Team Bio

We are University of Leeds’s first iGEM team, composed of 8 undergraduates: five biochemists (Joe, Jonah, Oleg, Jeni, and Emily), a physicist (Paul), an engineer/nano-technologist (Dan) and a neuroscientist (Sabrina). We are further supported by faculty, post-docs and graduate students from the schools of Chemistry, Physics, and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Our research project aim is to develop a diagnostic strain of E.coli that can be flexibly repurposed to report the presence of a diversity of particles in solution, including living cells. A major application we envisage is on-site testing for waterborne pathogens. We are enthusiastic to conduct outreach efforts in both Yorkshire and cyberspace, with plans for presenting at local schools and for creating online tutorial videos.

Leeds iGEM Team

We are University of Leeds’s first iGEM team, composed of 8 undergraduates: five biochemists (Joe, Jonah, Oleg, Jeni, and Emily), a physicist (Paul), an engineer/nano-technologist (Dan) and a neuroscientist (Sabrina). We are further supported by faculty, post-docs and graduate students from the schools of Chemistry, Physics, and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Our research project aim is to develop a diagnostic strain of E.coli that can be flexibly repurposed to report the presence of a diversity of particles in solution, including living cells. A major application we envisage is on-site testing for waterborne pathogens. We are enthusiastic to conduct outreach efforts in both Yorkshire and cyberspace, with plans for presenting at local schools and for creating online tutorial videos.

Jonah Ciccone

We're the first iGem team from the University of Leeds. Unlike many iGem teams we are small and student-led, although faculty members tend to drop in and offer advice.
The iGem project is an exciting chance for us to fund, design and develop our own piece of synthetic biology. We're also working on scientific outreach programs, we've been working with high school children to explain the wonders of SynBio; alongside taking a few older students into our lab for demonstrations.
We've also been making educational videos to spread the word of SynBio, check them out on our youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/igemleeds/videos
Please check out our wiki for more information; http://2013.igem.org/Team:Leeds

Paul Turner

Paul is a 4th year physicist at Leeds and the part of his degree he enjoys most is the aspects of problem solving. Outside of university he enjoys 10 pin bowling and has an interest in history. He is good at breaking down complex problems and explaining ideas and concepts to others. Skills Paul brings to the iGEM team are physical experiment design and coding experience for the website and computer side of the project. As a physicist he also has an outside view of synthetic biology

Emily Taylor

Emily is a second year biochemistry student at the University of Leeds with a particular interest in proteins, nucleosomes, and the field of immunology. Keen on volunteering, Emily hopes to one day work with elephants and children in Thailand! Emily lends her impressive organization skills, work ethic, and forward thinking vision to the Leeds iGEM team (and they thank her for it!). By the end of the project, Emily hopes to have built upon her lab skills and gain research experience in the real world of scientific research.

Sabrina Knight

Sabrina studied neuroscience at Leeds because she is interested in how we think, why we think and how it affects our behaviour. Of particular interest is neuropathology, or diseases affecting the brain, which Sabrina is hoping to study further at Imperial when she takes on her Masters. She joined the team because it offered novel and interesting to research and get involved in. Although the Team's project does not focus on neurology currently, Sabrina still brings essential skills and 3 years worth of lab experience - not to mention a different viewpoint!