Team:EPFL/Team
Our Team
Members
Ahmed
Team member
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
Tunisia
I am on the Follow-up side of the project, and more specifically ctDNA. Having spent part of my summer getting a negative control that is actually negative, I started to hate RNases. Between the design and the lab, I tried to unravel the secrets of CRISPR and its dangerous activation ... a constant challenge!
Fun fact:
The critical threshold of my diet has been reached with the Mayo Gruyère sandwich.
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
Switzerland
I was mostly dedicated to the follow up part of Capoeira which for me mostly involved the detection of chromosomal rearrangements and point mutations in plasma. This implies that I had the pleasure to work with Cas12a and its mysterious promiscuous activities.
Fun fact:
I try to motivate my teammates by feeding them an unhealthy amount of chocolate.
Cindy
Team member
Daniel
Logistics
Study:
Master in Bioengineering
Origin:
Spain/Iran
Role:
My role consists in managing the team finances and resources and ensuring the correct functioning of all the different parts of the project, by mediating the communication and engagement of the team members. Apart from this role I am in charge of developing the bioinformatic pipeline of the project for the detection of cancer mutations for the design of our vaccine and the detection of cancer biomarkers for the relapse surveillance system. Also I am involved in the design of the immunogenetic assays on dendritic cells, to ensure that our vaccine is producing the correct immune response.
Fun fact:
Self proclaimed owner of the HDMI port and unofficial DJ of the team, however I believe that everyone in my team secretly hates my music, but they just don’t want to hurt my feelings.
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
France
Role:
When in the lab, I work on the vaccine part of our project. This means mainly transforming bacteria and expressing proteins cell-free, which is crazy when you think about the fact that I hold a pipet in my hands for the 1st time this summer! Graphic designer of the team, I spend my remaining time drawing on paper as well as on my computer for our poster and the visual identity of our project
Fun fact:
We all wish each other "happy meal" before eating because of (or thanks to) my English translated literally from French :P.
Laurine
Graphic designer
Marco
Team member
Study:
Master in Bioengineering
Origin:
Italy
Role:
I am mostly working on the miRNA part. This means designing the right dumbbell probes and gRNAs, testing them on the online softwares and praying that the good results on the modelling will be validated when I am struggling with them in the lab.
Fun fact:
I have a twin brother who’s studying at ETH in Zürich and most of my teammates don’t know it. Unfortunately he’s not participating into iGEM, it would have been nice to prank them at the Giant Jamboree.
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
France
Role:
Financial manager and responsible of the detection of miRNAs
Fun fact:
I’m in a huge competition against my dear teammate Théophile for the making of the worst electrophoresis gel ever.
Mehdi
Financial Manager
Moustafa
Project manager
Study:
Master in Bioengineering
Origin:
Lebanon
Role:
I take care of supervising the vaccine production part of the pipeline, performing the interlab study, building collaborations with other teams, building partnerships with research labs, and handling exposure opportunities.
Fun fact:
I supply the team with Hummus (sort of a hummus dealer).
Study:
Master in Management of Innovation and Technology
Origin:
Iran
Role:
President
Fun fact:
One of the scariest moments for me in this project was the first few seconds when where waiting to see the results of Cas12a from the plate reader. Working with Cas12 is like wrangling a wild horse! You’ll never know what comes next.
Reza
President
Samuel
Secretary
Study:
Bachelor in Physics
Origin:
Malaysia/India/The Big Bang
Role:
My role is to be the secretary of the Team as well as being an observer of the rare species of biologists in their natural habitat, learning their ways and customs, hoping maybe one day to be accepted in the tribe.
Fun fact:
I, like many of my team members, love food.
Study:
Master in Chemistry
Origin:
Switzerland/Germany
Role:
Design plasmid assemblies and parts as well as assembling and expressing the encapsulin-antigen complex with the help of Theophile, Moustafa , Laurine and Vio. Also perform different measurement techniques used for nanoparticles as well as purification methods.
Fun fact:
I love the smell of Ethidium Bromide in the morning. Persists on a diet consisting mainly of müesli, chocolate and coffee as well as the occasional dank science meme.
Thomas
Team member
Violette
Public relation
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
France
Role:
In the lab I mainly work on the vaccine part of the project. This means cloning, modifying plasmids and sometimes growing cells which is fun. Outside of the lab I pretend I’m busy working on the website so people will leave me alone.
Fun fact:
The hardest part of the project so far was to open the door of the incubator
Study:
Bachelor in Life Sciences and Technologies
Origin:
France
Role:
My lab contribution to CAPOEIRA is to work on the Vaccine side of the project. Transformations, cell-free expressions, SDS-PAGE… Clumsy and always the head in the clouds, I spent many nights redoing experiments failed because of my mistakes! Outside the lab, I am responsible to take care of the public relations of the project. This consists in for example organizing a shooting for a teaser of the project or trying to keep our social media accounts alive.
Fun fact:
Wether on the campus or in the lab, I am always on my rollerblades. I’m the fastest to deliver plasmid for sequencing in critical situations! At the cost of being a public danger in the university hallways.
Theophile
Web designer
Instructors and advisors
Prof. Sebastian Maerkl
Main supervisor
Michael Crone
Instructor
Ivan Istomin
Instructor
Grégoire Michielin
Instuctor