The potential of biotechnology and fermentation to improve human health is an important reason why Leah Rahbek is pleased with the field she works with. And it also plays a role that the technologies can even be utilized for a green transition of industry.
“It’s important for me to work with something that helps people - especially in the healthcare sector. Fermentation can do that. But it can also give us many answers to the problems we’re facing in the green transition. With fermentation, it’s possible to substitute parts of the chemicals-based production in industry and also ensure that less energy is used in the processes - I think that’s very exciting,” says Leah Rahbek, who graduated from DTU in 2022 with an MSc degree in biotechnology with a specialization in fermentation in the study line Fermentation Based Biomanufacturing.
Fermentation popped up on Leah Rahbek’s radar already when she was a BSc student in biotechnology, where she encountered the topic on a course in the fourth semester, and her interest led to her bachelor project being about fermentation.
A good mix of biology and mathematics
“I find it appealing to work with the large volumes contained in fermentation tanks, instead of fiddling around with small quantities of fluid. Fermentation is also a good mix of biology and mathematics, which are two subjects I’ve always enjoyed. I can use my biological knowledge to reflect on some issues, and I can then also solve specific problems using mathematics,” says Leah Rahbek.
She landed her first job with the company Bacthera while writing her Master’s thesis, and was able to start the job a few days after having defended her thesis in January 2022.
Bacthera is a company that offers development and production services to other companies engaged in ‘live biotherapeutics’, good bacteria for use in medicinal products. In her job, she works with fermentation both practically and theoretically.
“It’s a very hands-on job, where, for example, I prepare fermentation tanks and run fermentations to improve the yield of the microorganism or microorganisms that our customer wants to utilize. My work also includes communication with the customer as well as calculations of, for example, the growth rates of bacteria, and analysis is needed to find out what adjustments are required to increase the productivity of microorganisms,” says Leah Rahbek, who predicts that fermentation is a field that she will be involved in for a long time to come.
