Team:UCLouvain/Team

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The 2016 UCLouvain iGEM Team is composed of twelve students from our bioengineering, engineering and biology schools and two biology professors. Come and meet the team ...

Adrien Gauchet :

Adrien is a master student in bioengineering in chemical and bio-industry. In his field, he loves everything about catalysis systems and chemical reactions. Then, he’s certainly our chemist (our own Heisenberg) and our glucose syrup master (show him some respect). Thanks to him we have had the opportunity to grow our bacteria on a homemade media. Adrien will also be our GO (literally “Gentil Organisateur” = Nice Organizer) for our trip to Boston. By the way, he’s the french one of the team but certainly the most belgian of all the french expatriates. He would certainly be the one to come at our team’s meeting a bit tipsy.

Adrien in one song ? Surely, “Quand l’appétit va, tout va !” (Astérix et Obélix, Mission Cléopâtre)

Alexandre Mattenet :

Alexandre is a master student in civil engineering in computer science. His task in the Team is the wiki support! He has an incredible sense of design. Listening and playing some music with nothing else than a GameBoy and drawing at any time, this guy does real ART. For him the answer will always be 42.

Alex in one song ? Surely, ‘Nyan Cat’ (Tosh 8.0)

Antoine Godeaux :

Aaaah, the God!! Antoine is a master student in biology, but he’s our god. When he speaks everyone listens. For every situation he will give you some wonderful punchlines such as “We all make mistakes” or “Trust no one”. He likes when everything is straight and right. The God has a lot of experience in biology and he has huge ambitions for his future. He’s the one that makes a Skype for an internship on the other side of the globe while making some experiments in the lab at the same time.

Antoine in one song? Surely, “Downtown” (Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis).

Benjamin Devreux :

Benjamin is a master student in bioengineering in chemical and bio-industry. To put it simply, Benjamin will always disagree with you. Why ? Just to bother you, of course. He loves to grumble on everyone and about everything. But in reality when he makes something, he makes it right. For iGEM, he’s ready to make more than 150 petri dishes to make you happy. And thanks to him, we can explain our project to everyone with a simple but efficient video.

Benjamin in one song ? Surely, “Beat it” (Michael Jackson).

Damien Fivet :

Damien is a master student in bioengineering. Damien is clearly the father of the team. During hard moment, he’s the one that you send to negotiate with your opponent. He’s always calm and peaceful. Furthermore, Damien is the one who has a calendar in his hands, reminding you all the things to do and when. Without him, we would never have done anything in a timely manner.

Damien in one song ? Surely, “Hold that tiger” (The swing ninjas).

François Tyckaert :

François is a master student in biology. He is our DNA sequencing expert. He is also the redhead of the team (well, one of them). He has plenty of explanations for your lab’s problems… Maybe too much but never mind that, it’s often quite useful for the rest of the team.

François in one song? Surely, “Bare necessities” (The Jungle Book)

Grégory Godefroi :

Grégory is a master student in bioengineering. To describe him in few words, he is a hard worker. Ready to work a lot, at all time of the day or night. He’s also a true master in chemical physics field, or maybe not. Ask him, you’ll see. Grégory was also the guy who forced us to go outside (not for pleasure or to enjoy the sun, just to catch some pokemons ;) ).

Grégory in one song ? Surely, “Gotta catch em all” (Pokémon)

Joaquin Guzman :

Joaquin is a master student in biology. For us it’s Armando. He is the master of the lab… Well mostly during the afternoon, he is not a morning person ;). However, Joaquin will always be the guy with an answer to your question. He loves to explain everything, even the things that you already know. In a way, he’s the memory of the team.

Joaquin in one song? Surely, “Livin la Vida Loca” (Ricky Martin)

Kilian Dekoninck :

Kilian (or Kiki or Ki²) is a master student in bioengineering in chemical and bio-industry. He may be our team leader but for everyone he is the Texan guy of the team. You’ll better not expect to see Kiki outside of the lab even if he says he will come to have a drink. He is rarely in a bad mood, but when he is, you better not bother him. He made a wonderful job managing the team. He has impressive communication skills and brought us a lot of sponsorship with his huge address book.

Kiki in one song? “Like A Boss” (The Lonely Island)

Maxime Velings :

Maxime is a master student in bioengineering. Learning and gaining some experience in all the fields of the project, he found his way both in lab work and in social media. Always listening to some advices, he does his best to make sure that all things are all right … except at catching pokemon (need some iOS system upgrade ! :( )

One song for Max? Surely, “Viva la vida” (Coldplay)

Meredith Wouters :

Meredith is a master student in biology. Meredith makes her master thesis in the lab where we work. First, she was just curious about our project but finally she decided to join the team. She brings a lot of her molecular biologist’s formation to the project. Many times, she gave us some clues to move forward in our project. She’s essential to the team. Furthermore, she became the mother of the team...Well it’s simple, she’s the only “she” of the team, she had no choice.

Meredith in one song? Surely, “This girl is on fire” (Alicia Keys)

Pierre-Antoine Masscheleyn :

Pierre-Antoine or just PA (it’s easier) is a master student in bioengineering. He joined the project while he was in exchange program in Helsinki. What he likes to do in the lab is to remind you of all the basic biosafety procedures. His favorite game is telling you when your hands are no more sterile. PA is the kind of person who can participate in multiple projects (like iGEM) at the same time, he just likes to have a lot on his plate.

PA in one song? Surely, “I will wait” (Mumford and sons)

Prof. Bernard Hallet :

Bernard is one of the PI of the BBGM lab in Louvain-La-Neuve (Biochemistry, Biophysics and Genetics of Microorganisms). His work focusses on molecular mechanisms of DNA transposition and site-specific recombination.

Formation:

Master degree in Biology at UCL and PhD in bacterial genetics at UCL (Biology Dpt, Prof. J. Delcour). Postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford, UK (Biochemistry Dpt, Prof. D.J. Sherratt). Research associate at the FNRS, Lecturer at UCL since 2001.

Fields of expertise:

  • Molecular and bacterial genetics
  • Biochemistry of protein-DNA interactions
  • Mechanisms of DNA recombination and transposition
  • Genome plasticity and Bacterial cell cycle


Prof. Patrice Soumillion :

Prof. Patrice Soumillion is one of the group leaders of the research on enzyme engineering and accelerated evolution in the group of "Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Genetics of Microorganisms (BBGM)".

Formation:

Master's Degree in chemistry and Ph.D. in biochemistry at UCL (1994). Postdoctoral training at PennState University (USA, Prof. S.J. Benkovic), Research associate at FNRS (1998-2006), and Associate Professor at UCL since 2006.

Fields of expertise:

  • Enzymology and protein biochemistry (beta-lactamases, DD-peptidases, penicillin acylase, inteins)
  • Phage display and directed evolution technologies

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