From 2011.igem.org

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Latest revision as of 13:50, 21 September 2011

The Team

Upper left: Gunvor, Adrian, Anders, Jon, Espen, Eivind (advisor). Lower left: Christian, Henrik, Tormund, Eirik, Rahmi (advisor). Not present: Marius, Martin, Svein (advisors)

We are nine students that were brought together by our advisor, [http://www.ntnu.no/ansatte/eivind.almaas Eivind Almaas], to work on this project during the summer. Six of us study biotechnology, while the remaining three students on the team have background in mathematics, physics and information technology. This is the first time a university from Norway is competing in iGEM and we are all really happy to be part of this.

Most of us have not been working too much with synthetic biology before, so the process have been very educational. Since synthetic biology is a relatively new and very interesting field, we are all excited to get the opportunity to learn more about the subject. When we first got together, we came up with several project ideas that we would like to work on. After a lot of discussion we decided to make the stress sensor, mainly because we all thought the idea was really cool, and because the stress sensor had more interesting modeling aproaches than the other projects we considered. The stress sensor also seemed like a proper challenge, and since we all like a challenge, we went for it.

Until now, we've mostly been having fun in the lab. When the Trondheim weather permits it (which is not too often unfortunately), we try to take a break from the work and enjoy the summer and go barbequing. We have also arranged a street ping-pong tournament, the First international NTNU iGEM Street Ping-Pong Annual Tournament (FiNiSPPAT), which was won by Jon. Congratulations.

Student members

Anders Halgunset

Biography:

Currently starting my 5th year of Biotechnology at NTNU and will from the autumn start working on my master thesis at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, involving characterization of different Legionella bacteria.

I joined the iGEM team to get valuable experience and for the opportunity to have a great summer with lots of friends.

In my spare time I like to be in the lab, working. But I occasionally hang out with friends, play football, go swimming or do some staircase running.

Fun fact:

Is unofficial world champion in long distance staircase running.

Favourite lab procedure:

The one with D aNd some A.

Gunvor Røkke

Biography:

I am 23 years old, and starting my fifth year of studies on the master program of industrial chemistry and biotechnology this autumn. For my master thesis I will be investigating the mechanisms the DNA repair enzymes use when they detect base lesions in DNA.

Even though I have never been working with synthetic biology before, I have had lab courses in practically every chemistry and biotechnology course I have attended, so I have already spent quite a lot of time in the lab. Being on the iGEM team and working independently on the lab have been a great experience for me, and I have learned a lot.

My main interest outside of academia is playing violin. I have been playing since I was five years old, and I am currently leading the folk music orchestra of the students association in Trondheim.

Fun fact:

Is able to whistle and hum in two-part harmony with herself!

Favourite lab procedure:

Isolation of DNA from bacteria, and gel electrophoresis.

Jon Andreas Lorentzen

Biography:

I am 24 years old, and have studied biotechnology at NTNU for four years. I have started working on my master thesis which involves how the UTR region affects the gene expression.

I joined the iGem team because it's awsome and it's a valuable experience for me.

On my spare time I enjoy activities such as volleyball, basketball, longboarding, snowboarding, chilling, beerdrinking, movie-watching, music-listening, gaming and so on.

Fun fact:

Is a professional RPS (Rock, Paper, Scissor) player

Favourite lab procedure:

All of them

Eirik Selsaas

	Biography:	I am 24 years old and have recently finished my masters thesis in biotechnology here at NTNU. The aim of my thesis was to characterize genes in Pseudomonas fluorescens that influence biosynthesis of alginate. My best field of knowledge is in prokaryotic genetics, but I also have knowledge about most other fields of molecular biology and biochemistry. My favorite type of work in iGEM is to design new systems and find out how to make them. Besides the fun I'm having working with biotechnology, I have some things that I like to do whenever I'm not at the lab. I like to go skiing (yes, I'm Norwegian), play soccer, play guitar and hang out with friends
	Fun fact:	Surprisingly good at arm-wrestling.
	Favourite lab procedure:	The moment you look at your gel, and all the DNA-fragments look correct.

Espen Bang Leistad

	Biography:	This fall I'm starting my 5th year of biotechnology studies here at NTNU. For my master thesis I will investigate mice poop from wild type and knock-out mice which is missing a gene coding for a protein thought to be important in the immune system and establishment of normal bacterial flora in the colon. I joined the iGEM team in order to gain some valuable lab experience before i start my work on the master thesis and because its simply sounded like great fun. There's never a boring day here at the iGEM NTNU lab/headquarter.
	Fun fact:	Most handsome in the team.
	Favourite lab procedure:	I love the sound of our old beadbeater machine..

Christian Page

	Biography:	I am 23 years old, and starting on the second year in my master in statistics, focusing on medical science and cancer research. From before I have a bachelor's degree in biomathematics, which is a combination of biology (mostly (molecular/ecology) and mathematics/statistics. This gives me a firm background in theoretical modeling in biology, which is basically what I do on the team. My academic interest revolves around using theoretical statistics in modeling/solving medical problems. When not at school, I can often be found on the volleyball playground, or out running.
	Fun fact:	Is able to memorize 15 digits of pi and e.
	Favourite lab procedure:	Turning on the PCR machine, and writing on the blackboard

Henrik Fahre Lutro

	Biography:	I am 23 years old and starting at my fifth year in Applied Physics this autumn. I had little knowledge of biology before I joined the team, but I have already learned a lot and will probably learn even more. I have however experience of making models of physical systems and solving complex problems. My work will therefore mainly be to model the system to give as good understanding of the system as possible.
	Fun fact:	Can move my ears
	Favourite lab procedure:	Looking at DNA fragments under UV light

Adrian Ertsås Naas

	Biography:	I'm 25, and will be starting my 5th year of Biotechnology at NTNU next semester. I've been doing lab-work for my master's thesis for half a year already, and will continue this fall. The project is on expression in E. coli, so I already had some experience with cloning techniques and lab-work before we started the iGEM project. I joined the iGEM project because I saw it as a great opportunity to get more experience in the lab, and also in planning experiments and working more independently. Of course, the thought of putting together genes of our own choice to create something cool was also a big motivator!
	Fun fact:	The strain of E. coli we're using was isolated from his hair.
	Favourite lab procedure:	Growing culture to OD X +/- 0,01.

Tormund S. Haus

	Biography:	I am 24 years old, currently studying for a Master in Computer Science. Does most of the programming and wiki design.
	Fun fact:	I own a 7x7x7 Rubik's Cube, and can solve it.
	Favourite lab procedure:	Drink random samples and see if they give me super powers.

Advisors and instructors

Eivind Almaas

	Biography:	Professor of Systems Biology at Dept. of Biotechnology, NTNU. His research interests are centered on analysis of empirical networks and development of new methods to study networks. In biology, this is translated into studies of genetic circuits, metabolic modeling/ engineering, and protein interaction and protein structure networks. He gives an intro course in Systems Biology ([http://www.ntnu.edu/studies/courses/TBT4165/2011 TBT4165]) every Spring semester.
	Fun fact:	Big fan of 50's Rock'n Roll and Rockabilly.

Rahmi Lale

Rahmi Lale	Biography:	Working as postdoctoral fellow in Svein Valla's gene expression group. Research focus: transcriptional and translational regulation of bacterial gene expression, metabolic engineering and metagenome/bioprospecting.
	Fun fact:	Green incognito!

Marius Eidsaa

	Biography:	I'm a PhD-student in Systems Biology at Dept. of Biotechnology, NTNU. My supervisor is Prof. Eivind Almaas and I'm currently working on gene correlation networks and general network methods. I have a Master's degree in Applied Physics from NTNU, so my experience with biotechnology labs are limited (thereby the physical analogue portrayed in the picture). As an iGEM instructor, I've had a few lectures on dynamics of genetic circuits, and have had a supporting role in the modeling approaches in general.
	Fun fact:	I sing in a student men's choir called Pirum.

Martin Gimmestad

	Biography:	Senior engineer at Dept. of Biotechnology, NTNU. PhD in prokaryotic molecular biology (alginate biosynthesis) and experience as researcher and post doc (alginate and nystatin biosynthesis, respectively).
	Fun fact:	Responsible for 5 sheep and up to 14 goats (real ones...not the NTNU iGEM-team)!

Svein Valla

	Biography:	Professor Svein Valla has worked on a variety of projects involving molecular genetic analyses of bacteria. His research interests has been bacterial biosynthesis of biopolymers (e.g. alginate) and Streptomyces antibiotics, bioinfortmatics, marine bioprospecting, metagenomics, gene expression (e.g. Pm/XylS-system) and development of broad-host-range plasmid vectors based on RK2 replicon.
	Fun fact:	Previous career as dancer in the Swan Lake ballet, by Pjotr Illitsj Tsjajkovskij (NTNU-version... all rights reserved)

Films

Introduction of the team

Not so serious introduction of the team

Team:NTNU Trondheim/Team