Team members

• Rico Ballman

  Age: 21

  Studies: B.Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  Hi! This is my first time at the iGEM team. I participate because I want to make some practical lab experience beside the normal labrotaries. Also I like the idea of working in a project so interdisciplinary as this. You can share your ideas with people from other backgrounds and include their point of view into your project.I hope for new impressions in the field of synthetic biology and I'm courius about a good time in the lab.

• Sebastian Barthel

  Age: 22 

  Subject: B. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  During my first semester at university, I have been in contact with the former iGEM team 2012 for the first time. Since then, I was keen to work on such a interesting project like the digestion of PET by E.coli. Unfortunately I had to learn some biological basics first, so I could not help our team in 2013. But now I am even more excited to compete with our anthocyanin project this year.

  I anticipate from the iGEM project to deepen my previously obtained knowledge by working independently in the laboratory and to improve my softskills and expertise. The possibilities to take positive influence on manhood's future life by using synthetic biology are enormous. I am glad to promote improvement in the field of synthetic biology by being a member of our team and by being part of this year's competition. 

• Malte Blumenroth

  Age: 24

  Studies: M.Sc. Molecular Engineering

  It's my second time to participate as part of the TU Darmstadt iGEM team after 2012.

  I like the innovative nature of the competition that offers ways to improve my skills and learn about synthetic biology outside of university courses. Also I expect to get further practical experience working for a more independent project and have a good time at the lab.

• Thomas Dohmen

  Age: 24

  Study: B.Sc. biology

  After hearing a lot about the last iGEM projects at the TU Darmstadt, I absolutely wanted to join. I like the idea of working in a research group for which iGEM offers the first opportunity.

  I am looking forward to gain practical experience, especially since one normally does not get the chance to do so during the regular study.

  To meet other people, to exchange ideas and get in contact with economy, thats the spirit of iGEM.

  Because of that, I am really excited to participate on this years iGEM competition and I am also really looking forward to see you guys on the Giant Jamboree in Boston!

• Maximilian Dombrowsky

  Age: 23

  Study: B.Sc. Biomoleculare Engineering

  My name is Maximilian Dombrowsky and I am studying Biomoleculare Engineering at TU Darmstadt. I first heard about iGEM from some fellow students and despite a lack of time, I participated this year because I liked the idea of working on an students only project. Through iGEM I hope to get a new insight in synthetic biology, laboratory work and design of experiments.

• Kai Fenzl

  

  Age: 22

  Study field: B. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  After my first time in the TU Darmstadt's iGEM team I had a lot of fun and I want to take part also in this year. I like to increas my abilities from last iGEM 2013 and I hope that I can learn new thinks, also from other field of science. I am excited to test my abilities and I hope that the iGEM-Team 2014 is  again a pleasant and constructive working group, like last year.

• Tobias Gabriel

  

  Age: 24

  Studies: M.Sc. Biology

  During by bachelor studies I already heard about the creative iGEM projects of the TU Darmstadt. Therefore, I am pleased to join the iGEM competition for the first time in 2014 during my master studies. I am fascinated by the iGEM projects due to the teamwork with highly motivated and creative fellow students that meet die challenge to realize a science project independently. Additionally, the broad range of tasks of the iGEM project always leads to the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and to deepen already existing skills.

• Sascha Hein

  

  Age: 23

  Studies: M.Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  I absolved my education as biological technical assistent in 2010. Now I'm in my sixth semester biomolecular engineering at the TU Darmtstadt. The first time I heard about the iGEM competition was in 2009 and since then I'm fascinated by the fundamental idea of this project. I'm looking forward to an interesting summer and to learn a lot about synthetic biology. Beside a sucessful participation I hope to establish international contacts.  

• Niklas Hummel

  

  Age: 22

  Subject: Biomolecular Engineering

  Hello,

  my name is Niklas, I am 22 years old and I am studying Biomolecular Engineering at the TU Darmstadt in my second year. I joined the iGEM-team, because I want to work with young scientists on an interesting topic in a fast developing market. I think our sector has one of the biggest potencials in our century and I want to learn the tools to help develop it. I am looking forward to work in a constructive and creative atmosphere with a qualified team.

• Carmen Klein

  

  Age: 24

  M. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  Taking part the second time in the TU Darmstadt's iGEM team, I'm looking forward to an interesting project period. Both, new experiences and new challenges are on our way on which we provide our personal skills for a freshly planned work. Again, our team members contain students with a variety of knowledge and levels who hopefully will complement and support one another.

• Kai Kucharzewski 

  

  Age: 22 

  Studies: M. Sc. technical biology

  Hi! I’m Kai. After finishing my bachelor studies of biophysics in Frankfurt, I switched for my master studies to technical biology to get a focus on biotechnology approaches. I’m looking forward to challenges and having fun during my first time at iGEM.

• Benjamin Mayer

  Age: 26

  Studies: B.Sc. computer science, M.Sc. physics

  Hi, my name is Benjamin Mayer, I am currently studying at the TU Darmstadt for my bachelor's degree in computer science and my master's degree in physics.

  I initially learned about iGEM during my bachelor thesis at the Computational Biology and Simulation group.

  As physicist and computer scientist I am equipped with a relatively broad theoretical knowledge from which I want to contribute to the Team, e.g., in the field of modeling.For me personally iGEM is a chance to work with a large Team, in comparison to the group sizes common for my field of study, on an interesting and multidisciplinary subject. Thus, through iGEM I can broaden my scope of knowledge and learn new team competences.

• Christian Mende

  

  Age: 26

  Study: B.Sc. Biotechnology

  I pay attention on iGEM because of a documantation of syntetic biology which aroused my interest.The more I informed me, the more I wanted to take a part of it.By chance I met the right person and I could not miss this opportunity.Now i am glad to transform the theory of lectures into practice to collect important experiences 

• Laurin Monnheimer

  

  Age:24

  Study: B.Sc. Biology

  Participating  iGEM the second time i've get once more the bargain being part of this project.

  The contest offers the unique opportunity to carry out research in a practically oriented manner and to meet scientific challenges as a team. Therefore, iGEM presents an outstanding occasion to gain new valuable experiences and to further develop my personal and scientific skills.  

  I hope that we as a project team will be successful in finding solid solutions to the problems we will be confronted with and I am highly motivated to make my personal contribution to iGEM. 

• Sebastian Palluk

  

  Age: 25 

  Subject: M.Sc Technical Biology, 2. semester 

  I took part in the first iGEM participation of the TU Darmstadt two years ago and I am looking forward to another challenging year of participating in the competition. I like working with students from multiple disciplines and the freedom and opportunity to try out diverse ideas in the lab. The fascinating projects that are performed every year give an impression of how much knowledge a student can gain by competing at iGEM. I specialized on computational biology during my bachelor studies and I am looking forward to employing those skills for my team.

• Sven Rumpf

  

  Age: 25

  Studies: M.Sc. Chemistry

  This is my third time in the iGEM team but nevertheless I'm still excited like I was in the first year. Contrary to regular modules iGEM gives you th opportunity to deepen your knowledge in themes aside my study program. 

  I hope for a good colaboration in the team and a great time in the lab.  

• Fabian Rohden

  

  Age: 23

  Studies: B.Sc. Biology

  Hello! My name is Fabian Rohden and I study Biology in the fifth semester.I heard about iGEM from some Biomoleculer Engineering students and really liked the idea of working on an interesting project in addition to the normal university studies. Through iGEM I hope to learn a lot about synthetic biology but also about the organization of science projects. 

• Daniel Sachs

  

  Age: 25

  Study: M. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  It’s already the third iGEM competition for me and since it may be the last (as a student), I’m already a bit melancholic. Nevertheless the upcoming “Giant Jamboree” in Boston motivates me even more to put as much effort as possible in our project to make it the best TU Darmstadt iGEM ever!

• Renè Sahm

  

  Age: 24

  Study: M.Sc. Biomolecular Engineering, 2. semester

  In 2012 I were already of the party with our first participation in the iGEM-competition. It was an unique experience and I had a lot of fun at that time. After my pause in the competition last year, I am now ready to lend a hand again. Until now I've passed my B.Sc. Biomolecular Engineering at the TU Darmstadt and started my master's degree with a specialization in structural biology. So I hope I'll be able to support my team optimally and to contribute it with some useful results in bioinformatics. Like the last time I am looking forward to the competition and the other participant student-teams. In particular, I am very curious because of the speciality that the whole competition will proceed at the MIT this year.

• Christian Sator

  

  Age: 26

  Studies: M.Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  I joined this year’s iGEM-team because I like the idea of tackling a complex issue together with a team and work out solutions for it. I think iGEM is a great opportunity to experience independent and interdisciplinary research and to broaden one’s mind. I’m looking forward to learn new stuff and meet lots of interesting people.

• Andreas Schmidt

  

  Age: 27

  Studies: M.Sc. Molecular Engineering

  My Name is Andreas Schmidt and I'm really excited about this years iGEM competition. This is not my first time in iGEM but now I'm one of the veterans who has to lead the younger ones. I expect this to be even more challenging than being a newcomer but I appreciate this new experience.   

• Christian Sürder

  

  Age: 28

  Studies: M.Sc. Physik

  I'm an experimantal physicist at the department of nuclear physics. But I also work as trainee for the university. Together with my brother we attentand this years iGEM-Project. We suppport in team in terms of project coordination, präsentation and teamwork. I'm very excited about the cooperation and the interdisciplinary challenges.

• Michael Sürder

  

  Age: 26

  Studies: M.Sc. Technical Biology

  Altough I study biology my work in this team is being a coach for communication, presentation and project attendance.

  Normally I support IT and economy projects so I'm very excited about attending a natural science project. I hope me and my brother can help to optimize the organisation and the teamwork of the group.  

• Bastian Wagner

  

  Age:24

  Studies: B. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  Hi, my name is Bastian Wagner and I am a student of the bachelor program Biomolecular Engineering at the TU Darmstadt. I participate in iGEM, because I like to support the Registry of Standard Biological Parts and learn new things about constructing biological systems. 

• Alex Wyllie

  

  Age: 24

  Studies: M. Sc. Biomolecular Engineering

  Hey guys, I am a team member of the sub-group public relations. I was responsible for the project „iGEM TU Darmstadt crowdfunding“. The strategic development and behind this project was a big challenge since we had high aims: We wanted to become the first crowd funded team at the TU Darmstadt. This year was special and I’m really thankful to have worked with such highly motivated fellow-students and friends.

Instructors

• Prof. Dr. Heribert Warzecha
  

  Research: Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering

  Prof. Dr. Heribert Warzecha is a professor for Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering at the TU Darmstadt. He initiated the iGEM project at our university in 2012 and supported us in all our efforts since then. His research focuses on the production of lipoprotein vaccines in plant chloroplasts and metabolic engineering of plant secondary metabolism with human CYP450 enzymes, that have an extraordinary broad substrate acceptance.

• 

  Sven Jager

  Studies: Ph.D. Biomolecular Engineering

  Hello! As you can see I'm doing my PhD. I'm an oldtimer and therefore can't participate as a normal team member like I did before. So this year I work as an advisor for the team. My job is to be the mediator for frictions inside between team members. As I'm residing in the field of computational biology I'm also an advisor for the modelling group of our team.I hope I can help the team with my experience and inspire the younger students for the field of bioinformatics.