Team:Wisconsin-Madison/teammembers

Mary Sagstetter:

I am a senior at University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in Microbiology and Life Science Communication. My research interest is in applying microbiology to public health related fields such as monitoring antibiotic resistance in a waste water treatment plant. I have also written science articles for the college newspaper that pertain to student health issues and research around the campus. This is my second year on the iGEM team. Fun Fact: The picture was taken at the hockey rink inside Camp Randall.

Eric Walters:

Eric Walters is a senior in the Microbiology program at UW-Madison. He is interested in using bacteria to produce valuable small molecules. He has done research in developing the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 as a photoautotrophic engineering platform, as well as characterizing several light-inducible promoters in it. When not reading about strange bacterial metabolisms, he writes for the student music magazine, Emmie.

John De Friel:

John De Friel is a senior in the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW-Madison focusing on computational and experimental approaches to systems and synthetic biology. In his computational work, he develops and analyzes genome-scale metabolic models of bacteria. These models are used for determining genetic engineering strategies of bacteria to increase their production of bio-fuels or the degradation of environmental contaminants. His experimental work has focused on using synthetic biology to develop bio-sensors for petroleum products and working in a genomics laboratory to sequence and analyze the genome of Pseudomonas fluorescens L5.1-96.

Kenneth O. Xu:

Kenneth is a senior studying biomedical engineering. He has worked in several research projects: GABA-A receptor ligand binding relations, a facial neuromodulation stimulation device, a portable 6-minute-walk-test device, a quad rat monitor and is currently working on a self -measuring orthopedic drill. He plans to attend graduate school and is participating in the 2012 Iron Man in Madison.

Ian Linsmeier:

Ian Linsmeier is a junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison. His research interests include tissue engineering and neurally controlled robotic limb prostheses. Recently, he just finished a pneumatic esophageal analog that was used to test and improve a developing medical device intended to replace the pulmonary artery catheter.

Patrick Cassidy:

Patrick Cassidy a senior at UW-Madison in the Biomedical Engineering department. Unsure of his interests, he has worked in several labs; studying the biomechanics of ACL injuries, modeling the chemical interactions of transition metals and hydroxamic acids, and now using synthetic biology to produce bio-sensors. Recently, he has discovered an interest in the chemistry of polymeric materials, and helped design a protective gel for thermal ablation procedures, which is currently being pursued for a patent by WARF. Other interests are science fiction, heavy guitars, and the 80’s.

Yaming Jiang:

Yaming Jiang is a junior student in Chemical and biological engineering in University of Wisconsin Madison. With equal interests in biology and chemistry, she studied on human corneal cell’s morphology and growth orientation in respond to surface morphology and chemistry after freshman year to help improve corneal implant. Later, she worked on self-assembly bi-block copolymers and molecular transfer printing process, which has a promising future application in manufacturing computer chip with even smaller feature. She also did tutoring at College of Engineering undergraduate learning center. She likes reading fictions and swimming, and is especially happy about having Lake Mendota by the campus.

Xiong Xiong:

Xiong Xiong a senior at UW-Madison in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department. She used to work and study with systems biology experts in WID, focusing on the exploration of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and other RNA viruses. In the past year, she researched the effects of media nutrients on growths of VSV and host cells (Baby hamster cells, analogous to cancer cells). The essential efforts are devoted to model a “Best” virus to kill cancer cells without destroying healthy body cells. Now she is going in the design of a hydrocarbon biosensor and the application of bacterial microcompartments using synthetic biology. Her interests include travelling, jogging, cooking and watching movies.