is a third-year plant biology major and music minor. She spent a lot of time in the lab troubleshooting and optimizing many protocols for the Gene Integration subgroup and probably holds the world record for highest number of PCR reactions run in a day. She holds an undying love for the composer Tchaikovsky in her heart, but her love for her HEK cells is a close second.
Cassie Sillner
Cassie, nicknamed “Cas9”, is a fourth year biological science student and an integral member of the Gene Maintenance subgroup. When she isn’t in the lab tirelessly digesting, ligating, and transforming parts, she enjoys windsurfing and crocheting. She boosted the morale in the lab with the absolute bangers on her lab playlist.
Christian Emond
Christian, nicknamed “CRISPn” is a third year cellular, molecular, and microbial biology student and a member of the Gene Integration subgroup. As his name suggests, he worked closely with the CRISPR-Cas9 component of our project. Chris never fails to lighten the mood in the lab with his sick rhymes and cool beats.
Rainer Lim
As a key player in the dry lab software group, Rainer designed the GUI and scraping algorithm for SARA, and graphics for the wiki and the presentation. He is a third year software engineering major and enjoys long walks on the beach (pending sand temperature). He once ate the chocolate off of a CÉLÉBRATIONS™ cookie and tried to pin the crime on a research assistant.
Sarah Walker
Sarah is a third year student studying computer science. She provided the text summarization algorithm and fine-tuned the scraper for SARA as a member of the dry lab software group. In August, Sarah ate some questionable cheese and disappeared for two weeks. She also keeps her love of discotheque a closely guarded secret.
Erika Fung
Erika is a third year Bioinformatics student and a member of the dry lab software group. She assisted with developing functionality for SARA and coding the team’s wiki. Erika managed to get hit in the face with a basketball twice in July, establishing a new low in her life. In billiards, she has impeccable technique and always plays by the rules.
Sebastian Alvarez
Sebastian is a third year Chemical Engineering major and undoubtedly the best dancer on team. He took a lead role on the team by spearheading the microfluidics component of our project and he also helped in optimizing procedures for other subgroups. Sebastian has an amazingly radiant smile and he wears it confidently - check it out at the Jamboree!
THE MENTORS
Kaitlin Schaaf
Kaitlin is one of our TAs on the team and has been an incredible teacher for our team. Nicknamed “grandmother Kaitlin”, she cares deeply for all of our team members and never fails to make sure everyone on the team is doing okay. Her grandmotherly habits don’t stop there - she is an amazing crocheter and gives great hugs.
Thomas Coderre
Tom is a TA on our team and an incredibly intelligent man. He contributed lots of useful advice to our team members and worked his way through more papers than anyone else on the team this year. As superhuman as he seems, one of his only weaknesses is peanuts. Our lab may not entirely be contamination-free, but it sure is peanut-free.
Jacob Grainger
Jacob is a TA on our team and also the resident HEK cell expert. He has more lab experience than anyone else and wowed the team with his knowledge in synbio. He is also a master in the complex art of dilution calculations. According to Jacob, the word of the day is always “efficiency.”
Lalit Bharadwaj
Lalit is a TA on our team and has helped out a bunch by supervising the team members during late nights and weekends. Despite breaking a collarbone this summer, Lalit always wore a smile in the lab. He was always on the ball about keeping the team on track throughout the year.
THE SUPERVISORS
Dr. Mayi Arcellana-Panlilio
Dr. Mayi is a Senior Instructor in the Cumming School of Medicine and has mentored University of Calgary iGEM teams since 2011. She firmly believes in the iGEM project being the students’ work from ideation and development to execution and dissemination. However, she also believes in being there for her students, as listener, adviser, sense-maker. Everyone knows she’s a real taskmaster.
Dr. Elke Monika Lohmeier-Vogel
Dr. L-V is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences and has been involved in a support capacity (basic biochemistry advice) with iGEM teams for the past 3 years. It has been exciting to watch the the iGEM teams struggle a bit in the beginning and emerge victorious usually 24 hours before Wiki-freeze. Dr. L-V “only” comes for the chocolate cookies available during weekly iGEM meetings.