Heinrich-Heine University
Universitätsstraße 1
40225 Düsseldorf
igem@hhu.de
facebook.com/igemhhu
Design by Marvin van Aalst

Our team

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Alina Kuklinski

Nickname: grüner Bär
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: table tennis, cooking, pubs, hiking, nature
Favorite chemical: Trimethyl borate - because it is a colourless liquid that burns with a green flame.
Favorite Pokémon: Venonat
Favorite Beer: "Altbier" Düsseldorf's best beer
Favorite Quote: “No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.” - Elbert Hubbard

Carima Weinert

Nickname: catlady
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Food and TV shows
Favorite Enzyme: RuBisCo
Favorite Pokémon: Sheinux
Favorite Beer: Veltins
Life Motto: Driver picks the music shotgun shuts his cakehole

Carolin Krämer

Nickname: Mutti
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Cooking, baking, reading
Favorite Chemical: Prolin
Favorite Pokémon: Arcanine
Favorite Beer: Koelsch
Life Motto: Live slow. Die whenever

Claudia Kalus

Nickname: DrosophiLORD
Study Path: Biology, B.Sc.
Hobbys: Drawing
Favorite Enzyme: RubisCO
Favorite Pokémon: Bulbasaur
Favorite Beer: Beck's Gold
Life Motto/Favorite Quote/Philosophy: Wer nicht phagt, der nicht gewinnt!

Dorian Röders

Nickname: Doreen
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Falconry, hunting and bouldering
Favorite Chemical:Ethidium bromide
Favorite Pokémon: Milotic
Favorite Beer: I am alergic to beer :(
Life Motto: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger or cripples you

Erdem Sunal

Nickname: Erdemeyerkolben
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Judo & Basketball
Favorite Chemical:Dinitrogen monoxide
Favorite Pokémon: Scyther
Favorite Beer: Ayran
Philosophy:"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend." -Bruce Lee

Julia Kapr

Nickname: Jule
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Traveling
Favorite Chemical: ATP
Favorite Pokémon: Vulpix
Favorite Beer: Grevensteiner
Life Motto: hope, believe and trust

Julian Ohl

Nickname: Jules
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Hiking, sailing
Favorite Enzyme: BamH1
Favorite Pokémon: Nomplant
Favorite Beer: Flensburger
Philosophy: Hakuna Matata

Leonie Wirth

Nickname: Ingo
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: To spend time with my dog, my cat, my boyfried or with yeast in the lab
Favorite Chemical: Bradford-solution
Favorite Pokémon: Pummeluff
Favorite Beer: "Alsterwasser"
Life Motto: Somebody yeast i use to grow!

Maja Magel

Nickname: Majoe
Study Path: Biology B.Sc.
Hobbys: Reading, getting people to sing Disney songs (or at least give them earworms/ catchy tunes), daydreaming, museums, discussions about "god and the world"
Favorite Gene: Dorsal gen "spätzle" in Drosophila. Because it is the same as in Spätzle (sort of pasta in Germany, typical for the Swabian region)
Favorite Pokémon: Alakazam
Favorite Beer: Beer, that does not smell or taste like beer. Basically, no beer
Life Motto: Dreams get you started. Discipline keeps you going. - Jim Rohn

Marcel Dickmanns

Nickname: Mahhhcel
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Music, Basketball, Outdoors
Favorite Chemical: Tryptophan
Favorite Pokémon: Alakazam
Favorite Beer: Good old german pils
Life Motto: -

Martin Duemmel

Nickname: Martini
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Videogames, reading, tabletop wargaming
Favorite Enzyme: oxidosqualene cyclase
Favorite Pokémon: Camerupt
Favorite Beer: Kürzer Alt
Life Motto: Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.

Marvin Hubert

Nickname: Hupsi
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: sport, music and spend time with friends
Favorite Chemical: Dihydrogen Monoxide
Favorite Pokémon: Pikachu
Favorite Beer: Veltins
Philosophy: Utile dulci

Marvin van Aalst

Nickname: Christian
Study Path: Quantitative biology
Hobbys: Drumming and sports
Favorite Enzyme: Q5-Polymerase
Favorite Pokémon: Donkey Kong
Favorite Beer: nonalcoholic wheat beer
Life Motto: Noli Timore Messorum – Terry Pratchett

Melissa Meschkewitz

Nickname: Schmelissa
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Dancing, making music
Favorite Enzyme: DNA-Polymerase III
Favorite Pokémon: Vaporeon
Favorite Beer: Kölsch
Life Motto: Love what you do and do what you love.

Rebecca Wolters

Nickname: Becks
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: Fitness, Cooking and Eating
Favorite Enzyme: Chymosin
Favorite Pokémon: I don't have one..
Favorite Beer: IPA (Bierprojekt 777)
Life Motto: Be realistic, try the impossible.

René Inckemann

Nickname: Tollpatsch
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: playing guitar, making music, riding motorcycle
Favorite Enzyme: PvuII
Favorite Pokémon: Ivysaur
Favorite Beer: König Pilsener
Favorite Quote: Only two things are infinite, the universe snd the human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former- albert einstein

Tim Rapp

Nickname: Timmy
Study Path: B.Sc. Biology Plus/International
Hobbys: sports & drawing
Favorite Chemical: Chloroform
Favorite Pokémon: Garbodor
Favorite Beer: Jever
Favorite Quote:“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” - Goethe

Tobias Link

Nickname: Picker
Study Path: Biology
Hobbys: football, fitness, gaming
Favorite Chemical: Ethidiumbromid
Favorite Pokémon: Venusaur
Favorite Beer: Königpilsener
Life Motto:He who says he can and he who says he can't are not usually right

Matias Zurbriggen

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European experience in Paris

On July the 2nd to July the 3rd 2016 we attended the European Experience iGEM meetup in Paris. Together with 29 other teams we listened to lectures of iGEM founder Randy Rettberg and other renowned scientists.

Randy Rettberg’s lecture was especially inspiring. He told us why iGEM was founded in the first place and what vision he had for the future. Every attending iGEM team had their own information stand and the opportunity to explain their projects to all other teams.

We learned new lab techniques and discussed problems and solutions of our and their projects. This was very helpful for making connections to other teams working in similar fields of synthetic biology as we do.

This initiated collaborations with other teams using optogenetics. We also got to know Victor Plet from iGEM-Team Ionis, who visited us for a few days in Germany too.

Our team had a lot of fun at parties and activities organized by the iGEM Teams from Paris.

Marburg Meetup

The first big iGEM meetup took place in Marburg on the fifth till seventh of august. All German and a Danish team were represented.

We arrived on early Friday afternoon at the campsite in Marburg where we stayed over the weekend. We were welcomed warmly by the local iGEM team and built up our tent while enjoying the marvelous weather. Naturally we brought a typical hospitality gift for a Düsseldorf team – top-fermented dark beer.

After being divided into colourful smaller groups we had to corporately master some tasks in the city, including drinking a “rusty nail” - a typical shot of the city and a hot tip for anyone visiting Marburg.

On Saturday, the projects were presented after a great breakfast and the teams could get to know the projects after getting to know each other the day before. After the presentations a grand bubble soccer tournament was held – the only competitive event on a very cooperative weekend. After a tasty barbecue we went to the city again to party the whole night.

It was a very nice weekend! Getting to know all the teams and their projects, socializing and making friends is a really great part of the iGEM experience.

Many thanks to the iGEM team Marburg for superbly organizing the weekend and for making it possible to get to know everyone!

MLP-Career- Day

After asking them for help with our project, we were kindly invited to attend a Career-Day as a team by MLP Düsseldorf. They wanted to help improve our skills in presenting ourselves, achieving results as a group, make decisions in a group in a fast and effective manner and generally help getting to know each other better and learn about the strengths of the other team members.

First, we invited them to come to one of our weekly meetings to learn about MLP and what they wanted to do for us. Two employees came to the meeting: Kenan Hadzihamzic and Dimitri Tzourmbakis. It was a very entertaining encounter and we immediately were very enthusiastic about their offer: To come visit them at the MLP-Branch in Düsseldorf to help us improve our soft skills.

Then, on a Saturday morning, we all arrived at our destination and were welcomed hearty at their office building by Kenan, Dimitri and an additional employee that we met: Branko Beljak. At first, they helped us improve our ways of presenting ourselves, then we carried out an exercise to find an outcome as a short group in a short time efficiently: A situation, where we should choose the ideal candidate for a certain business was simulated. After that, a similar exercise was carried out but with a bigger group.

Finally, we took our lunch break: They bought pizza for the whole team! We had a very relaxing and nice time chatting and playing table football against the employees.

After the break, we simulated a situation of a casino-trip, where we got to choose between an own big benefit or for the good of all: It was an exercise to test and improve our team spirit. We scored brilliant results, it was an important moment for all team members.

At the end, we evaluated the day and the benefit it has brought to us and our project; The feedback by us and the employees was highly positive and everyone profited from it.

Everyone that attended this Career-Day was given the chance to get some evaluation about their individual strengths and weaknesses and how to improve oneself based on that in a personal meeting with one of the three involved employees.

We are glad that they gave us the opportunity to attend to this highly effective career day and help us to improve our project!

Team:Duesseldorf/Team