Faglige nøgleord: DNA, Ocean, Genes, Cell Factory, Antibiotics, Bacteria, Microorganisms
Oplæg tilgængeligt på: Engelsk og tysk
My project will focus on how to engineer a marine bacterium to take up environmental DNA and translate those genes into the corresponding enzymes, that then produce so-called bioactive compounds which can be analyzed for their potential to kill other bacteria, that are currently not being killed by the available antibiotics (=resistance). While the project might sound a bit niche, it can easily be incorporated into a lecture about DNA and the translation of DNA. Engineering in this case means swapping genetic elements to get specific functions, which again could teach the student about genotypes and phenotypes.
Next to the relevance of DNA generally and how we go from nucleotides to proteins and enzymes, the relevance of the project is mainly important for the discovery of novel antibiotic compounds that could potentially lead to novel drugs to cure infections caused by (multi)resistant bacteria. The sustainability aspect of the project lies more in public health, generation of technology and knowledge as well as a bit on life under water.
I went to school in Germany and did my Bachelors in a small University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven close to my hometown on "Marine Biotechnology". After completing this (during Covid) I knew I wanted to continue in a different and bigger university. Since international travels were still risky, I decided to go more south and study at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, which has a similar profile to DTU. During this time I went abroad to do a two-semester ERASMUS exchange in Finland (at the Aalto University which also collaborates with DTU). Finally, I came to Denmark for my master thesis which I wrote at DTU Biosustain. I was lucky and got offered a Research Assistant position after that, which gave me time to look for PhDs at DTU, which happened roughly half a year later, when I got accepted to my current PhD in DTU Bioengineering under the title "Marine Microbial Cell Factory for Novel Antibiotics Discovery".