During my studies I have always liked to do extracurricular things and to work on projects with a real impact on healthcare. I find synthetic biology very inspiring and I believe that it is the future for healthcare. iGEM is a great opportunity where we can make a big societal impact and it offers me an enormous chance to develop myself further in both a professional and a personal way. As the team manager, I will keep track of all parts of the project and keep the bigger picture of the project in mind, making sure that all parts are connected. Besides, I will make sure to unite the team and to have a great time together.
Elisa Passet – Public relations captain and secretary
Now that I almost reached the end of my masters Biomedical engineering, I feel like this is the last chance for me to join a student team, something that I have wanted for some time. In my current studies I am part of the Compuational Biology research group, more specifically the Systems Medicine and Metabolic Disease research group, where we work on systemic models of metabolic diseases. Besides that I like making and adjusting biological models, I am excited to set my first steps in the lab. I am ready for a new challenge and feel like iGEM is the perfect opportunity because of the medical impact that we can make with our project. I get excited about the medical side of iGEM which is closely related to my studies, but am most of all motivated to further develop my soft skills as public relations and secretary of iGEM 2022. This year my main goals are to make iGEM more known among other disciplines and organize the mini Jamboree, a competition for iGEM teams in the Benelux.
Jakob Scheele – External affairs and Human Practices captain
Program: BME. Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Biology
Hi everyone, my name is Jakob Scheele. I am 21 years old and currently I am in the first year of my Master’s Program Biomedical Engineering at the TU/e with a focus on chemical biology. Coming year I will be External Affairs & Human Practices captain of iGEM 2022, building relationships with external stakeholders such as hospitals, companies and research institutes. During my studies at the TU/e, I am developing my ability to apply biological, chemical and engineering principles to contribute to novel molecular concepts concerning therapeutics, diagnostics and well-being. Combined with my entrepreneurial interests, I strive towards translating these concepts into real-live applications to combat challenges regarding medicine and innovation of healthcare. Therefore, I am excited to discuss our iGEM project with different types of stakeholders and make more people enthusiastic about synthetic biology, iGEM and our project. Additionally, I would like to further develop my biochemical research and practical skills by assisting in the lab.
Femi Hesen – Modeling captain
Program/major: MSc. Biomedical Engineering, Protein Engineering
In this iGEM project, I will be the modeling captain and be responsible for the computer model. In my bachelor, I learned a lot about chemical biology and tissue engineering. With this project, I want to apply this knowledge by making the computer model, and in this way learn and improve my skills such as modeling, collaboration, and soft skills. The iGEM team appealed to me because I can finally apply my knowledge into practice and make something with this knowledge. I am looking forward to taking on this challenge with this team and having a great time.
Wouter Langers – Lab captain
Program/major: MSc, Biomedical Engineering, Precision Medicine
Hello everyone! My name is Wouter Langers, I am 23 years old and currently in the first year of my Master’s Programme Biomedical Engineering in the cluster of Chemical Engineering. I believe that joining iGEM allows me to put my theoretical knowledge, which I have gained in my bachelors, into practice. Besides this, it will give me the possibility to simultaneously improve my soft-skills. This year I will be the Lab Captain of the iGEM Eindhoven team. This means that I will be responsible for everything related to the lab, this includes making protocols, plannings and presentations. I will be in close contact with the other team members and the lab supervisor to discuss the results we get from the experiments.
Floor van Boxtel – Finance manager, sponsor coordinator
Program/major: MSc. Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Biology
After my bachelor I was looking for something new and challenging aside from my master. After hearing good stories about the iGEM competition, it was clear to me that I wanted to join this team myself, so that I can develop and improve new skills. Next to this, I think it is really cool that this competition gives students the opportunity to come up with a new, creative project to solve a medical problem by using synthetic biology. As finance manager & sponsor coordinator I get to learn how to promote our team and project in the best possible way to gain all the sponsors we need. Together with being a lab captain, I can completely focus on realizing our project into a final product. I am very curious what we will obtain during the competition with this amazing team!
Rian Driedijk – Education human practices
Program/major: BSc. Biomedical Engineering
Hi everyone, my name is Rian Driedijk, I am 19 years old and currently in the 2nd year of my bachelors biomedical engineering. I was looking for some new experiences besides my study and I wanted to learn some new skills. Also I always have loved the idea of doing a project with a team. Working together to make the world a little better and coming up with an awesome idea. All of that is what I have found within iGEM. As an Education human practices captain I will be working on making the world of synthetic biology more known to people not familiar with it. With this task I can improve my soft skills. Besides I will also help in the lab, where I can obtain some more lab experience. I am looking forward to this year and I am very excited to see where it brings me!
Kim Wintraecken – Lead designer
Program: MSc. Industrial Design
Hello everyone, my name is Kim. During my studies, I have always been driven by designing meaningful designs that positively impact society. For me, this means designing for healthcare and improving quality of life. I am driven by curiosity in both my everyday life and my way of working. It leads me to endless discovery, learning and creativity. I am eager to learn new things. I am regularly seeking ways to improve and develop myself in and explore my field of interest: the health care industry. I saw a lot of opportunities in joining iGEM to explore this field of interest. As the lead designer, I get to improve my hard skills, such as design thinking and UX research, and my soft skills, such as collaboration and problem-solving. I am very excited to start this new challenge and work together with this motivating team!
Famke Klop – Website and Wiki captain
Program/major: B.Sc. Biomedical engineering
After about one and a half years of my bachelors degree I realized I didn’t want to hold back on all the incredible opportunities the university offers and develop myself outside of my degree. Around the same time I first learned about the iGEM student team. Not only does iGEM provide a great way to develop and gain new skills and knowledge, it also fits well within my bachelors degree and hopefully gives me more insight in the direction I want to go to further in my studies. This year I will be Wiki and Website captain. This entails that I will manage the Eindhoven website and will be responsible for building the team Wiki. I look forward to this year and hope to gain new skills and knowledge I did not even think about when starting.
Principal Investigators
Prof.dr.ir. L. (Luc) Brunsveld
Prof. dr. ir. Luc Brunsveld is a professor at TU Eindhoven. His main research interests lie in the field of chemical biology, like biochemistry or molecular cell biology. Besides lecturing students, he conducts research concerning protein-protein interactions.
Prof.dr. M. (Maarten) Merkx
Prof. dr. Maarten Merkx is a professor at the TU Eindhoven. He is an expert on protein sensors and leads the research group Protein Engineering operating at the interface of chemical biology and synthetic biology.
Prof. dr. ir. T.F.A. (Tom) de Greef
Dr.ir. Tom de Greef is Associate Professor of Synthetic Biology in the department of Biomedical engineering. He is an expert at modelling dynamic systems and synthetic circuits.
Instructors
Dr. Alexander Gräwe
iGEM enthusiast since 2015. For me it is always nice to see how teams develop their skills over the course of just half a year, and what great results can be produced if everybody works together as a team. Looking forward to instruct and help the TU/e team this year.
MSc. Anna-Maria Makri Pistikou
Anna-Maria Makri Pistikou is a PhD candidate in synthetic biology at the TU Eindhoven. Her work focuses on synthetic receptors for immunotherapy.
Ir. Bryan Nathalia
New to the iGEM competition concept, but very much looking forward to instruct and help this year’s team in the lab. As a PhD Candidate in Synthetic Biology, focussing on mammalian synthetic receptors, I will instruct and assist the iGEM team with their work on mammalian cells.
Advisors
Fleur Kalberg
The iGEM journey of 2021 was such a great and educational experience that cannot be forgotten. In my year, we had Claire Michielsen from the iGEM team of 2019 who guided us during the year and gave many tips. This iGEM year, I am excited to take over this role for the tasks I have done in the team. I look forward to sharing my knowledge with the new TU/e iGEM team, giving feedback from an outside view but mostly having fun together!
Josephina Smiths
Being part of the Eindhoven iGEM 2021 Team was a great way to challenge my personal and academic growth, but most importantly a lot of fun. Looking back, I learned loads I wouldn’t have learned in a long time from now, about laboratory work as well as being in a (self-organized) team. Now I am looking forward to conveying all that knowledge onto the new team. I am very much looking forward to how the iGEM 2022 Team will perform!
Luke Rossen
iGEM has given me a tremendously eventful and lucrative year of growth and fun, but it was also full of hurdles to overcome. Having to pick up where the 2019 team left off meant we had to set up a lot of framework in addition to working our project, all in conjunction with the first functioning year of our new foundation. This meant for me in particular that I saw my year as team manager as an opportunity to leave the team behind in a better way than we found it, so that newer teams do not have to reinvent the wheel and are able to build and grow on the progress of previous teams. By revising the supervisor structure and entering the foundation I hope to promote the continuity and professionalization of iGEM Eindhoven, and increase its presence and impact, both on and off campus.
Daniek Hoorn
Being part of the iGEM 2021 team, I became really enthusiastic about the iGEM competition and all the new innovative projects the iGEM teams come up with every year. As experiencing myself what can be accomplished with a team in only a short period of time, I am eager to help the new 2022 team to achieve the best they can! With my experience as Finance manager, Sponsor coordinator and Lab captain I’m looking forward to transfer all my knowledge and help them to build a successful project and develop their academic and soft skills!
