Team:UZurich/Team
Team
Members
Franka Butzbach
Franka Butzbach
Team Lead, Bachelor student Biology & Business administration
iGEM sparked my interest because of its interdisciplinarity and the opportunity to apply what I learned in my courses. I greatly appreciated the chance to gain insights on team organisation, research and outreach.
Timothy Kurer
Timothy Kurer
Human Practices, Bachelor student Biology & Neuroinformatics
iGEM sparked my interest as a chance to get out of the bubble of theoretical study at University and to actually apply my skills on a project and all of its facets that go so far beyond what we encounter in a lecture. Synthetic biology is fascinating to me because not only does it provide opportunity for real solutions, it does so in a way where we must think outside the box and grants us the opportunity to invent our own, new systems. iGEM was not what I thought it would be - but it was worth it every step of the way and I have grown and learned much in this time.
Elio Marangi
Elio Marangi
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biomedicine
I realised early on during my studies that, while lectures are important, nothing tops hands-on experience to become a good researcher. While I did a number of practicals before, they all still felt very hand-held and didn’t give the students much agency concerning the planning of the projects. This is where IGEM gave me an opportunity unlike any other during my Bachelors degree. Here, the decisions that the students make during the planning and execution of the project, of course with the invaluable advice of the supervisors, decide whether it will be a stunning success or a bitter failure. The experience gained by either outcome would certainly prove to be immeasurable during my further studies.
Nicolas Fink
Nicolas Fink
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biology
Ever since I can remember, I have been intrigued by how the world around us works. This fascination only grew bigger and became a passion of mine, once I began studying biology at the University of Zurich. I joined iGEM, as synthetic biology is highly fascinating to me. I firmly believe that through building novel, modular and tunable systems we will be able to open doors, we previously did not even know existed. Moreover, I see iGEM as a valuable learning experience for working with a team towards a common, defined goal. Furthermore, since I was part of the wetlab team, iGEM offered the opportunity to acquire new lab skills and improve on my existing ones.
Jonas Trottmann
Jonas Trottmann
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biology
My decision to get engaged in the world of synthetic biology was instigated by its great potentiality. The thought of furthering the development of novel systems by applying biological tools to tackle the world’s most serious predicaments excites and motivates me to put all the effort into understanding facts and systems whose complexity could otherwise be deterring. When I had the chance to be a part of iGEM, I seized this opportunity with great appreciation, as it offers a chance to further my knowledge, skills and personal growth in an enjoyable and meaningful way.
Michelle von Arx
Michelle von Arx
Wetlab, Bachelor student Biology
The alternative and creative approach with which synthetic biology adresses some of the world's most prominent problems fascinated me ever since my first biology lecture. Being now part of an iGEM team is not only a great lab and team experience, but also provided me with an insight into the dynamic processes shaping the future of genetic engineering. Contributing to genuine, basic and promising research in the field of synthetic biology is the prime driver of motivation for all my efforts, which focus on a team derived overall result.
Philip Schulz
Philip Schulz
Wetlab & Wiki, Bachelor student Biology
I wanted to join iGEM since I first heard about it during my first semester of studying biology, it sounded like a great chance to really learn in a practical environment. Since I also have an interest in engineering, I was intrigued by the idea of applying engineering principles to biological systems. I also enjoyed putting my IT knowledge to work by developing our wiki.
Erik Jung
Erik Jung
Drylab, Master student Chemical and Molecular Sciences
Even though I study organic chemistry I have always had a strong interest in how it connects to biology. iGEM was the perfect opportunity to learn more about molecular biology. I especially enjoy how we are only limited by our imagination - we can design an entire sensing system from scratch! The journey from the first brainstorming sessions through several detours before we finally arrived at our project made us look at synthetic biology from a lot of angles and was a lot of fun.
Supervisors
Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel
Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel
Principal Investigator
As former Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich (UK) and current Chair of Molecular and Cellular Plant Physiology at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology of the University of Zurich, Cyril has over 20 years of experience in the field of molecular plant sciences.
He welcomed our team’s idea and his entrepreneurial thinking contributed greatly to our project finding. We profited from the ambitious environment in his laboratory, where we were encouraged to challenge ourselves and received valuable inputs towards our ideas.
His research group is focusing particularly on cell surface-localised immune receptors, called pattern recognition receptors, that perceive microbe-derived or endogenous patterns to activate innate immune responses. In addition, they are interested in identifying and engineering immune receptors to improve disease resistance in crops.
We are incredibly thankful to Cyril, as he has not only supported us by providing space and expertise, but also for his personal contribution to our project.
Dr. Isabel Monte
Dr. Isabel Monte
Isabel is currently working as a postdoc at Cyril Zipfel’s laboratory. She’s working on the model plants Marchantia polymorpha and Arabidopsis thaliana. With her interest in signaling and plant evolution, she helped us with creative ways to work in the lab and always stood by our side for any questions concerning either experiments or general technique.
Dr. Kyle Bender
Dr. Kyle Bender
Like Isabel, Kyle is a post doctoral researcher in Zurich, and has held the same position in Norwich as well. Kyle is interested in the molecular mechanisms regulating protein kinases for signal transduction. His current projects fall in the field of the regulatory properties of plant receptor kinases. Both Isabel and Kyle went above and beyond to support us in our everyday lab life. Their dedication to the project and to the team is invaluable to us.
Advisors
Cauã Westmann
Cauã Westmann
Cauã is a PhD student at the University of Zurich. His main interest lies at the interface between Synthetic Biology and Evolutionary Biology. With years of experience in the iGEM competition in many roles, he was able to elaborate on a lot of uncertainties and questions we had concerning our participation in the international competition. He was always just one text message away and made a huge effort to support the entire team.
Dr. João Molino
Dr. Joao Molino
Joao is a postdoc in the same laboratory at the University of Zurich as one of our team members, which is how we knew him. He’s an interdisciplinary researcher and particularly supported us in our work with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. His support towards handling the organism as well as supplying us with vectors majorly facilitated our work.