I am a Junior majoring in Biological Sciences at Nazarbayev University, Astana. I am planning to pursue a medical education. To be honest, I have never thought of becoming a physician until my final year at high school. It was the turning point in my life as in lives of many other school graduates; it was the time to decide. After giving much thought to my plans for the future, I realized that the profession a person chooses should be worth spending the most of his/her life. For me it is life sciences and medicine. I want to become a physician, who will be able to do clinical research, understand the disease with all the underlying mechanisms, and to be able to tackle the problem in the most advantageous for a patient way.

A person may only guess what his or her strong sides are unless he/she gets involved in various activities. That is the reason I am using all the available opportunities to improve, to learn, to practice and to enjoy. iGEM is an invaluable experience for me...

Luiza is a Senior student at Nazarbayev University majoring in Biological Sciences. She is sincerely excited about being a part of iGEM, that is why she is trying to contribute as much as possible in this project. In the future, Luiza plans to become a very good physician-scientist, thus she prepares to enter a Medical School.

I am a 4th year biology student at NU. My areas of interest are synthetic biology, bioinformatics and immunology. Briefly about one, I took introduciton into immunology course last year; since then I have plunged into the fascinating science of permanent war within our bodies. My favourite players in this war are the complement system and cell-mediated immunity. In my free time I like running and doing tai chi. Also, books and friends are among my best companions.

Zeinaf is 4th year undergraduate students, majoring in Biomedical Sciences. She is planning to take MD and work on the field of Maternal and Childhood Health Care. She sees herself as a physician-scientist, working on improving this field in Kazakhstan. First time in IGEM, and she really enjoys it!

My name is Samat. I am senior student majoring in biomedical sciences. Right now I am taking Intro to Immunology, and IGEM helps me to apply my theoretical knowledge in practice. I like playing soccer and my favorite team is Arsenal from London. Just like in soccer, in order for team to succeed, all of the players must be committed to their role and perform their best on given position.

Dr. Tim Shipley

Tim Shipley completed his doctorate in immunology with a project focused on identifying immune responses to Pneumocystisas mediators for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)development. In his postdoctoral work, he worked at the Starzl Transplant Institute at the University of Pittsburgh characterizing exhausted cells in pediatric transplant patients who have developed post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). He also worked in industry for several years on developing a vaccine for HIV using gene gun technology. Now, as an assistant professor at Nazarbayev University, he works tirelessly to inspire undergraduate and graduate students that immunology is the most awesome biological science known to mankind. Also, he might be Spiderman.

Arnat Balabiyev