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Team

Students


Alec Adams Alec, being the knock out mouse king and all, is, simply put, an awesome scientist. He is a senior that goes to Blue Valley West High School, and when the afternoon rolls around, he heads to the Center for Advance Professional Studies. Alec is deeply intrigued with the application of biological processes to human health. In this upcoming semester he will be an intern for Dr.Peterson at KUMC. He is willing to sacrifice sleep to listen to professional scientific lectures, to understand complicated physiological processes, and to understand intricate protein structures down to the atomic level. When he doesn't work, he listens to music, writes poetry, or expands upon his understanding of biology by looking up proteins and their functions, for fun, of course.	Corinne Andresen Corinne decided to explore a long-standing interest in genetics when she joined CAPS in 2012. She presented posters on cholera toxin and the GroEL/GroES Chaperonin complex and ASMB conferences in 2012 and 2013. She spent the summer of 2012 studying E. coli genetics at Missouri Western State University under Dr. Todd Eckdahl. When she’s not doing science or studying to prepare for a career in biomedical engineering, she enjoys running ridiculously long distances and playing a ridiculously large instrument. Corinne also has a soft spot for satire, especially Voltaire.

Muriel Eaton Muriel fell in love with science through Science Olympiad. When not doing science, Muriel is thinking about science. She also enjoys tearing up the floor with her expert DDR moves, dressing up her cat, reading of the marvels of chaperone proteins, cruising in her Camaro, and watching the exploits of NCC-1701. Her motto is "if you can't change it, don't complain."	Dylan Geick Dylan graduated from Blue Valley West this May, but is more than willing to spend his summer doing science. This fall, he plans to attend Baker University as a pre-med major. His time is spent driving his cherry red Mustang to his numerous tennis meets, which usually wins. Anyone can tell from his taste in Nike shoes that he is a very classy man. Dylan has been working on cancerous islet cells as a side project. It was his initial idea to pursue a biofuel project for iGEM.

Austin Jacobson Dedicated, creative, and diverse, Austin is a major asset to the team. He is proficient in the lab and equally comfortable with computers. This proud, part-time homeschooler listens to Queen by day, Usher by night, with some T-Swift every now and then due to his inner Kansan (classical is reserved for homework time, of course). Please thank Austin for gracing us with this wonderful website.	Amy McClain Amy is a student at Blue Valley High School and the Center for Advanced Professional Studies. She has always had an interest in learning about both the molecular aspects of life and life at the macro level.

Mason Wilkinson Mason will be a senior next year and has a love for molecular biology. He especially enjoys modeling learning about different proteins because it shows him how life works on a such a small scale. This is the first time he has participated in iGEM, but he is sure that it will not be the last. He aspires to go to college somewhere on the east coast where he can work in a lab when he's not in class. He wants to have a future in biological research, and he hopes he can discover something that will help a lot of people. Outside of school, he is a very involved thespian. If you go looking, you can usually find him rehearsing for a play, playing video games, or listening to music.	Team Alec Adams - Blue Valley West High School '14 Corinne Andresen - Blue Valley Northwest High School '13 attending Iowa State University Muriel Eaton - Blue Valley North High School '14 Dylan Geick - Blue Valley West '13 attending Baker University Austin Jacobson - Mother of Divine Grace High School '14 Amy McClain - Blue Valley High School '14 Mason Wilkinson - Blue Valley Southwest '14

Mentors

Aron Fenton
Dr. Fenton researches Allosteric Regulation at the University of Kansas Medical Center. The results from his study will be used to direct future mutagenesis studies as a way of "tracing" which residues in the protein communicate the allosteric signal. To the same goal, his lab is also initiating D/H-exchange mass spectrometry experiments that will identify what regions of the protein have altered flexibilities due to the allosteric signal.

Qingling Tang
Ms. Tang is the chief laboratory technician in Dr. Fenton’s lab.

Instructors

	Eric Kessler Mr. Kessler’s interest in biology can be traced to his youth on his family’s annual canoe trips where he was obsessed with catching turtles. He has earned three undergraduate degrees, in Education from UMKC, and Psychology and Zoology from the University of Texas. These studies were followed by a Masters in Biology from Emporia State University where he completed research on the retreat-site selection of woodland snakes. He complete 18 years at BVN before coming to CAPS, and maintains National Board Certification.
	Joseph Whalen Mr. Whalen began his adult life in biology as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. His interest in the outdoors led him to complete an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science which he earned from the University of Kansas. From there he worked as a liaison between research and high school education as a GK-12 Fellow, and then completed three years teaching Biology, Zoology, AP Biology, and some physical science at Blue Valley High School. Before returning to CAPS he completed his Masters in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Oregon State University, where he studied genome defense mechanisms in the fungus, Fusarium graminearum. Mr. Walen is currently responsible for teaching the Bioscience Research course.
	Kelley Tuel From a young age, Mrs. Tuel has enjoyed nature, farmlife and figuring out how things work. Her love of all things living and amusement from high school students prompted her to earn undergraduate degrees in both Biology and Education from Kansas State University. This spring, Mrs. Tuel obtained her MS degree in Biology from Emporia State University. Her graduate work was on the molecular genetics of Halobacterium sp. NRC-1, a halophilic Archaean, and its instructional use in high school classrooms. For her research, she isolated and named two previously undescribed mutant strains of Halobacterium. Each mutant possesses a novel transposon which disrupted the buoyancy vesicle operon. Mrs. Tuel has taught high school biology, physical science and AP Biology.

Team:BV CAPS Kansas/Team

From 2013hs.igem.org