Meet the team: Joachim Steen Larsen
Introducing Joachim, advisor to the DeNovocastrians iGEM team.
Joachim studies Cyanobacterial natural products and their biological function at the University of Newcastle. When asked why he chose this field he stated, “I have always been interested in how we can use Nature to overcome many of the still untreatable diseases. As Nature is “conservative”, I do believe Nature doesn’t evolve a disease or pathogenic bacteria, without also evolving a solution.”
Joachim’s research focuses on the natural products produced by plants and bacteria, and the bioactivity that they show. His belief is that by not only identifying the big repertoire of natural products produced by Nature, but also the biological function these have within the organisms, it might help shine a light on their potential as disease treatment.
When asked why he joined the iGEM team he told us, “I first joined iGEM 2016, as part of the team representing University of Copenhagen. I did so because I saw iGEM as an opportunity to develop myself — both professionally and personally. Since then, I have been sucked into the iGEM bubble. When the opportunity presented itself, being involved in the first team from University of Newcastle I didn’t think twice.” This time around Joachim is in an advisory position for the team, enabling him to develop his own skills as a researcher, but mainly to help this year’s team members to get the same experience that he did when he was part of an iGEM team. He hopes to help the team to become better researchers and to show them research is much more than just doing pipetting in the lab.
Joachim said that his life revolves around his research projects. However, when he does have some spare time, he likes to relax with a good book or a good movie, his favourites being Stephen King and ‘IT’. Joachim is interested in the start-up community, and while he lived in Copenhagen, he investigated the different opportunities for a start-up. Being part of a start-up helped develop a skillset different from pure research and he is excited to share these skills and experiences with the team.
