Team:Wageningen UR/Team

Xylencer

Meet The Team!

Group Photo
Team Captain Plant immune response

Cleo Bagchus

Guuuyysss, centraaaaallllll

Cleo is our team captain. She is on top of everything and makes sure that no one is slacking, except on Slack of course. In her free time, she plays Lacrosse or she is reading Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone for the millionth time. She is working on the MAMPS that will trigger the plant immune system.

Cleo Bagchus

Guuuyysss, centraaaaallllll

Cleo is our team captain. She is on top of everything and makes sure that no one is slacking, except on Slack of course. In her free time, she plays Lacrosse or she is reading Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone for the millionth time. She is working on the MAMPS that will trigger the plant immune system.

Team Captain Plant immune response
Anti-CRISPR circuit Lab Manager

Alexander Niederau

Raspberry pie, of course I know this

Alex, 25, is from Germany, although he can speak Spanish with the Spanish crew, which he picked up when he studied abroad. All our plant questions are directed at him, as he is the only plant biotechnology student among us. He focuses on perfecting our circuit using Anti-CRISPR proteins.

Alex Niederau

Raspberry pie, of course I know this

Alex, 25, is from Germany, although he can speak Spanish with the Spanish crew, which he picked up when he studied abroad. All our plant questions are directed at him, as he is the only plant biotechnology student among us. He focuses on perfecting our circuit using Anti-CRISPR proteins.

Lab Manager Anti-CRISPR circuit
Treasurer Cell-free phage expression

Marijn Ceelen

Phages are like small machines, almost like spaceships

Marijn has very carefully detailed our cashflow as the treasurer. In the lab he worked on cell-free-expression of phages, which goes in conjunction with him putting on a lot of his music. Although normally quite quiet, the conversations with Niels about philosophy know no end.

Marijn Ceelen

Phages are like small machines, almost like spaceships

Marijn has very carefully detailed our cashflow as the treasurer. In the lab he worked on cell-free-expression of phages, which goes in conjunction with him putting on a lot of his music. Although normally quite quiet, the conversations with Niels about philosophy know no end.

Treasurer Cell-free phage expression
Kill switch Secretary

Alba Balletbó Canals

I’m doing the molecular thing

Alba is our first Catalan, not Spanish, student, but she doesn’t like any Spanish music. She has taken notes during all of our meetings as our secretary. In the lab, she worked on a molecular timer kill switch. If she doesn’t agree with you, you will clearly be able to see it on her face.

Alba Balletbó Canals

I’m doing the molecular thing

Alba is our first Catalan, not Spanish, student, but she doesn’t like any Spanish music. She has taken notes during all of our meetings as our secretary. In the lab, she worked on a molecular timer kill switch. If she doesn’t agree with you, you will clearly be able to see it on her face.

Secretary Kill switch
Funding & Human Practices Adhesion proteins

Robert Hooftman

I am also a failed pancake

Robert is our social media presence and is also responsible for funding. He will be very happy if you give him a response about his hair in his own pictures. In the lab, he worked on generating a protein library of the adhesion proteins. He relieves any stress from this work in the gym.

Robert Hooftman

I am also a failed pancake

Robert is our social media presence and is also responsible for funding. He will be very happy if you give him a response about his hair in his own pictures. In the lab, he worked on generating a protein library of the adhesion proteins. He relieves any stress from this work in the gym.

Funding & HP Adhesion proteins
Quorum sensing circuit Safety Officer

Ben Kuipers

I hope we are even going to reach failure

Ben is our amazing safety officer. He has kept us safe in the lab, but we can’t guarantee your safety if you meet him on the soccer field or on his electric bike. Ben has worked on perfecting the genetic circuit for sensing DSF.

Ben Kuipers

I hope we are even going to reach failure

Ben is our amazing safety officer. He has kept us safe in the lab, but we can’t guarantee your safety if you meet him on the soccer field or on his electric bike. Ben has worked on perfecting the genetic circuit for sensing DSF.

Safety Officer Quorum sensing circuit
Head of Design Phage engineering

Santiago Castanedo Fontanillas

Marijn and I are compenetrating really well (when he really meant cooperating)

Santi is our second Spanish student and responsible for our design. He loves reggaeton at a party and you might spot him dancing in the lab if his project, engineering phage genomes using yeast, stresses him out. He loves to cook and will definitely not eat peanut butter sandwiches.

Santiago Castanedo Fontanillas

Marijn and I are compenetrating really well (when he really meant cooperating)

Santi is our second Spanish student and responsible for our design. He loves reggaeton at a party and you might spot him dancing in the lab if his project, engineering phage genomes using yeast, stresses him out. He loves to cook and will definitely not eat peanut butter sandwiches.

Head of design Phage engineering
Modeling Human Practices

Hetty Huijs

Synthetic biology is all about genes

Hetty is one of our heads of Human Practices. You can always wake her up for both human practices and a cup of black tea. She is responsible for all our models, including the spread of X. fastidiosa. Only after a lot of begging and an activity involving running, she finally allowed us to see her without heels.

Hetty Huijs

Synthetic biology is all about genes

Hetty is one of our heads of Human Practices. You can always wake her up for both human practices and a cup of black tea. She is responsible for all our models, including the spread of X. fastidiosa. Only after a lot of begging and an activity involving running, she finally allowed us to see her without heels.

Human Practices Modelling
Human Practices Detection device

Niels Appelman

Do you see what I mean?

Niels is one of our Human Practices heads, mostly focusing on ethics. As you can imagine, he likes to bore people with philosophical questions. He worked on detecting X. fastidiosa on insects using LAMP. If he is not in the field catching insects, you might see him on the lacrosse field or in his Batcave.

Niels Appelman

Do you see what I mean?

Niels is one of our Human Practices heads, mostly focusing on ethics. As you can imagine, he likes to bore people with philosophical questions. He worked on detecting X. fastidiosa on insects using LAMP. If he is not in the field catching insects, you might see him on the lacrosse field or in his Batcave.

Human Practices Detection tool
Phage repression Funding

Sebastiaan Kuiper

we’re doing all this shitskabam

Bas is our very own head of funding and so is responsible for us getting to Boston. He challenges us to think critically. In the lab he represses phage lambda particle production using dCas12a. You can never spot him having bad food and he likes to ride his motorcycle.

Sebastiaan Kuiper

we’re doing all this shitskabam

Bas is our very own head of funding and so is responsible for us getting to Boston. He challenges us to think critically. In the lab he represses phage lambda particle production using dCas12a. You can never spot him having bad food and he likes to ride his motorcycle.

Funding Phage repression
Wiki Manager Bioinformatics

Dennie te Molder

Maybe if I just change this one thing then it will be perfect

Dennie is our Wiki Wizard, although he might not fit the stereotype. Besides this, he also does all our bioinformatic analysis, mostly focusing on protein domain analysis to determine pathogenicity. He is the most structured one in our team, and you will never spot him having unhealthy non-meal-prepped lunches.

Dennie te Molder

Maybe if I just change this one thing then it will be perfect

Dennie is our Wiki Wizard, although he might not fit the stereotype. Besides this, he also does all our bioinformatic analysis, mostly focusing on protein domain analysis to determine pathogenicity. He is the most structured one in our team, and you will never spot him having unhealthy non-meal-prepped lunches.

Wiki Manager Bioinformatics

Supervisors

Team Supervisors

Principal Investigator

Raymond Staals

Eyebrow raising science

Raymond is the guy we can go to with any questions. He was responsible for arranging nearly everything for us (even things we didn't know about), as well as contributing to various parts of the project with his ‘crazy Raymond ideas’.

Raymond Staals

Eyebrow raising science

Raymond is the guy we can go to with any questions. He was responsible for arranging nearly everything for us (even things we didn't know about), as well as contributing to various parts of the project with his ‘crazy Raymond ideas’.

Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator & Supervised Dennie

Jasper Koehorst

Alrighty

Jasper is our second team supervisor. He helped organize a lot for us and he even tolerated us in an office next to him (you can imagine how difficult that is). If this is not enough, he also helped Dennie with bioinformatics.

Jasper Koehorst

Alright

Jasper is our second team supervisor. He helped organize a lot for us and he even tolerated us in an office next to him (you can imagine how difficult that is). If this is not enough, he also helped Dennie with bioinformatics.

Principal Investigator & Supervised Dennie

Individual Supervisors

Supervised Marijn & Sebastiaan

Wen Wu

If I were a cell...

You may know the enthusiastic Wen from the Wageningen iGEM team of 2014, where she was the team captain. Now, as a PhD candidate and supervisor, she guides us through the competition. We especially appreciated her feedback on presentations and overviews but we could also ask her any wetlab question.

Wen Wu

If I were a cell...

You may know the enthusiastic Wen from the Wageningen iGEM team of 2014, where she was the team captain. Now, as a PhD candidate and supervisor, she guides us through the competition. We especially appreciated her feedback on presentations and overviews but we could also ask her any wetlab question.

Supervised Marijn & Sebastiaan
Supervised Niels

Carina Nieuwenweg

I have some contacts there

Carina was the human practices queen of the Wageningen iGEM team of 2016. We gladly made use of her expertise. She helped us plan our human practices, calmly guided us through difficult conversations with stakeholders and always knows someone somewhere.

Carina Nieuwenweg

I have some contacts there

Carina was the human practices queen of the Wageningen iGEM team of 2016. We gladly made use of her expertise. She helped us plan our human practices, calmly guided us through difficult conversations with stakeholders and always knows someone somewhere.

Supervised Niels
Supervised Cleo & Sebastiaan

Jurre Steens

iGEM headquarters will love this..

Jurre is another familiar face, as he was part of the Wageningen iGEM team of 2017. He could therefore help us both with iGEM, but also with protein expression and purification. Following his advice always seemed to help, even when protein expression seems impossible. He also tolerated our 3D printing whims.

Jurre Steens

iGEM headquarters will love this..

Jurre is another familiar face, as he was part of the Wageningen iGEM team of 2017. He could therefore help us both with iGEM, but also with protein expression and purification. Following his advice always seemed to help, even when protein expression seems impossible. He also tolerated our 3D printing whims.

Supervised Cleo & Sebastiaan
Supervised Hetty

Rik van Rosmalen

I can also do cloning

Rik is the calm supervisor that helps with all our modeling behind the scenes, but he could also help us with our cloning problems. He was part of the iGEM Wageningen team of 2014, so he can share all the ins and outs of the competition with us.

Rik van Rosmalen

I can also do cloning

Rik is the calm supervisor that helps with all our modeling behind the scenes, but he could also help us with our cloning problems. He was part of the iGEM Wageningen team of 2014, so he can share all the ins and outs of the competition with us.

Supervised Hetty
Supervised Robert & Santiago

Thomas Swartjes

I’m not really a mean guy

Thomas was the team captain of the iGEM Wageningen 2016 team. He can give us useful advice based on hands-on experience in the competition. If you can get through the layer of dry jokes, you will find a lot of useful advice.

Thomas Swartjes

I’m not really a mean guy

Thomas was the team captain of the iGEM Wageningen 2016 team. He can give us useful advice based on hands-on experience in the competition. If you can get through the layer of dry jokes, you will find a lot of useful advice.

Supervised Robert & Santiago
Supervised Alex & Cleo

Despoina Trasanidou

PCR, gel, extraction, gibson assembly, transformation... I think you can do this in one day.

Despoina is our enthusiastic Greek Anti-CRISPR expert. She was always willing to supervise you in the lab if you were working late, even if we still can’t pronounce her name.

Despoina Trasanidou

PCR, gel, extraction, gibson assembly, transformation... I think you can do this in one day.

Despoina is our enthusiastic Greek Anti-CRISPR expert. She was always willing to supervise you in the lab if you were working late, even if we still can’t pronounce her name.

Supervised Alex & Cleo
Supervised Ben & Alba

Maria Martin Pascual

But this is not enough

Maria is one of the Spanish supervisors. She protects and strictly guides our SSB wetlab iGEM members. She proves that great advice can come in small packages. She helped us consider performing research on CRISPR into non-model organisms.

Maria Martin Pascual

But this is not enough

Maria is one of the Spanish supervisors. She protects and strictly guides our SSB wetlab iGEM members. She proves that great advice can come in small packages. She helped us consider performing research on CRISPR into non-model organisms.

Supervised Ben & Alba
Supervised Alba & Ben

Enrique Asín García

You never tell me anything

Enrique is the other Spanish supervisor for Ben and Alba. He gives you advice while also wisely stroking his perfect mustache. He cares about his students as much as he cares about fashion.

Enrique Asín García

You never tell me anything

Enrique is the other Spanish supervisor for Ben and Alba. He gives you advice while also wisely stroking his perfect mustache. He cares about his students as much as he cares about fashion.

Supervised Alba & Ben
Supervised Ben & Alba

Lyon Bruinsma

I’m the best supervisor

Lyon is our Dutch supervisor who communicates in Spanish 80% of the time and loves Spanish music. He is always fun to meet in the lab, but how could you not be happy when you meet the best supervisor?

Lyon Bruinsma

I’m the best supervisor

Lyon is our Dutch supervisor who communicates in Spanish 80% of the time and loves Spanish music. He is always fun to meet in the lab, but how could you not be happy when you meet the best supervisor?

Supervised Ben & Alba
Supervised Santiago

Joep Houkes

Have you seen Santi?

Joep is our yeast-guru. You can find him searching for Santi 60% of the time. During meetings he calmly gives us great advice.

Joep Houkes

Have you seen Santi?

Joep is our yeast-guru. You can find him searching for Santi 60% of the time. During meetings he calmly gives us great advice.

Supervised Santiago