PI

Sonja holds a Master's in Microbiology/Biochemistry from the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, and a PhD in Bioengineering from ETH Zürich. After postdoctoral work in yeast Synthetic Biology at Columbia University in New York City, Sonja joined the University of Groningen as Assistant Professor in 2019.

PhD candidate

Rianne obtained a Master in Medical and Pharmaceutical Drug Innovation at the University of Groningen. She worked on a synthetic biology project in the iGEM competition, and after joined the group as a PhD student in 2019.

PhD candidate

Alicia studied her BSc of Biotechnology in Universidad Miguel Hernández (Spain). Afterwards, she did a MSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Groningen, where she stayed to start her PhD program in 2019.

PhD candidate

Thijs obtained his BSc in Molecular life sciences and his MSc in Biotechnology and MSc in Bioinformatics from Wageningen University. In 2022 Thijs joined the group as a PhD student.

PhD candidate

Min obtained her Master's degree in Environmental Science at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Microbiology, CAS. She then joined the group in 2021.

PhD candidate

Owen completed a Msc in Biomolecular Sciences and Chemistry at the University of Groningen. During his studies he joined the iGEM team and worked on origins of life at ESPCI Paris. He joined the group in 2023 as a PhD student.

Postdoctoral researcher

Margarita obtained a BSc in Microbiology at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Subsequently, she obtained a MSc in Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Margarita obtained her PhD in Molecular Bacteriology at the University Medical Center Groningen. Afterward, she worked at a strain development company where she was as an operations, wetlab, and drylab manager.

Postdoctoral researcher

Tobi obtained a BSc in Biology, and an MSc in Microbiology and Biochemistry at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He then gained work experience in the enzyme industry as a microbial strain engineer, before coming to Groningen for his PhD at the UMCG in 2019. Being an enthusiastic former iGEM fellow, he has been interested in applying synthetic biology to solve real world problems ever since. Right after finishing his PhD studies, he joined the group in 2024

Lecturer

Patricia holds a Master in Food Biotechnology from the University of Oviedo, Spain, and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the Institute of Dairy Products of Asturias (IPLA-CSIC). She moved to Groningen to carry out her postdoctoral research in the group of Membrane Enzymology, after which she joined as Lecturer of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and member of the Molecular Microbiology group of the University of Groningen in 2019.