IGEM Team

See http://2014.igem.org/Team:SF_Bay_Area_DIYbio/Team

The Real Vegan Cheese iGEM Team

We are a group of bay area biohackers of all ages and experience levels.

TEAM MEMBERS

Mohammed Almahbashi, BS, Biology - Human Physiology

He is currently student at City college of San Francisco pursuing a Biotechnology lab assistant certificate. He is also currently an intern at UCSF Mission Bay. His lab studies the cell Cycle and how the post translational modification of proteins regulate cell cycle with the contribution of DNA damage response. His lab uses the Yeast as our system Model to study the DNA damage respond in Yeast.

Maria Chavez, MBA, Global Management

Maria has a diverse background and experience. She has been involved with BioCurious and the community lab projects for over 3 years. She is enthusiastic about science and DIY Bio. The Real Vegan Cheese project includes a full range of issues and challenges that drew her interest in the project.

Meenakshi Choudhary, PhD, Biosciences

Meenakshi's research interest focus on learning innovation. she has been involved in different research project like Algae and Cyanobacterial bioremediation, anti diabetic property of Cyanobacteria and Bacterial Bioluminiscence and working with BioCurious for over 2 years. The vegan Cheese project is very interesting and challenging to her.

Patrik D'haeseleer, PhD, computer Science

Patrik D’haeseleer is a bioinformatician by day, mad scientist by night. He is a cofounder of Counter Culture Labs, community projects coordinator and leader of the BioPrinter group at BioCurious, and scientific advisor of the Glowing Plant project. He participated in iGEM 2004 as part of the Harvard/BU team while doing his postdoc at the Church lab.

Rachel Linzer, PhD, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Rachel has been involved with research on multiple human and forest disease systems and maintains a parallel interest in bioethical issues. For the past five years, she's been an at-home parent tending her own two mating experiments, so she's especially excited about participating in community biology. Rachel has been a part of Counter Culture Labs and BioCurious since 2014.

Matthew Milford, High School Senior

Matthew is a high school senior currently interested in biomechanical engineering. He participates in the BioPrinter group, is President of the Physics Club, and is an Officer of two other school clubs. Matthew is currently conducting preliminary research on bacterial metabolization of toxins for a special research project at his school. In his sophomore year he sent an experiment to space.

Nikola Nikolov, PhD, Nuclear Physics

Nikola has a diverse background and experience. He has been involved with BioCurious since 2013. He has a PhD in nuclear physics. He is involved in the semiconductor industry, programming, and nano technologies.

Advait Patil, High Schooler

Advait Patil is a high schooler who has a passion for science, biology, and synthetic biology. He has competed and won four medals in the state science olympiad. He is also a Junior Solar Sprint Challenge finalist, and was on his school's science bowl team. He is sincerely determined to learn about and participate in synthetic biology, and aspires to create or discover something that will change the world. He has been involved with Biocurious since 2013, and Is excited to be a part of the Real Vegan Cheese team.

Lafia Sebastian, MSc, Biotechnology

Lafia is a postgraduate in Biotechnology and a graduate in life science. She also completed the certificate course in Biotechnology from the university of California, Santa Cruz. She worked as a research assistant in a liposome drug delivery company. During her graduate studies she was involved in various projects such as assay of biofertilizers, antimicrobial activity of aloe-Vera, bacterial bioluminescence and development of Cyano bacterial biofertilizer and shelf-life. She has been working at BioCurious since 2013. She is proud to be a part of such an exciting real vegan cheese project

Craig Rouskey, MSc, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology

Molecular Immunologist and Biohacker, has researched adoptive T cell therapies for leukemia and prostate cancer, elucidated a role for novel T cell types in psoriasis, created bacterially-vectored protein and DNA vaccines, and is currently the Principal Scientist for the Immunity Project - working to create a PLGA-vectored HIV-1 vaccine free, to the world.

Johan Sosa

Johan has a background in computer security. He has been involved with BioCurious since 2012. He is into everything science. The idea of making Vegan Cheese is exciting to him.

Rebecca Wilbanks, BA, PhD Candidate, Modern Thought and Literature

Rebecca is working on a PhD in Stanford's program in Modern Thought and Literature on the speculative futures of biotechnology, combining literature, science studies, and the history and philosophy of science. Previously, she taught biology at the Bronx High School of Science, and is interested in the intersection of science and culture.