Team
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Student Team Members
McKayla Vlasity: Chemical and Biological Engineering Major (Senior)
McKayla is a senior majoring in Biological and Chemical Engineering. She has been on the iGEM team for two years and is primarily focused on wet-lab design as well as the experimental parts of the project. She is interested in iGEM because it brings together international students all interested in genetic engineering.
Lauren VanHousen - Chemical and Biological Engineering Major (Senior)
Lauren is a senior majoring in Biological and Chemical Engineering. She has been on the iGEM team for two years and is primarily focused on wet-lab design and experimental aspects of the project. As a Colorado native, she enjoys snowboarding and hiking in her spare time.
Sydney Russ - Chemical and Biological Engineering Major (Junior)
Sydney is a junior majoring in Biological and Chemical Engineering. She joined as a testament to her weighted interest in the biological and protein engineering aspects. She was primarily focused on optimizing the Python model, but contributed to multiple aspects of the project. As a Colorado native, she enjoys being outside in all weather conditions. In her spare time, she bakes and aspires to fly small aircraft.
Aloha Churchill - Computer Science and Applied Math (Freshman)
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Aloha is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and Applied Math. She joined the team because she is interested in the connections between computer science and biological engineering. In her free time, she enjoys trail running and playing piano.
Additional Team Members (Not Officially on Roster)
Maria Sacconi - Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology; Neuroscience, Major (Junior)
Lea Hibbard - Chemical and Biological Engineering Major (Freshman)
Lea is a freshman majoring in Chemical and Biological Engineering, originally from Colorado. She joined the iGEM team through her interest in protein engineering and contributed to project finalization and modeling. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, hiking, and spending time with friends.
Ryan Miller
PIs
Brian DeDecker (Primary PI) is a Senior Instructor for the Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology (MCDB) department at CU Boulder. His research efforts are focused on developing techniques and tools for the field of synthetic biology.
Chris J. Myers (Secondary PI) received the BS degree in electrical engineering and Chinese history in 1991 from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and the MSEE and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Before arriving at CU Boulder, he was a professor and associate chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
![](https://www.colorado.edu/ecee/sites/default/files/styles/small/public/people/chris_myers.png)
Mentor
Jet Mante