Outreach – SensUs Symposium

Follow the CONSENSE ESRs on social media

We have set up social media channels specifically for the CONSENSE project to make it easier for interested audiences to follow the CONSENSE Early Stage Researchers. To find out what we are up to follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn to receive updates.

December 16, 2024

Introducing ESR7

Hi there! I’m Emily ESR 7 in the CONSENSE consortium.

I’m here to introduce a little bit about myself so I’ll dive right into my academic background. In 2020, I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Southampton. Here, I became interested in the topic of synthetic biology, so I decided to continue my education in this area. In 2021, I graduated with a Master of Research in Systems and Synthetic Biology from Imperial College London. Whilst learning about many different aspects of synthetic biology and its potential uses, I became fascinated by the topic of DNA origami, a technique which allows the delicate folding of DNA. I decided to explore a little more in this field by taking an 8-month long research project which involved using DNA origami nanostructures together with time-resolved cryo-EM. Currently I am pursuing a PhD, still within the field of

DNA origami, now under the supervision of Professor Kurt Gothelf at Aarhus University within the CONSENSE ITN. My PhD project involves the design and fabrication of DNA nanostructures using DNA origami to create a continuous biosensor to detect small biomolecules which are relevant for illness and disease.

There are many reasons why I decided not only to pursue a PhD in the field of DNA origami but also specifically within the CONSENSE network. Firstly, I am fascinated by the technique and its potential uses in the future. I hope to be able to use my time to become an expert in the field and advance it further into industrial applications. Secondly, I was interested in the idea of joining an ITN because of all the other opportunities it would provide me during my time as a PhD student. I look forward to the secondments in both an academic and industrial setting as it will allow me to experience another new work environment, further my knowledge in different fields and opens doors for collaboration. Along with the secondments taking place abroad, as well as the biannual CONSENSE conferences, this ITN will allow me to further my international experience and develop other personal traits.

I am privileged to be a part of the CONSENSE ITN and look forward to seeing myself develop scientifically, professionally, and personally in the next few years. I hope this gives you a little idea about myself!

Until next time!

Author: Emily Tsang

December 16, 2024

Introducing ESR6

Hi, nice to meet you! My name is Andris and in the CONSENSE network, I am known as ESR6.

I guess it is appropriate to start with my background. I was born and raised in Riga, the capital of Latvia, one of the Baltic States. In short, ever since high school, my whole life revolved around chemistry. To not sound cliché, let me explain.

Growing up I considered myself a “science kid”. I was really interested in literally anything as long as it sounded “science-y”, let it be looking at onion peel film under the microscope or trying to wrap my head around the angular momentum phenomenon in physics. But my chemistry teacher was the most instrumental in satiating my curiosity and rerouted it into an urge to study chemistry (especially organic chemistry, because who needs the easy way out, right?). You could probably guess where this is going.

I obtained my bachelor’s and master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvia. There, I received an excellent opportunity to learn about different strategies and synthetic procedures in organic chemistry and, most importantly, got to work (and sometimes tinker) with scary and menacing-looking machines like nucleic magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers and high-performance liquid chromatography machines.

Later in my studies, due to my diligent work (or maybe excessive tinkering with machines, I am still not sure), I was offered a research assistant position at the Institute of Technology of Organic Chemistry at RTU. For the curious little boy in me, it was a wonderful creative outlet to make a bunch of new, previously unknown chemicals that sometimes acted or looked weird. My main scientific focus was the synthesis and analysis of annulated pyrimidine derivatives, such as purines and quinazolines. These compounds are widely studied and used in biochemistry and biology, as some of them, for example, are crucial for life processes or disease/disorder treatment, while others make up our DNA and RNA.

After finishing my master’s, I wanted to explore possibilities out of my comfort zone and dive into something new. As I have previously worked with the synthesis of DNA/RNA building blocks, it seemed only logical to try “a step higher” – to work with DNA itself. Thanks to CONSENSE, I was able to join Professor Kurt Gothelf’s group at Aarhus University, Denmark. This is a life-changing opportunity to gain experience in the fields of oligonucleotide synthesis, DNA modification, protein conjugation, and all that together applied in biosensor technologies. I am genuinely grateful to be part of the CONSENSE ITN network and privileged to carry the ESR title.

Let’s say this was a decent introduction on my part. Time to wrap up!

Hope to see you again!

Author: Andris Jeminejs

December 16, 2024

Let’s welcome ESR2!

Hello, my name is Alexander Stephany; I am the most recently recruited CONSENSE member — ESR2.

About me

From the age of 6, I have lived south of Brussels — in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. During my years in Belgium, like many teenagers, I was part of a scouting group. At 18, I continued as a leader for children aged between 7-12 for 5 years.

My journey in science

I began my studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain, where I obtained both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. I did my Master’s thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Patrice Soumillion. The scope of this thesis was to purify and characterize the L- and D-transpeptidases from Escherichia coli. This allowed me to acquire experience in molecular biology and biochemistry. This was possible thanks to my mentor who did a great job of sharing his experience and inspired me to continue in research.

After my studies, I worked for a university start-up, studying human nuclear receptors active in cancer development. Thanks to the great team at this company I gained new skills and more experience.

Where I am now

I have just started a new adventure at the TU/e, in the Netherlands, in the protein engineering group of Prof. Maarten Merkx. This challenge is a great opportunity for me to learn about directed evolution, protein engineering, antibodies, and biochemistry in general. All this is possible thanks to the support from the CONSENSE ITN network.

Thanks for reading!

Please come back to read the other ESR introductions!

Author: Alexander Stephany

December 16, 2024

Get to know Estelle Bonedeau – ESR 4!

Hi, I’m Estelle!

If you want to know a bit more about me, you’re in the right place.

What’s my academic background?

I have studied at the University of Bordeaux (France) and the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and obtained my bachelor and master’s degree at the bioengineering school ENSTBB (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Technologie des Biomolécules de Bordeaux), (France). During my studies, I specialized in biotechnology, biomedicine and, more particularly, the characterization of biomolecules. I have completed my master’s thesis at the Max Planck Institute for medical research on the biochemical characterization and engineering of the human sepiapterin reductase (hSPR) in the context of NAD(P) semi-synthetic biosensors.

Why did I choose the CONSENSE training program?

I was impressed by the biosensing interdisciplinary projects and the international dimension of CONSENSE. I believe the entrepreneurial vision supported by the strong network of both public and private organisations will contribute greatly to the development of new biosensor technologies for therapeutic purposes. Also, CONSENSE combines my appeal for healthcare entrepreneurship as well as my desire to pursue an academic PhD in the biomolecular engineering field.

What about the other side of science?

My life outside of the lab is filled with travels, joyful adventures in the mountains and walks in nature. On the sports side, I love longboarding, Taekwondo, and am always down for a volleyball game. Finally, I enjoy all sorts of DIY projects from painting to woodworking and pottery.

December 16, 2024

Introducing ESR12!

Hello and nice to meet you!

I’m Claudia, ESR 12 in the CONSENSE project. Like many of the other PhD students, I was also keen on everything related to science ever since I was a kid. During my school years, I enjoyed studying chemistry, physics, and mathematics. But what I enjoyed the most is the process of learning. Besides that, a strong drive I’ve had throughout my growth was the desire to create something. When I was a little girl, this could be building something with recycled materials or painting. Later, when I chose my university studies, I combined my passion for learning and the one for creating something in my Physics Engineering course, which I started in 2015 at Politecnico di Torino. There I got the opportunity to broaden my horizons to a wide range of physics subjects, ranging from nuclear to quantum physics to the physics of semiconductors.

For my master, I decided to stay at Politecnico di Torino and study in the Nanotechnology for ICTs programme. The course was focused on teaching physics and the technical processes involved in the micro and nanofabrication processes of the ICT industry. I enjoyed a lot deepening my understanding of the world at the nanoscale. For my thesis, I chose to jump into a new adventure. I moved to Stockholm to work on a thesis project called “Programmable matter: shape programming of 2D physical objects”. There I got the chance to take my first steps in the research world. I enjoyed a lot working in this environment and I felt I wanted to pursue a research job after my studies. I wished to combine my nanotechnology studies with something more related to bioscience, as it’s a field that I’ve always been curious about, but didn’t have the chance to explore further. In addition to that, I was looking for multidisciplinary projects with applications directly translatable into the real world.

Thanks to CONSENSE, I was able to join the lab of professor Jeroen Lammertyn at KU Leuven. I’m really glad for having had this opportunity and it has already expanded immensely my knowledge and research expertise.

Thanks for reading!

December 16, 2024

Introducing ESR5!

Hello, my name is Nicola Porzberg – ESR5 of the CONSENSE consortium – and I have the opportunity to introduce myself to you.

Born and raised in Germany, I decided to move abroad to the Netherlands for my studies in Molecular Life Sciences at the Radboud University, Nijmegen. I wrote my first master’s thesis in the field of medicinal chemistry, where I worked on the development of small molecule inhibitors towards the treatment of osteoarthritis. The field of chemical biology then quickly caught my interest due to its interdisciplinarity. I have always been fascinated by interdisciplinary research because combining knowledge from the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology creates many new opportunities to manipulate and study living systems from different angles. Therefore, for my second master’s thesis, I expanded my knowledge and skills towards protein engineering and cell biology and worked on the development of a calcium sensor to record neuronal activity.

After finishing my university degrees, I had the opportunity to start my PhD in the Chemical Biology department of Prof. Kai Johnsson at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany. Combining fluorophore chemistry and protein engineering, our lab develops new tools for fluorescence microscopy imaging as well as protein-based biosensors. These biosensors not only enable the study of molecular processes that are currently inaccessible but could also be implemented in patient monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics.

In this context, I am grateful to be part of the CONSENSE consortium, which enables great opportunities, discussions and collaborations with fellow ESRs and research partners in the network. I have already had the chance to perform an industrial secondment at Hybrigenics Services in France, which allowed me to expand my knowledge into a new field and gain first experiences in an industrial work environment.

Thank you for taking the time to read!

December 16, 2024