Background: The exponential development and progress of the field of biotechnology in the past decades triggered a great desire for me to be a part of the scientific community responsible for it. During my studies at Jacobs University Bremen and TU Delft, I had the chance to be involved in innovative scientific projects focused on engineering of metabolic pathways in various yeast species for specific industrial applications as well as on the development of novel and more efficient tools for genetic alterations of these cell factories.
In addition, at my industrial internship in Heineken I built-up a great interest towards understanding the complex genomes of hybrid yeast strains used in beer brewing where I had the rare opportunity to work with recently developed DNA sequencing data. These experiences managed to not only improve my knowledge and technical skills but also to develop my personal character as a more open-minded person being part of such international environments.
The past work experience at Heineken drove my motivation and desire to be part of the YEASTDOC ITN program working on yeast hybrids where I can further challenge myself to learn and gain expertise in the field.
About Project 2:
Hybrids between S. cerevisiae x S. eubayanus to add/enhance specific flavours in beer
Most of the beer produced in the world is fermented with one or two related hybrid yeast. One parent of the hybrid is S.cerevisiae and until recently the other parent eluded discovery. This in addition to the sterility of existing hybrids made it difficult to improve the properties of yeast used in fermentation. Now that the other parent is known and sterility has been overcome by utilising a tetraploid intermediate, we will make genetically diverse new hybrids and test them for flavour enhancements.
Training Programme in Yeast Biotechnology 