Meet the Team!

Click on the pills and the photos below to find out who we are.

Principal Investigators

  • Alex is our Primary PI who makes our iGEM-participation possible.
  • He is a physics professor at Leibniz University Hannover.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Heisterkamp
  • Stefan is our Secondary PI who was the driving force in creating an iGEM-team this year, and he is still our biggest supporter.
  • He holds a PhD degree and has finished his habilitation in physics.
PD Dr. Stefan Kalies

Instructors

  • Sören has been enthusiastic about our participation and helped plan our project from the beginning. Now he is supporting our bio lab team as an instructor.
  • He is doing his PhD in biochemistry.
Sören Donath
  • Lara is supporting our bio lab team as an instructor for both planning and conducting experiments. She has largely contributed in the planning of the project.
  • She is doing her PhD in regenerative sciences.
Lara Gentemann
  • Niklas is supporting our physics lab, modelling and wiki teams as an instructor, helping to combine physics and the model with biology.
  • He is doing his PhD in physics.
Niklas Rüprich
  • Anna is supporting our bio lab and human practices team as an instructor. Her guidance has largely helped steer our project in the right direction.
  • She is doing her PhD in biochemistry.
Anna Seidler

Student Leaders

  • Leon is one of our team captains, he was there from the start to recruit team members and plan the project. Now he manages the team and even helps out in the bio lab when needed.
  • He studies physics for his master's degree.
Leon Kasperek
  • Lisa is one of our team captains. She mostly does organizational work, is involved in the planning and design of our biosensor, and helps out in the bio lab.
  • She studies molecular microbiology for her master's degree.
Lisa de Sousa Miranda

Modelling

  • Davin works on the modelling for our project, and in the earlier stages he was also involved in planning the physics experiments.
  • He studies physics for his master's degree.
Davin Höllmann
  • Jules works on the modelling for our project and also helps with organizational tasks such as making sure we meet all important criteria.
  • He studies physics for his master's degree.
Jules Pourtawaf
  • Jan works on the modelling for our  project and is also involved in planning the final trip to Paris.
  • He studies physics for his master's degree.
Jan Schimansky

Wetlab

  • Vanessa is part of the bio lab team and is involved both in the planning of the experiments and the lab work itself.
  • She studies molecular microbiology for her master's degree.
Vanessa Bruhn
  • Jan often works in the bio lab from early morning until late night and even on weekends, and he also schedules any bio lab-related works that need to be done.
  • He studies molecular microbiology for his master's degree.
Jan Gelhoet
  • Jule's full iGEM-working capacity goes into her work in the bio lab, she even goes to the lab on weekends if need be.
  • She studies plant biotechnology for her master's degree.
Jule Kiel
  • Lara is primarily working in the bio lab, but she is also responsible for our finances, both for accounting and in the earlier stages for finding sponsors.
  • She studies plant biotechnology for her master's degree.
Lara Patyk

Physics & Engineering

  • Emilie is primarily working in the physics lab, but she also plays an important role in human practices, where one of her tasks is creating the team shirts. Our mascot was crocheted by her.
  • She studies physics for her master's degree.
Emilie Baron
  • Aylin is primarily working in the physics lab, but she is also responsible for the project promotion and presentation videos.
  • She studies physics for her master's degree.
Aylin Talu

Human Practices

  • Céline is working in the human practices team, her main responsibilities being our cookbook and the team shirts.
  • She studies biology and sports for her master's degree to become a high school teacher.
Céline Beckhausen
  • Kristina is working in the human practices team, where her main responsibilities are our children's book and the two videos about our project.
  • She studies biomedicine for her master's degree.
Kristina Bittroff
  • Nico is working in the human practices team, where his main responsibilities are the organization of interviews with experts as well as connecting with other teams.
  • He studies molecular microbiology for his master's degree.
Nico Kowitz
  • Veronika is working in the human practices team as a designer. Not only did she design our mascot, she is also working on our children's book.
  • She studies biology for her bachelor's degree.
Veronika Marx
  • Elena is working in the human practices team. Her main responsibilities are the expert interviews and managing our social media accounts.
  • She studies molecular microbiology for her master's degree.
Elena Zukina

Wiki

  • Milena is the designer for our team wiki. In the earlier stages, she also helped with finding ideas for the bio lab and with finding sponsors for our project.
  • She studies plant biotechnology for her master's degree.
Milena Müller
  • Karlina is primarily working on the team wiki, but in the early stages of the project, she was responsible for the finances and helped with input for the physics and engineering part.
  • She studies physics for her master's degree.
Karlina Mundin

Our Mascot

  • The Hydro Guardian is our mascot who joins us for every event. His tasks are keeping us motivated and promoting our project to the world. Just like the rest of us, Hydro Guardian is passionate about the protection of our water, therefore he helps us to detect contaminants.
  • He was designed by Veronika and crocheted by Emilie.
Hydro Guardian

The Team

  • Excluding our trusty mascot, we are a team of 24, including six Instructors/Supervisors and 18 students, all from the Leibniz University Hannover. All of us have contributed to the project in different ways, everyone was assigned to one primary group (as you can see in the gallery), but that has not limited us in the kinds of tasks we completed.
  • We are students of various different sciences, which in a way determined our tasks, but this project has also been a wonderful opportunity for us to learn new things and work in areas we have not worked in before, thus broadening our horizons in many ways.
  • Excluding our trusty mascot, we are a team of 24, including six Instructors/Supervisors and 18 students, all from the Leibniz University Hannover. All of us have contributed to the project in different ways, everyone was assigned to one primary group (as you can see in the gallery), but that has not limited us in the kinds of tasks we completed.
  • We are students of various different sciences, which in a way determined our tasks, but this project has also been a wonderful opportunity for us to learn new things and work in areas we have not worked in before, thus broadening our horizons in many ways.

Our Home Institutions

NIFE
(Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering,
Implant Research and Development)
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
(Hannover Medical School)
Leibniz University Hannover

Hannover - The Home of the Hydro Guardian

Our team is based in the beautiful city Hannover. As the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony, Hannover offers a vibrant student life, plenty of green spaces, cultural attractions and a rich history. Home to the Leibniz University of Hannover (LUH), the Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo) and the Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover is a centre of education and research that attracts many young people.

We are dedicated students from LUH and MHH who contribute their knowledge and skills from different disciplines working together in the Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development (NIFE). At NIFE, we can perform our experiments in modern laboratories and have access to an excellent infrastructure. The center provides an ideal environment for realizing innovative projects and promoting interdisciplinary research.

Living in Hannover is wonderful - we enjoy the Eilenriede, the Maschsee and the historic old town in our free time. Both our city and our institutes offer us an excellent basis for working successfully as a team and at the same time experiencing the advantages of a cosmopolitan university city!