Team:Utah State/Team

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Utah State University iGEM 2009

Introduction to the team stuff. Utah State University is participating for the second time in the iGEM Competition. The Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering and the College of Engineering at Utah State University are the primary supporters of our team. We thank them for providing such a tremendous opportunity. Our team is a combination of local high school students, undergraduates and graduates from the Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, and our outstanding faculty advisors.

Utah State University iGEM 2009

Another box if needed

The Team

GARRETT HINTON

Garrett Hinton is a Senior at Sky View High School in Smithfield, UT. He began his research experience at USU in 2006 as he was starting his freshman year in high school. He was a member of the USU iGEM team in 2008, and is excited to be involved again this year. For this project, Garrett performed various lab procedures, including DNA purification, gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digestions, ligations, and more. Additionally, he helped out in the lab by making medias and monitoring experiments. Outside of the lab, Garrett likes basketball and ping pong.

JEFF KARREN

Brad is a graduate student in the Biological and Irrigation Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research is centered around analyzing an unknown microbial community, and characterizing it's genetic phylogeny. Brad is participating in the iGEM competition for the first time, and has enjoyed being a part of the group. He has a passion for caving, and tries to go as often as the team would let him. Other than that, he enjoys rock climbing, camping, the occasional computer game, and is excited for the duck hunting season. Brad was primarily responsible for culturing the cyanobacteria, and conducting the tri-parental mating procedure, and generally helped out around the lab.

JODY JEREZ

Sean Bedingfield is a Utah State Research Fellow in his freshman year. His personal research is focused on effective expression of the LacOperon gene for the production of particular proteins. Sean is an avid hiker, pheasant hunter, and cook. Sean’s contributions to the project include assisting with tri-parental mating, researching secretion systems of different bacteria, transforming competent E. coli, and getting the team T-shirts made.

Tyrell Rupp TYREL RUPP

Tyrel is a senior at a Sky View High School near USU. In the spring of 2009 his friend Garrett Hinton exposed him to synthetic biological engineering by inviting him to take an internship class. Ty spent the summer working for the Synthetic Biomanufacturing Center, which lead to his participation in iGEM. Over the past few months, he has learned a lot about synthetic biology and the research process. Among other things, Ty enjoys mountain biking and snowboarding in the mountain ranges above USU. For iGEM, Ty has helped carry out basic laboratory procedures and contributed some to the team’s wiki design.

Trent Mortensen SEAN BEDINGFIELD

Sean Bedingfield is a Utah State Research Fellow in his freshman year. His personal research is focused on effective expression of the LacOperon gene for the production of particular proteins. Sean is an avid hiker, pheasant hunter, and cook. Sean’s contributions to the project include assisting with tri-parental mating, researching secretion systems of different bacteria, transforming competent E. coli, and getting the team T-shirts made.

COLE PETERSON

Alex Hatch is a junior in Biological Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research has dealt with microbial diversity in TCE bioremediation and currently algal diversity in wastewater treatment and biofuel production. He is participating with iGEM for the first time this year and has enjoyed the opportunity to be introduced to this emerging field. He is pursuing a career in medicine and plans to attend medical school upon graduation. He loves to spend time with his young family, wife Laura and son Graham. Together they like to spend time outside, read together, and build forts out of furniture and blankets. Alex has helped in general laboratory activities and was responsible for addressing human practices in synthetic biology on the Wiki.

ALEX HATCH

Alex Hatch is a junior in Biological Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research has dealt with microbial diversity in TCE bioremediation and currently algal diversity in wastewater treatment and biofuel production. He is participating with iGEM for the first time this year and has enjoyed the opportunity to be introduced to this emerging field. He is pursuing a career in medicine and plans to attend medical school upon graduation. He loves to spend time with his young family, wife Laura and son Graham. Together they like to spend time outside, read together, and build forts out of furniture and blankets. Alex has helped in general laboratory activities and was responsible for addressing human practices in synthetic biology on the Wiki.

RACHEL PORTER

Rachel is in her third year at Utah State University majoring in Biological Engineering. She is interested in genetic and biomedical engineering research and would like to pursue a masters degree in biomedical engineering. She enjoys participating in iGEM because it is interesting and helps her apply the concepts she has learned in classes. She hopes to work in a research laboratory after graduation. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, her hobbies include playing volleyball, mountain biking, hiking, camping, and almost anything outdoors.

TRENT MORTENSEN

Trent is a finishing senior in Biological Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research is focused on the antimycobacterial properties of the St. John’s Wort herb. Trent participated in the 2008 Utah State iGEM project, “Efficient systems for monitoring polyhydroxybutyrate production in microorganisms,” and is participating once again because of the excellent experience he had last year. He is looking into a career in the biomedical field in the area of disease and injury research and treatment and feels that Synthetic Biology has enormous potential for advancing this field. As a native of Utah, Trent enjoys hiking, fishing, and snowmobiling in the nearby mountains. He also enjoys playing basketball, racquetball, and ultimate. For this year’s project, Trent aided in laboratory work, team coordination, gathering materials for the Wiki, and preparation of the presentation materials.

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Advisors

BRAD HENRIE

Brad is a graduate student in the Biological and Irrigation Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research is centered around analyzing an unknown microbial community, and characterizing it's genetic phylogeny. Brad is participating in the iGEM competition for the first time, and has enjoyed being a part of the group. He has a passion for caving, and tries to go as often as the team would let him. Other than that, he enjoys rock climbing, camping, the occasional computer game, and is excited for the duck hunting season. Brad was primarily responsible for culturing the cyanobacteria, and conducting the tri-parental mating procedure, and generally helped out around the lab.

LIBBIE LINTON

Brad is a graduate student in the Biological and Irrigation Engineering at Utah State University. His personal research is centered around analyzing an unknown microbial community, and characterizing it's genetic phylogeny. Brad is participating in the iGEM competition for the first time, and has enjoyed being a part of the group. He has a passion for caving, and tries to go as often as the team would let him. Other than that, he enjoys rock climbing, camping, the occasional computer game, and is excited for the duck hunting season. Brad was primarily responsible for culturing the cyanobacteria, and conducting the tri-parental mating procedure, and generally helped out around the lab.

The Team

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Alex Hatch: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

Rachel Nicole Porter Jackson: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

Cole Peterson: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

Trent Mortensen: BIE, USU

Sean Bedingfield: BIE, USU

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Garrett Hinton: Sky View High School

Jody Jerez: InTech Collegiate High School

Jeff Karren: InTech Collegiate High School

Hyun-jin Kim: InTech Collegiate High School

Tyrel Rupp: Sky View High School

Advisors

Faculty Support

Who we are

FACULTY ADVISORS:

Scott Hinton: Dean of the College of Engineering, USU
Dr. Charles Miller: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Dr. Ronald C. Sims: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

GRADUATE STUDENTS:

Brad Henrie: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Elisabeth Linton: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Trent Mortensen: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Junling HUO: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS:

Amanda Feldt: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Alex Hatch: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Rachel Nicole Porter Jackson: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU
Cole Peterson: Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, USU

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS:

Sean Bedingfield: Sky View High School
Garrett Hinton: Sky View High School
Jody Jerez: InTech Collegiate High School
Jeff Karren: InTech Collegiate High School
Hyun-jin Kim: InTech Collegiate High School
Tyrel Rupp: Sky View High School

Dean Scott Hinton	Dr. Ron Sims	Charles Miller	Brad Henrie
Elisabeth Linton	Trent Mortensen	Rachel Nicole Porter Jackson	Alex Hatch
Cole Peterson	Sean Bedingfield	Jody Jerez	Jeff Karren
Hyun-jin Kim	Tyrel Rupp	Garrett Hinton	Junling HUO

More About Us

Trent Mortensen is a master's student in Biological Engineering. His main research direction is biomedical in nature, studying the antimycobacterial properties of the St. John's Wort herb. He was on the 2008 Utah State iGEM team and is working as a graduate advisor for the 2009 team.

Elisabeth Linton is a Biological Engineering student. Her research is focused on polyhydroxyalkanoates. For the iGEM team, Libbie helped in project determination and planning, as well as literature review and topic research. She also carried out work in the laboratory like restriction enzyme digestions, gel electrophoresis, DNA isolation, and bacterial transformations. She was also responsible for coordinating efforts and organizing the wiki.

Rachel Nicole Porter Jackson is in her third year at Utah State University majoring in Biological Engineering. For the iGEM project, she helped to carry out some of the lab work, work on the logo, and contribute to the wiki. In the lab, she helped isolate and purify DNA, prepare and run electrophoresis gels, and culture cells.

Matthew Sims is a Senior attending Logan High School. This is his first year participating in laboratory research at Utah State University. He plans to go to college next fall and continue his studies in molecular biology and biochemistry. He helped during the summer months to carry out many experiments and obtain and analyze data.

Garrett Hinton is a senior at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah. He was heavily involved in the project discussion meetings, as well as the background literature research. Garrett spent many hours working on this project and carried out a substantial portion of the laboratory work.

Sean Bedingfield is a freshman at Utah State University majoring in Biological Engineering/pre-med. He has been involved with some lab work and research into the systems of various bacteria for the project.

Hyun-jin Kim is a freshmen at InTech Collegiate High School. He is from Gwangju, South Korea. He has followed his father, who is a visiting professor, to Logan, Utah and got interested at the iGEM project and joined the team. He is now learning many skills in the laboratory by his helpers.

Jeff Karren is a senior at InTech Collegiate High School, and hails from Logan, Utah. As one of several InTech students selected to participate in internships with USU's biological engineering department, he had the opportunity to join the iGEM team at USU. He has specialized mostly in helping with the wiki, but has assisted in some lab work, including using CTAB to isolate DNA plasmids.

Tyrel Rupp is a senior at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah. This is his first year involved in iGEM. As well as being an excellent pipetter, he is skilled in many of the laboratory arts such as electrophoresis and DNA transformation.

Alex Hatch is a junior at Utah State University with a major in Biological Engineering and a pre-med emphasis. He's a Utah native. Currently he's working on research dealing with microbial diversity in bioremediation, with a developing interest in synthetic biology.

Logan and USU

Utah State University is located in Logan, Utah. Logan is about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah. The city of Logan is located in the heart of Cache Valley near the western slopes of the Bear River Mountains, the northernmost branch of the Wasatch Range. The city has a population of approximately 47,000. Logan was established in 1859 and has a rich heritage and wonderful culture. The city of Logan has been stated to be among the safest cities in America.

Utah State University was established in 1888 as the Agricultural College of Utah. Its name was later changed to Utah State Agricultural College and finally became Utah State University (USU) in 1957. As the land-grant university in Utah, USU conducts world-class research in a variety of agricultural and natural resource disciplines, and has several projects in conjunction with the Department of Defense and NASA. Utah State University also conducts extensive aerospace research. The main campus is located in Logan, Utah. Beyond the Logan campus, Utah State's Extension programs extend academic resources and support throughout the entire state of Utah, having extension locations in each of Utah's 29 counties.

The Sant Building is home to the new USU synthetic biology laboratory