iGEM alumni spotlight
“Knowing how to talk about finances, how to manage a team, all sorts of basic things that started with iGEM really did shape a lot of what my next years looked like.”
iGEM is an annual, international competition where 350+ university teams present synthetic biology projects aimed at addressing 21st century challenges. Each year, UCSC assembles an interdisciplinary team of undergraduates with the common goal of creating a better world through science and engineering. Read more about iGEM.
As a Baskin Engineering student, Nina Sardesh (B.S., Bioengineering, ‘16) was one of two team leads for the 2015 UC Santa Cruz International Genetic Engineering Machine (iGEM) team, called Cellulose to Butanol.
iGEM experience: Sardesh’s team team addressed the issue of increased pollution caused by the prolonged carbon chain used in petroleum-based fuels. As a solution, the team engineered a micro-organism to improve biofuel production.
As an iGEM lead, Sardesh was focused on organizing the project, fundraising, and preparing for the iGEM Jamboree in Boston, MA. Sardesh also worked closely with iGEM advisor and Associate Teaching Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, David Bernick.
“This was my first real foray into fundraising,” Sardesh said. “David [Bernick] took me aside after that summer and said, ‘I know you want to go into research, and you get good grades, but the ability to fundraise and talk to people isn’t something everyone can do—you might consider going into the business side.’ He kind of put a bug in my ear, and I ignored it for a year after iGEM.”
“After I started working in a lab after graduation, I realized he was right. That’s how I got into project management. Knowing how to talk about finances, how to manage a team, all sorts of basic things that started with iGEM really did shape a lot of what my next years looked like.”
Where is she now? After graduating, Sardesh moved to New York to work in digital health as a product manager for Flatiron Health. Now, she is the Lead Product Manager at Brightside Health.
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