Team:Hamburg/Team
The Team
The iGEM Team Hamburg consists of 16 students from the University of Hamburg. Studying Biology, Nanotechnology, or Molecular Life Sciences,
there is a great interdisciplinary exchange resulting in a project taking into account all fields of study represented by the students.
Daniel Cortés
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:
Student Leader
About him:
Van Gogh once said: Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. And what goes for a painting, also goes for every great piece of work –
scientific or otherwise. Every project started as a small idea (probably born in a shower, statistically speaking), every sponsor is acquired by an e-mail,
every scientific design is carried out by single experiment and this simulation of a multiverse is generated one planck-time at a time. Therefore I, and you,
and everyone can only try to make this world a better place by small incremental steps and random acts of kindness.
Daniel Wedemeyer
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Leader
About him:
I happen to be interested in everything, tending to dive headfirst into every bit of work I find along the way.
That's how the leading role acquired me. To me, iGEM is a great opportunity to learn important things about working in science.
Team organisation, Experimental Design and how to invent and set up an own project are skills you don't pick up by studying - that's why I'm at iGEM.
Steffen Tietjen
Field of Study:
Nanotechnology,
4th Semester M.Sc.
Role:
Student Leader
About him:
Since I started studying Nanoscience my interest and faith in medicine grew. I recognized that science gives us little bricks which can be put together to big solutions in medicine. Research is the foundation of all medical questions, so when I first heard of iGEM I wanted to become a competitor in this big game. iGEM is a strong community of researching students in different fields of science. I love the interdisciplinary exchange with people from other countries all over the world. The cite that describes me the most is from Isaac Newton: What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.
Cari Lehmann
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
The reason why I decided to take part at iGEM is probably why I do most of the things in my life, because of my curiosity. I am always looking forward to learn new things and to understand the world better one step at a time and iGEM is a perfect opportunity to not only learn and practice my skills in the laboratory. What I mostly enjoy about iGEM is that it also promotes our creativity, organisation skills and is a great platform to meet people, who share the same passion as I do.
Paula Weidemüller
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
I'm at iGEM because I'm always eager to learn and get to know new things. Besides improving and practicing my lab skills, I really enjoyed to explore different techniques and disciplines of the life sciences besides what I already knew from my own field of studies. Furthermore, iGEM is a great opportunity to get a real insight into how working as a scientist will be like and from what I experienced so far it makes me want to pursue this career even more.
Alina Nicolai
Field of Study:
Biology,
2nd Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
iGEM is a great experience: you go into the laboratory and build your own construct out of parts like with lego bricks, but it’s more like a shaky house of cards, that you try to build with no glue left. Some part falls apart and you build it back up again, with the hope it sticks this time. But the good thing is that you have a great team around you that supports you. You learn a lot of fascinating things, gather a lot of experience – that’s why I’m at iGEM.
Dominika Wawrzyniak
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
Giving organisms a new purpose for the greater good simply by programming them through clever assembly of biobricks is an aspect which fascinates me about synthetic biology and the curiosity about it initially got me into iGEM. Working on our project, I learned the steps it takes to develop an idea into an real life application and to never shy away from thinking on a big scale even if you have just the least amount of resources. It is a great opportunity, to work together with people equally interested and motivated and getting valuable insights into their disciplines with their individual potentials and possibilities.
Samira Huss
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
6th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
When I decided to study Molecular Life Sciences it was mainly because I did not know what I am most interested in: biology, chemistry or medicine. Luckily I realised during my studies that I do not have to choose. To understand the mechanisms of life you need the achievements of every scientific subject anyway and for me the challenge is to discover the connections between the fields. In iGEM we even go one step further: working together with people of different subjects, we establish a biochemical reporter system in microorganisms (biology) which we immobilise on a lab-on-a-chip device (nanotechnology) to tackle a global medical problem - that's why I'm at iGEM.
Kai Pohl
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About him:
I joined the iGEM team Hamburg to learn. Consequently, I learned about synthetic biology and how it can be an impressive tool to takle real problems. I learned about all the small but crucial aspects of developing our ideas to concepts and solutions. I learned to be passionate and perservering when confronted with setbacks (and to work at night). But most importantly, I learnt what it means to be part of a team of likeminded people who are giving their all to try to change the world for the better.
Dana Winter
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
My enthusiasm for iGEM is based on the diversity and many faces a project within iGEM offers. I think it is very exciting to have an own research project, which one builds up together with fellow students. It offers us the opportunity to apply our own ideas and gain practical experiences. That is what motivated me to take part in this interdisciplinary competition, far from everyday life at University hoping to gather more knowledge and experiences.
Andreas Schlegel
Field of Study:
Nanotechnology,
2nd Semester M.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About him:
Getting a glimpse of the big picture is what we aspire. As researchers-to-be iGEM gives us a unique opportunity to experience a peerless view into the excitement of a research project in all its facets. It is an honour and pleasure to design and develop an idea into a palette of challenges which are to be overcome to bring a product of impact to the world. Thanks to every detail that demands thoughtful attention, our project continues to let me grow as a professional every day.
Ekaterina Borissova
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About her:
I joined iGEM because I wanted to experience the development of a project from the very beginning. I wanted to see which difficulties could arise, and how a team of students would deal with them. I am lucky to be part of such a nice team, with them the time in the lab is much more fun! In my free time I enjoy travelling, singing in a choir and fencing.
Alp Mirdoğan
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
4th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About him:
From time to time I like to think that we consist of a red fluid that's flowing really fast through our veins, which are embedded in tissues made out of very small molecules, which are programmed in the language of nature, with its tiny alphabet of ATGC, so that we can do math, science, art, music, or run around in the laboratory trying to figure out what went wrong with the last batch of ligation preparations. This is enough for me to get goosebumps, this makes me feel alive. That's why I'm at iGEM.
Leon Schmidt
Field of Study:
Molecular Life Sciences,
8th Semester B.Sc.
Role:
Student Member
About him:
Why am I here? Well actually ..
Since I was able to contribute to last years “Flu Fighters” project due to my work in human genetics I catched up with the idea of iGEM. The whole concept of building up a very own project from scratch completely planned and realized by students really got me so therefore this year I wanted to be all into it! As for me iGEM is a great chance to already get a feeling of how real scientific project working is being done. There’s plenty of time to explore your own strengths and skills but also to cope with the own weaknesses. For me one of the most notable things that I took with me from my time within our iGEM-project is the following quote:
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong
Edward A. Murphy
