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Team:NTNU Trondheim/Team
From 2011.igem.org
The Team
We are nine students from different study programmes that were brought together by our advisor, Eivind Almaas, to work on this project during the summer. Six of us are biotechnologists, so our team consists mainly of wetlab people. The last three students on the team have background in mathematics, physics and information technology, so we also have someone to take care of the modeling.
This is the first time a university in Norway is competing in iGEM, so we are all really happy to be on the first norwegian iGEM team ever.
Most of us have not been working much with synthetic biology before, so we are all learning a lot. And since synthetic biology is a relatively new and very interesting field, we are all excited to get the opportunity to be learning more about the subject.
When we first got together, we came up with several projects 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 had thought about. The stress sensor also seemed like a proper challenge, and since we all like a challenge, we went for it.
Until now, we've been having fun mainly on the lab, and not so much fun outside the lab, thanks to the crappy weather in Trondheim. Still, some days the weather has been nice, and on those days we have been barbequing.
Student members
Anders Halgunset
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| 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 protein characterization of different Legionella bacteria.
I joined the iGEM team to get valuable experience and for the opportunity to have 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. |
| Is unofficial world champion in long distance staircase running. | |
| The one with D aNd some A. |
Gunvor Røkke
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| I am 23 years old, and about to start my fifth year of studies on the master program of industrial chemistry and biotechnology. 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 being able to work 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. |
| Is able to whistle and hum in two-part harmony with herself! | |
| Isolation of DNA from bacteria, and gel electrophoresis. |
Jon Andreas Lorentzen
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| I am 24 years old, and have studied biotechnology at NTNU for four years. I have started working on my master thesis witch involves how the UTR region affects the gene expression.
I joined the iGem team because it's awsome and it's a valuble expreience 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. |
| Is a proffesional RPS (Rock, Paper, Scissor) player | |
| All of them |
Eirik Selsaas
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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 |
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The moment you look at your gel, and all the DNA-fragments look correct. |
Espen Bang Leistad
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| 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. |
| Most handsome in the team. | |
| I love the sound of our old beadbeater machine.. |
Christian Page
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| 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 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. |
| Is able to memorize 15 digits of pi and e. | |
| Turning on the PCR machine, and writing on the blackboard |
Henrik Fahre Lutro
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| I am 22 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 much more. I have however experience of making models of physical system and solving complex problems. My work will therefore mainly be to model the system to give as good understanding of the system as possible. |
| Can move my ears | |
| Looking at DNA fragments under UV light |
Adrian Ertsås Naas
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| 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 creae something cool was also a big motivator! |
| The strain of E. coli we're using was isolated from his hair. | |
| Growing culture to OD X +/- 0,01. |
Tormund S. Haus
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| Currently studying for a Master in Computer Science. Does most of the programming and wiki design. |
| I own a 7x7x7 Rubik's Cube, and can solve it. | |
| Drink random samples and see if they give me super powers. |
Advisors and instructors
Eivind Almaas
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| 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. |
| Big fan of 50's Rock'n Roll and Rockabilly. |
Rahmi Lale
| Rahmi Lale |
| Working as postodctoral fellow in Svein Valla's gene expression group. Research focus: transcriptional and translational regulation of bacterial gene expression, metabolic engineering and metagenome/bioprospecting. |
| Green incognito! |
Marius Eidsaa
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| Utdanning, forskningsinteresser, hobbyer... |
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Martin Gimmestad
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| Utdanning, forskningsinteresser, hobbyer... |
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Svein Valla
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| Utdanning, forskningsinteresser, hobbyer... |
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