Texas iGEM Collective Story
Texas iGEM Collective was founded as the first community-based iGEM team in Texas, created to give motivated students access to synthetic biology and iGEM opportunities regardless of school district or campus affiliation. What began with a group of highly driven students from across the Greater Houston area has grown into a collaborative organization welcoming youth from across Texas and beyond. Built on student initiative, volunteer mentorship, and community support, the Collective empowers young innovators to learn, collaborate, and compete in iGEM while developing the leadership, safety, ethics, and problem-solving skills needed to make a real-world impact.
Myreen Ahsan's Leadership
How We Support Students
Creating pathways for students to learn synthetic biology, lead projects, and grow through iGEM and community-based STEM experiences.
Compete at iGEM
We guide motivated students as they form teams, develop research ideas, and prepare for iGEM competitions. Through mentorship and collaboration, students gain hands-on experience in synthetic biology, project design, teamwork, communication, and responsible innovation.
Texas iGEM Journal Club
Students explore scientific papers, emerging biotechnology topics, and real-world research through guided discussions. The journal club helps young learners build scientific literacy, ask thoughtful questions, and connect classroom knowledge to current advances in synthetic biology.
We empower students to take initiative, lead projects, organize outreach, and collaborate across schools and communities. Through leadership opportunities, students build confidence, ethical awareness, communication skills, and a strong sense of responsibility as future STEM leaders.
Youth Leadership
Youth Founders
Meet the youth founders who took the initiative to establish the Texas iGEM Collective - a student-led effort created to open doors for young innovators to learn, collaborate, and actively participate in iGEM competitions and beyond. Through their leadership, they are helping build a community where curiosity, science, and entrepreneurship come together to inspire the next generation of problem-solvers.
Shivansh Shukla
Myreen Ahsan
Aditya Rai
Shivali Shukla
Ananya Rai
Mentors & Advisors
Our mentors and advisors are dedicated volunteers who generously donate their time, expertise, and guidance to support the Texas iGEM Collective. Our team is guided by a powerhouse mentorship trio whose training and expertise span the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Harvard Medical School, and the Texas Medical Center. With backgrounds in science, medicine, biotechnology, and leadership, they help students gain the knowledge, confidence, and real-world perspective needed to explore synthetic biology, develop innovative ideas, and grow as future scientific leaders.
Dr. Sharmistha Sarkar
TEXAS iGEM TEAM PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Dr. Sharmistha Sarkar is a dedicated mentor and Principal Investigator for the Texas iGEM team who brings a rare combination of scientific depth, business strategy, and global biotechnology leadership to the Texas iGEM Collective. She currently serves as Director of Portfolio & Product Strategy at Sanofi, where she helps shape product and portfolio decisions on a global scale. Her path spans both the bench and the boardroom - from a Master of Technology in biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and a Ph.D. in oncology and cancer biology, to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and translational cancer research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, followed by an MBA from UT Austin's McCombs School of Business. Through her mentorship, Dr. Sarkar helps students connect scientific innovation with real-world impact - empowering young synthetic biologists to think bigger, innovate fearlessly, and develop solutions that can change lives.
Dr. Sachet A. Shukla
Assistant Professor
Department of Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy at MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Sachet A. Shukla is a dedicated mentor and immunogenomics researcher who brings deep expertise in cancer vaccine innovation, computational biology, and translational science to the Texas iGEM Collective. A chemical engineer by training from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur who went on to earn a dual-major Ph.D. in bioinformatics and statistics, he spent more than a decade at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute - a Harvard Medical School affiliate and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he built widely used computational tools and helped design neoantigen-based vaccines tested in first-in-human clinical trials. Today, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Director of Computational Biology for the ECLIPSE platform, and co-founder of the biotech company Jivanu Therapeutics, he leads research focused on personalized cancer vaccines using both computational and experimental approaches. Through his mentorship, Dr. Shukla helps students understand how cutting-edge science can move from the lab toward real-world clinical impact - inspiring young innovators to think boldly, solve complex problems, and pursue meaningful advances in biotechnology.
Dr. Kunal Rai
Professor
Department of Genomic Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Kunal Rai is a dedicated volunteer mentor, Professor of Genomic Medicine, and scientific leader who brings exceptional expertise in cancer epigenetics, precision oncology, artificial intelligence, and translational research to the Texas iGEM Collective. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur who went on to earn his Ph.D. and later served as an Instructor at Harvard University, he is now a Professor in the Department of Genomic Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Scientific Director of the MDACC Epigenomics Therapy Initiative (METI), where he leads innovative research focused on understanding cancer progression and developing new targeted therapies. He is also a co-founder of two biotechnology companies, Koshika Therapeutics and Jivanu Therapeutics, where he works to translate discoveries from the lab into real-world treatments. Through his mentorship, Dr. Rai helps students see how advanced technologies, rigorous science, entrepreneurial thinking, and collaboration can drive meaningful discoveries - and inspire the next generation of biotechnology innovators.
