Meet Our Team
The Penn State iGEM team is a passionate group of 6 undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds in science, engineering, and design. Over the past several months, our team has collaborated closely to conceptualize, design, and execute an ambitious project aimed at advancing the iGEM competition goals of education, scientific discovery, and entrepreneurship. Team members have contributed their individual strengths - from writing code to build the wiki to designing our riboswitch sequences to presenting our work engagingly using visual aids. The diversity of thought across disciplines, including biology, computer science, and graphic design, is what makes our small but mighty team special. Read on to meet the team and hear about our worst mistakes in the lab!
Chloe Lange
Hi! My name is Chloe! I am a third-year student in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I am originally from Florida and fell in love with the seasons! In our iGEM team, I collaborated with industry and clinical professionals to assess the profitability and marketable use of our diagnostic aid. A mistake I made in the lab was when we were carrying out mini preps and I forgot to add isopropyl to the solution so our samples eluted immediately.
Alek Grady
Hi Im Alek. Im a fourth year Biochemistry and molecular biology student, and plan to enter the pharmaceutical industry after graduating. As our iGEM team’s wet lab lead, I oversaw day-to-day wet lab activities and delegated work to ensure everything was being handled. In addition to lab experiments, I helped with wet lab documentation by recording and collecting data and other details about our experimentation, and I assisted in other areas as needed. My worst mistake in the lab was when I used undiluted DNA wash buffer when cleaning up plasmid DNA, causing it to elute early into waste.
Lucas Ng
Hey, I'm Luke! I'm a third-year undergrad in Chemical Engineering, and I have a particular interest in pharmaceuticals and developing new medicines. As Team Lead, I do whatever I can, wherever I can. I raise and budget our funds, delegate work to the team, oversee and edit the Wiki, and coordinate the integration of our wet lab, dry lab, and human practices initiatives. My worst mistake in the lab was when I forgot to add GelStar to our agarose gel towards the end of a very long day, and I then had to throw out a gel that was fully loaded with digestions. I will never forget GelStar again.
HaoYing (Morris) Hsieh
Hey! I’m Morris. I am a 22 year-old senior studying Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. In our iGEM team worked on building the wiki and contributed in the initial project conceptualization and analysis, as well as some wetlab tasks. One mistake I made in the lab was one time while making a gel I forgot to put gel star in it and stuff just sat there while I’m wondering why it looks weird.
Cecelia Micelli
Hello! My name is Cecelia Micelli. I am a sophomore studying chemical engineering at Penn State. In our iGEM team, I did a little bit of everything, taking part in the wet lab, dry lab, and human practices. This summer I learned the importance of double checking to make sure you are using sterile eppendorfs when making CC cells. Otherwise you may have to throw out all your work once you realize...
Misha Nazir
Hi! My name is Misha and I’m a third-year undergrad in Biotechnology. I'm particularly interested in exploring the pharmaceutical industry. In our iGEM team, I take part in wet lab tasks alongside graphic design and social media marketing. My worst mistake in the lab was probably when I didn't realize the TAE buffer wasn't diluted and used it as it was to make a gel for digestion. Luckily I realized before I ran the gel.
Kashish Goel
Hey! My name is Kashish Goel. I recently graduated from Penn State with a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering and started my Ph.D. at Rice University in Systems, Synthetic, Physical Biology program. In the iGEM team, I was involved with fundraising, logistics, team selection, and pretty much everything revolving around laying the groundwork to make this experience possible for other undergrad students!
Graduate Mentors
Erin Essington
Erin is a PhD student working in Dr.Howard Salis’ Lab. She is working on building and characterizing novel genetic circuits inside soil bacteria to detect and respond to toxic chemicals.
James McLellan
James is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. He joined the Salis Lab in the Fall of 2020, where he is developing new types of genetic circuits capable of multi-input, higher order, processing for complex biological pattern recognition and biocomputation. When he is not in the lab pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a Synthetic Biologist, much like the scientists who successfully cloned the dinosaurs in Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, James can be found embarking on intrepid dayhikes, playing guitar, or caring for his cat, Huckleberry.
Harry Adamson
Harry Adamson, a PhD student working in Dr.Howard Salis’ Lab, specializing in synthetic biology. In our iGEM journey, he contributed to the team’s growth and research. His contributions helped the team get up to speed on the protocols and preparations needed for the iGEM competition.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Howard Salis
As newcomers to synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, our initial weeks were spent immersing ourselves in this fascinating field under the guidance of our faculty advisor, Dr. Howard Salis. Through invaluable troubleshooting advice and thought-provoking questions, Dr. Salis has shared his extensive knowledge to stimulate our critical thinking and growth. He primary focus is on developing approaches to rationally engineer synthetic biological systems, including metabolic pathways, genetic circuits, and genomes.
Our Sponsors
The Penn State iGEM Team could not have participated in iGEM this year without the support of our sponsors. Thank you for your support!
