NIFE (Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development)
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (Hannover Medical School)
Leibniz University Hannover
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 is doing her PhD in regenerative sciences.
Lara Gentemann
Niklas is supporting our physics lab, modelling and wiki teams as an instructor.
He is doing his PhD in physics.
Niklas Rüprich
Anna is supporting our bio lab and human practices team as an instructor.
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.
Jan Gelhoet - Wetlab
No Coffee, No Workee! If he hadn’t studied biology, he probably would have become a zoo keeper.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Heisterkamp - Primary PI
"I am happy to participate in iGEM as it is a great environment for students to be creative and learn together as a team from one another. Being able to support those young people to push the boundaries in synthetic biology and molecular biology by addressing their own chosen challenges and problems is quite rewarding to me.“
Lara Patyk - Wetlab
She can do a headstand in any situation. Knows Game of Thrones better than her own family.
Karlina Mundin - Wiki
She's obsessed with chickens. Has a gigantic collection of Christmas-themed socks.
Céline Beckhausen - Human Practices
Her hobby is to have new hobbies. Has fed polar bears before, but also had to muck out their enclosure.
Lara Gentemann - Instructor
She can measure small distances quite well without any tools, simply by holding both hands in the distance.
Sören Donath - Instructor
He is color-blind (which sometimes can be problematic in fluorescence evaluations). He is looking for teammates for bubble soccer.
Milena Müller - Wiki
Loves playing Minecraft, her favorite biome is Cherry Grove.
Jules Pourtawaf - Modelling
He once built an igloo. It melted.
Anna Seidler - Instructor
Once broke both her elbows at the same time – but still loves making pottery.
Jan Schimansky - Modelling
He looks at lemons in order to sneeze. Won the reading competition in grade 4.
Elena Zukina - Human Practices
Despite the fact that she never has any money, she always somehow manages to go on vacation multiple times per year. She’s got her priorities straight!
Veronika Marx - Human Practices
Crazy catlady, pedriatic nurse, and likes to work with cells as well as drawing and all kinds of musical instruments and books.
Aylin Talu - Physics & Engineering
She likes reading, climbing, embroidery and yoga. Also loves trying to guess movie spoilers (with a success rate of 67%).
Leon Kasperek - Student Leader
No matter whether as a lifeguard, while scuba diving, playing water polo, or just relaxing by the sea, he simply feels better around water than on land. Maybe he should also study marine biology.
Nico Kowitz - Human Practices
He prefers going to festivals instead of on vacation (festivals are basically his vacations). Only wears colorful socks, doesn’t own a single unicolored pair.
PD Dr. Stefan Kalies - Secondary PI
Post-doc at the Institute of Quantum Optics and sub-group leader for microscopical imaging and cell manipulation at the NIFE in Hannover. His main research focus is the application of various optical tools, including special kinds of microscopy and laser-based cell manipulation, to better understand tissue regeneration and cell repair. Additionally, he is interested in a variety of biophysical topics and the connections to synthetic biology. He is supervising, advising, encouraging and always motivating us and our lab work. In his free time, he likes to play guitar and enjoys reading.
Vanessa Bruhn - Wetlab
She’s a proud night owl! While others are winding down for the day, she’s just getting started, whether it's playing Tennis or diving into new projects.
Lisa de Sousa Miranda - Student Leader
She is not a morning person, without a coffee, she won’t get anything done before 9 AM.
Davin Höllmann - Modelling
He gets a tear in one eye from carbonated water. Thinks dinosaurs are better than birds.
Jule Kiel - Wetlab
Even before she knew how to walk and speak properly, she was already able to ride a horse like a pro. Horse riding is her first language.
Emilie Baron - Physics & Engineering
Pickles are her preferred midnight snack. Her favorite song to listen to in the lab is “Psychosocial” by Slipknot.
Niklas Rüprich - Instructor
During his Bachelor and Master thesis, he fully ran on bulgur salad.
Kristina Bittroff - Human Practices
She’s a perfectionist, but quite clumsy. Additionally, she’s passionate about Harry Potter and Mario Kart.
