The 2023 Team
Angela Szilvas, Biological Engineering Graduating 2024
Angela is studying biological engineering and plans to graduate in 2024. This is her second year in iGEM, deciding to return because she found it very beneficial to meet so many driven people from across the world, and wanted to continue working on developing leadership skills. She is looking forward to traveling back to Paris to see returning friends and meet new ones. She is also a mom to her cat, Remy, who has his own TikTok account.
Elijah Lothrop, Chemical Engineering Graduating 2025
Elijah has been captivated by molecular genetics and newfound techniques for engineering biological systems since entering college. He is back for his second year with The Ohio State iGEM team as its president! He is excited to lead the team through an amazing and unique research experience, and to learn about type three secretion systems. He loves to roller skate and dance in his free time.
Aadi Dutt, Biological Engineering Graduating 2024
Aadi decided to join iGEM to advance his interest in synthetic biology and to gain valuable experience working in a team setting. He loves competing, and is also a part of The Ohio State Powerlifting team. He is also a very big video game nerd.
Alyssa Smith, Biological Engineering Graduating 2024
Alyssa joined iGEM because she was interested in gaining bioengineering research experience and working with others who shared her passion in biology. She joined the team excited to apply biology and other sciences as a team on a real world application in a laboratory setting. She also travels the world playing and judging the Pokemon video game competitively, and has recently been to the Netherlands, London, and Tokyo for competitions.
Ava Lacy, Biological Engineering Graduating 2024
Ava decided to join iGEM for the fun opportunity to to apply biological solutions in a team setting, as she has never done it before. She is excited to know that the team is helping the world while having fun and learning a lot. She likes to rock climb, bake, and play soccer in her free time.
Amer Abdelbaki, Biochemistry Graduating 2026
Amer decided to join iGEM this year to gain experience with a student-led research project that values community outreach. He is excited to collaborate with students who hold diverse skill sets and goals. For fun, he enjoys playing piano and bothering his siblings.
Chethana Yerramsetty, Biomedical Engineering Graduating 2024
Chethana joined iGEM to be part of a dynamic team at the intersection of science and innovation. iGEM offers a unique platform to apply her curiosity for synthetic biology, solve real-world challenges, and contribute to a brighter, more sustainable future. Her favorite somnambulism activities include gardening and doing math incorrectly.
David Chung, High School Student
David decided to join iGEM because he learned about the incredible opportunities to help the community, while integrating innovative biotechnology and working together with a group of like-minded colleagues. He also wanted to gain experience in this field and learn as much as he could from those who have gone through a similar path. He also says ‘pecan’ as pecan, not pecan.
Haley Gosselin, Biochemistry Graduating 2024
Haley joined iGEM because it sounded like a unique way to gain research experience that would be valuable for graduate school. She is very interested in the drug discovery process and finds the team’s type three secretion system project extremely interesting. She is excited to see how the team can use synthetic biology to advance the field of pharmaceutics with T3SS. She also loves all kinds of animals, and is currently the owner of a dog, cat, and 11 hermit crabs, but hopes to add to that list.
Jasritha Guddanti, Microbiology Graduating 2025
Jasritha joined the iGEM team because she was fascinated by the growing field of synthetic biology, and was captivated by the idea of addressing current world challenges through the use of biological systems. She was also interested in working with a diverse team, along with bringing unique and creative ideas to the table. On the side, she plays the violin and guitar.
Jay Patel, Biological Engineering Graduating 2024
Jay joined iGEM this year to develop his skills working with biological substances and as a bioengineer. He joined the team looking forward to working with everyone and seeing the team’s project come into reality. Outside of iGEM, he plays the piano and flute, and can also make his flute sound like a duck.
Jinju Kim, Biomedical Graduating 2025
Jinju joined iGEM after learning about the field of synthetic biology during her major class for biomedical engineering. In high school, she was a part of a competitive robotics team for four years, and wanted to find a similar opportunity related to biotechnology and research. iGEM was the perfect match for her, with a chance to work in a team environment and continue her passion of hands-on skills for both wet-lab and dry-lab. As a previous outreach co-chair for another academic student organization, she looks forward to working with school communities and educating younger students in synthetic biology. She lived in Mumbai, India for five years, and can speak Korean fluently.
Laksh Dhir, Neuroscience Graduating 2026
Laksh joined iGEM because he believes synthetic biology will help to reduce environmental and ethical concerns regarding biological research. He values sustainability through biology, and joined looking forward to working towards sustainable goals in research. He has also seen a black bear sitting in a tree at Lake Eola Park in Orlando, Florida.
Samuel Dain, Molecular Genetics Graduating 2025
Samuel decided to join The Ohio State iGEM team to acquire invaluable hands-on experience with designing novel synthetic organisms in order to address real-world problems. The passionate minds of their colleagues never stop inspiring them to challenge themself to both work harder and think differently. They also speak German and enjoy flight simulators.
Selina Wu, Biochemistry Graduating 2025
Robert Furlong, Molecular Genetics Graduating 2024
Both Selina and Robert joined our team and were involved in funding and background research, but ultimately decided to leave the team due to external conflicts.