ESR1 – Theofania Andreadaki
ESR1 will develop and demonstrate advanced metagenome mining strategies based on gene enrichment technologies and bioinformatics. The researcher in this project will develop innovative in vitro and in silico methodologies to design maximum diversity screening panels of PEP lyases that will be exploited both academically and commercially, within and beyond the project.
I have a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and a Masters degree in General Chemistry with an emphasis in Biological and Organic Chemistry, from the University of Crete. Part of my Master´s Thesis was conducted at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, in the working Group of Systems and Synthetic metabolism. My experience till now is directed more towards whole-cell studies and metabolic engineering. However, during my Master´s classes I realised that the field that excites me the most is biocatalysis and enzyme biotechnology. That became the reason I applied at CC-TOP. I believe that in order to enhance our productivity while working, it is important to have qualitative free time. Thus, during my free time I am more productive whilst cooking, enjoying a good book or traveling. Being a scientist is very interesting because, you can never get bored, especially when your partner, nature, is unpredictably interesting. I get very enthusiastic when learning about undiscovered knowledge. Especially now that my project at CC-TOP is the discovery of novel PEP lyases through metagenomic mining, I am very intrigued. I am ready for any new challenges this ETN has to offer, to surpass them and evolve as a scientist and a person. Concluding after this ETN, I hope to have gained enough knowledge to be able to either continue in academia or in industry, as a fully qualified scientist. Whatever career I follow I want to be able to transfer my knowledge to the audience in the simplest way possible, as my best supervisors and professors did when I was a student.
Project information
Workpackage: WP1
Project title: Rapid exploration / exploitation of uncharted PEP lyase sequence space
Host institution: Prozomix Ltd
Secondments: University College London and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Supervisor: Simon J. Charnock
