Larissa Pontes: from CELOP to MET to iGEM

in Academic, Alumni, Programs
April 11th, 2016

Larissa PontesLarissa Queiroz Pontes is a biotechnology undergraduate from Brazil’s Federal University of Ceará. She studied at CELOP in 2013 in order to improve her English and prepare for academic study at Boston University’s Metropolitan College. We caught up with her recently and here’s what she said.

Q: How was your CELOP experience?

I had a delightful experience at CELOP studying English for my TOEFL test and I was in contact with so many other cultures and made great friends. I learned a lot and improved my English. I improved my vocabulary and my listening, and obviously my speaking got stronger.

Q: How did your experience at CELOP help you achieve your goals?

I had to take TOEFL to get into BU Metropolitan College to take my academic courses, and I succeeded because of CELOP. When I studied at Metropolitan College, people could understand me and I understood them well.

Q: What would you say to a future CELOP student?

Enjoy your time at CELOP, go to meetings, fit in to conversation groups. Get into the American culture.

Currently Larissa is part of a team of students from her university, including other former CELOP students Daniel Carlos and Marcus Rafael, that will come to Boston this October to compete in iGEM, an annual world wide synthetic biology competition. Their team (pictured below) is planning to genetically modify micro-algae so that they produce a protein that is lethal to Aedes aegypti larvae, the species responsible for transmitting yellow fever and other serious diseases. Larissa explains “The curious thing about this protein is that it is toxic just to the mosquito larvae, not for humans or any other species.”

iGEM Larissa Daniel Marcus

Participation in the iGEM competition requires their own funding. Anybody interested in supporting their team can make a donation to their crowdfunding campaign.

We wish Larissa and her team the very best in the competition, and the best in all of her future endeavors!

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