Team:Aberdeen Scotland/OurTeam/Advisors

Dr. Russell Betney

Field: Yeast Molecular Biology, Translational control of gene expression.

I did my degree in Biochemistry with Immunology (1999) followed by a PhD in Biochemistry (2003) at the University of Aberdeen. I spent 18 months doing a post-doc in Berlin before returning to Aberdeen to take up a post-doc position on a systems biology project.

Alison Davidson

Field: Technical support and team Granny.

I have been a technician with Aberdeen University since the Dark Ages. (1974). This summer I was wheeled out in my zimmer to give technical (and cake baking) support to the igem team. A nice peaceful summer with mad students before the start of the new teaching year!

Dr. Mette Jacobsen

Field: Fungal molecular biology, responses to stress

After finishing my M.Sc in Biology (1999) at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, I did an Industrial PhD and graduated from University of Aberdeen (2005). Since then, I have worked as a post doc on 2 different projects related to pathogenic fungi and their population structure and resistance to antifungal drugs. Currently, I work as part of a large systems biology team addressing questions of stress responses of fungi.

Dr. Despoina Kaloriti

Field: Molecular Biology

After gaining a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at Durham University, UK (2004), I got post doc positions at University of Lisbon, Portugal and at Illinois State University, USA studying the Microtubule and Actin Cytoskeleton of Plants. Since 2008 I have joined a Systems Biology project at University of Aberdeen and study the responses of pathogenic yeast Candida to stress conditions.

E-Mail: dkaloriti@abdn.ac.uk

Dr. Sam Miller

Field: Structural and functional relationships of ion channels in Escherichia coli

I am currently a lecturer in the School of Medical Sciences. My research continues to focus on both the ligand-gated ion channels and the mechanosensitive channels. I am one of the four University of Aberdeen-based PIs in the KOSMOBAC SysMO consortium, funded by the BBSRC in the UK. Our consortium has partners in Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Our project is aimed towards creating a model of ionic homeostasis in enteric bacteria. Working with modellers based in Aberdeen and in our partner countries we are developing predictive models of, for example, detoxification of methylglyoxal and gating of the ligand-gated ion channels.

Dr. Wei Pang

Field: Systems Biology

I did my B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from 1997 to 2004 in Jilin University, China. In 2005 I moved to Aberdeen and spent three years and a half for a Ph.D. degree in Computing Science. Now I am a post-doc and involved in a five-year systems biology project. My research interest is qualitative approaches to systems biology.

E-Mail: pang.wei@abdn.ac.uk

Dr. Claudia Rato da Silva

Field: Yeast molecular biology, translational control of gene expression.

I received my undergraduate degree in Plant Biology in 2002 and my Ph.D. in Cell Biology in 2007 from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. For six years I worked in plant molecular and cell biology focusing on signal transduction in pollen tubes. I decided to pursue a new challenge and I am now doing a post-doc in yeast systems biology at the University of Aberdeen.

E-Mail: c.ratosilva@abdn.ac.uk

Kelly Reid

Field: Technical assistance and cake making

I've been a technician within the CLSM teaching facility for the past 12 years, working my way up from slave and tea-making duties to supervising the iGEM team this summer. My legendary chocolate banana cake has kept them going through some dark times.