Team:The University of Alberta/Team

Dr. Michael Deyholos

Dr. Douglas Ridgway

Dr. Michael Ellison

James Maclagan

Kelly Robinson is currently involved in the 2008 University of Alberta iGEM team. She is entering into the 4th year of an Honors Biochemistry program, and wishes the actively pursue molecular virology in graduate studies. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, Magic the Gathering, watching anime and reading (anything from the Future of Spacetime to Metamorphoses). Her favorite bands include, but are not limited to, Opeth, Tristania, Blind Guardian and Lake of Tears.

Jason is a veteran of IGEM 2007 where his team the Butanerds won first place in the Energy track. Jason is currently in his third year of his Bachelor degree specializing in Botany. His hobbies include Softball, Beach volley ball, soccer, as well as playing the guitar and fiddling with the IGEM 2008 Wiki. Jason hopes to finish his degree and then go into grad studies. His degree in botany focuses mostly on the molecular side of plants and he hopes to use this knowlegde applying synthetic biology to plants. He is also currently the acting president of the Organization of Botany Students (OBS).

Winnie is entering 4th year cell biology. She does not have a lot of hobbies (and had a hard time spelling "hobbies"). Her favorate thing to do is sleep....

Benny is entering his fifth year of study in UofA's Electrical Engineering (Biomedical Specialization) program, having transferred from the Engineering Physics program. This is his first year participating in the iGEM competition. He joined the team in hopes of gaining field experience, and meeting potential colleagues from around the world. In his spare time, he enjoys writing/playing music on his electric guitar, studying new languages (Mandarin, Japanese, and eventually Spanish), video games, reading, and just chilling in general.

Saima Zamir is in her third year of Biological Sciences Program at U of A and a proud member of 2008 iGEM Team. She plans to be a hot shot neurosurgeon one day. In her spare time, she works diligently on building her Zamir Memorial Hospital, one fantasy brick at a time - in addition to glass etching and pencil sketching. With her dancing shoes and Mighty wings, she is going places!!

Chris Kelly is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta's molecular genetics program and a first time participant in iGEM. His interests include (but are not limited to) science, science and more science (genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, astronomy, quantum mechanics in particular); but he also enjoys math and philosophy. In his spare time, Chris enjoys the most nerdiest of pursuits - Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, video games, arguing on the internet about trivial things (Yes, the Millennium Falcon could kick the Enterprise's butt), reading (mostly non-fiction science books, but occasionaly hard sci-fi) and making countless references to internet memes. His musical tastes are, shall we say, refined? He listens mainly to heavy metal but also likes post-rock, IDM/EDM/EBM and a little bit of shoegaze and neofolk. To top it off, he's a huge fan of Leonard Cohen. Go figure.

Anthony Lott is in his 3rd year of undergraduate studies of Physiology at the University of Alberta. Although this is his first year with iGEM, Anthony brings a diverse (and not necessarily practical) array of laboratory experiences to the table. His past research projects include: mate-choice preference of Cichlasoma nigrofasciatus (Hurd Lab, 2005), site-directed mutagenesis of GFP (Campbell Lab, 2006), micro-CT analysis of Gdf6 skeletal deformities (Lehmann/Doschak Lab, 2007), and pH-microenvironments associated with AE1 (Casey Lab, 2008). Anthony's interests include badminton, raving about speedminton, collecting dust and microbes on his unused Yamaha C2 grand piano, art and design, and one-upping his fellow teammates. He is also involved with organizing Frontier College and the Heart of the City Piano Program. Anthony is interested in pursuing a career in health-care.


Tom Tran
Tom is in 4th year biomedical electrical engineering.