Have a look how aviation fuel industry is being transformed in Bioengineering laboratory in this newly published video!
Our doctoral researchers Abdullah Nasir and Abdullah Nasir are working committedly to make the aviation fuels more sustainable. They are engineering metabolic steps for the biosynthesis of energy-rich monoterpene intermediates from biowaste that are fit to be used as raw material in aviation fuel production.
The Food Tech and Bioengineering laboratory at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is focused on developing sustainable solutions in the bioeconomy sector. Led by Professor Petri-Jaan Lahtvee, the lab specializes in bioinformatics, metabolic engineering, and bioprocess optimization. Research efforts are directed towards creating microbial cell factories to convert waste materials into valuable products, with a focus on biosustainability and the sustainable production of food, feed, bio-chemicals, and materials.
TFTAK (Center of Food and Fermentation Technologies) is a leading Estonian R&D center specializing in innovative solutions for the food, biotech, and fermentation industries. Its fermentation competencies cover from strain development and metabolic engineering to precision fermentation and process scale-up. Dr. Steven van der Hoek’s group develops synthetic biology tools and strain engineering capabilities, focusing on precision fermentation for alternative protein production, combining systems biology, bioprocess engineering, and high-throughput screening.
Role Description
This is a full-time on-site Doctoral Researcher role shared between Bioengineering and Food laboratory in Tallinn University of Technology and TFTAK. The doctoral researcher will be involved in tool development for reliable protein production pipeline from concept to gram scale. Duties will include participating in the Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle of cell factory design and process development, as well as collaborating on projects for creating microbial cell factories.
Qualifications
What we offer
Applying
For more info and applying please submit your CV and documents via: https://taltech.glowbase.com/positions/977
More info about applying for a PhD position in Tallinn University of Technology can be found at https://taltech.ee/en/phd-admission
Kristin Antoi, 22-years old, 1st year MSc student in Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology who is working in Bioengineering laboratory, spent an exchange semester in Danish University of Technology (DTU), Denmark.
Kristin explained that there has been a lot of talk about opportunities to go abroad with Erasmus. She wanted to go somewhere where she could learn different subjects and supplement knowledge from TalTech and found DTU as a prospective option. “I mainly took subjects related to medicine, such as Vaccine technology, Molecular biology and diagnostics and Eukaryotic biology. One course was also about start-up entrepreneurship in food innovation, where I was involved in two ideas. We developed business models for a smoothie powder made with fruits that are about to be discarded. The other idea focused on puddings made for cancer patients who have lost their sense of taste due to radiation treatment,” explained Kristin.
Kristin spent one semester at DTU and described that the beginning was effortless since most deadlines approach towards the end of the semester. She added that one difference with Estonian subjects is that the classes did not have any practical part. There were specific practical subjects called projects but they needed to be declared separately, and unfortunately the one she was interested in, got full quickly. She, however, turned her hand to practice while working for a research group that developed microchips for medical applications. “My work entailed filling the microchips with a solution and checking their quality under microscope,” elaborated Kristin.
About life in Denmark in general, she pointed out that there are many more job offers in the biotech industry there, as the industry is already established. “The Danes have a strict work-life balance. The workdays tend to be shorter and they also leave as soon as the clock strikes. Moreover, they have a lot of public holidays, for example two additional holidays between 1st of June and Midsummer.”
To get around, Kristin experienced the true life of a Dane and bicycled everywhere, including 4 km from the dormitory to campus and back every day. “I never stepped foot in public transport,” she claimed. Everyone speaks fluent English there but as a dog lover Kristin learned one sentence in Danish: Må jeg kæle med din hund?
She found the stay fruitful as she gained an understanding about what research topics she would like to focus on in the future. She also met many great people from abroad with whom she studied together, mostly from China and Latvia.
Danish Technical University is also our partner in DigiBio project to facilitate technology transfer for building an automated high throughput strain and protein engineering platform.
Photo is obtained from Pexels
111 guests and a day full of food innovation – Bioengineering group together with ETAG, EIS, Äio and TalTech organized Food Innovation Estonia.
It was an honour to organize a groundbreaking event as an official side program of Latitude 59 The day brought together over 110 leaders from the startups, government, academia, and the food industry to explore the future of sustainable food innovation.
As part of the programme, the guests had a glimpse of the flavours of future offered by ÄIO and Enifer. The curated session of novel foods tasting that are yet to be approved under the EU Novel Food Regulation featured fermentation-based oils and mycoproteins.
Keynote speaker Anna Handscuch (Future Affairs) set the tone for why we need forward-looking regulatory frameworks. The diverse panel of experts Dilek Ercili-Cura, Niina Valkonen, Ahmad Adel Zeidan, Kaire Roosi, Anna Handschuh and Mika Kukkurainen shared their insights about the foodtech innovation.
The tailor-made lunch menu compiled by Äio´s chef Hiro featured best examples from Estonian food companies: Raw Edge, Thormi, FUNKI, TFTAK, Mati Foods, SUNFLY Hapu, Nord Tempeh and YOOK
During the second half of the day, Rain Kuldjärv (TFTAK) presented case studies of successful research and industry collaborations and the guests had a chance to participate in matchmaking to facilitate future collaborations.
Photos by Sven Zacek and Kaisa Orgusaar.
In 1989 a fire broke out in oil shale mine in Kohtla Järve, Estonia and it took 48 days to extinguish. The burning oil shale released toxic phenolic compounds, threatening groundwater and consequently groundwater water bodies, including one of the major lakes, Lake Peipus, the 5th largest lake in Europe. For preventing a potential nature catastrophe, as Pseudomonas was already known to degrade phenolic compounds, an engineered Pseudomonas putida was released in the affected area as a measure of bioremediation. This event represents one of the first recorded deliberate release of a recombinant microbe into an ecosystem. Six years later, in 1995, the same gene sequence was found in native Pseudomonas, suggesting possible horizontal gene transfer.
To search for these genes, the scientist from MIT Voigt Lab traveled to Kohtla-Järve, Estonia to collect samples from the release site. This was already their second visit following the first one in Septemper 2023 when they extracted DNA from 68 soil and water samples collected around the release site. Alina Rekena, PhD student in Bioengineering is part of the project and helping with sample taking as well as analysis. The aim is to perform a metagenomic analysis to gain key insights into the implications of introducing engineered organisms into natural ecosystems.
Read more about this topic: Acquisition of a deliberately introduced phenol degradation operon, pheBA, by different indigenous Pseudomonas species | Applied and Environmental Microbiology
and Design and regulation of engineered bacteria for environmental release | Nature Microbiology
Bioengineering group held myth busting workshops during Life Sciences Day at Tallinn University of Technology
During the workshops the participants were introduced to different evolutionary and genetic techniques. They were shown how genetic engineering of microorganisms is conducted in the Bioengineering laboratory. Moreover, they participated in a video call to microorganisms under microscope, exploring the differences of wild and GM yeast.
The participants had also an opportunity to see the real life results of these techniques and try and see foods with exotic ingredients.
Life Sciences Day was aimed at high school students for introducing life sciences study programmes in Tallinn University of Technology.
Thank you Alīna Reķēna, Tommaso Tagliani, Kristjan Pals, Luísa Czamanski Nora and Kaisa Orgusaar for the contribution!
Petri-Jaan Lahtvee is a member of the new composition of the Research and Development Council (Teadus- Arendusnõukogu).
In April, the Research Council, chaired by Prime Minister Kristjan Michal, held its inaugural session. Among other renowned scientists and entrepreneurs is Petri-Jaan Lahtvee, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and co-founder of ÄIO.
The aim of the Research Council is to ensure that research developments reach companies swiftly, thereby helping to increase the productivity and added value of Estonian companies, improve export capacity and strengthen our position in the global market.
https://valitsus.ee/teadus-ja-arendusnoukogu-10
Photo by Aivo Kallas
Petri-Jaan Lahtvee presented the opportunities of wood valorization at Circular Economy Conference held by Circular Economy Laboratory in Tallinn University of Technology.
In his words, when it comes to wood, the majority today is still used for energy generation – one of the lowest-value uses imaginable. Emerging technologies now offer promising alternatives for chemical or biological valorization, yet the question remains: are we bold enough to invest in these innovations, even though they may still require optimisation and large-scale industrial validation?
These issues were discussed with experts from the timber and energy industries. In Petri´s personal view, innovation and extracting the highest possible value from our limited natural resources is the only viable path forward if Estonia wants to succeed in the global economy.
📷 by Arno Mikkor
We are happy to announce that colony picking robot has arrived to Bioengineering laboratory, making it a complete inventory for the biofoundry, together with the liquid handling robot and growth profiler.
This automated system streamlines microbial screening and selection processes, offering substantial benefits in research and production environments. As automation continues to revolutionize laboratory workflows, investing in such technology ensures that our researchers can maximize efficiency while maintaining high-quality results. A colony picking robot is a valuable asset in any bioengineering laboratory, offering speed, accuracy, sterility, and cost-effectiveness.
Over the next weeks, our team will work to develop workflows and make the best use of our newly arrived asset.
Bioengineering team enjoyed their winter seminar and workshop at Valgehobusemäe. The winter seminar, carried out by Jaana Liigand-Juhkam, was conducted on values to enhance group´s collaboration. We learned about how values drive our everyday actions and what to do in case of value conflicts. To finish, we divided into groups to decipher research group´s own values for better collaboration.
We were lucky to have the outing during one of the most beautiful winter days. During free time, we indulged in wintersports and had the opportunity to learn skiing under our skilled senior researcher and ski enthusiast Rahul Kumar.
For more information about our values please read the About section.
Baltic biotech database is now published! The database has gathered more than 2700 data points from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It can be found from Bioconnect project website.
Whether you are looking for regional partners, relevant investors or a study programme, the database is a handy tool. It features information about:
☕ The Biotech Breakfast organized as part of sTARTUp Day in Tartu, Estonia was packed with people!
The Biotechnology Breakfast was the final event of the BIOCONNECT (Towards an integrated Baltic-Nordic biotech cluster) project, organized by the Bioengineering and Food Technology research group together with the project partners.
During the project, the partners Biocatalyst Foundation (Latvia), the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, the Association LithuaniaBIO, Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (Lithuania), the Estonian Center for BioSustainability, Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), and Synbio Powerlabs (Finland) conducted interviews with Baltic biotech stakeholders to map the state, opportunities and bottlenecks of biotech industry in the region. Based on the gathered knowledge, a Baltic biotech action plan was created.
👩🏫 During the event, the newly completed Baltic biotech action plan was introduced by Andrii Shekhirev (Biocatalyst, LV) and disseminated for feedback.
In the opening speech, Ulrika Edvardsson from AstraZeneca Bio Venture Hub (SE) spoke about cross-sectoral cooperation. The day ended with a panel discussion by Mart Toots (Enterprise Estonia), Mika Kukkurainen (Nordic Foodtech VC), Laurynas Karpus (Biomatter) and Ulrika Edvardsson (AstraZeneca BioVenture Hub).
💬 The breakfast brought together the parties involved in biotechnology in the region: companies, public sector representatives, investors and researchers, which provided an opportunity to get to know each other and build connections. One of the important learnings during the project was that the biotech stakeholders do not even always know each other within the same region. The breakfast was a wonderful opportunity to meet in the same space and network: more cross-border interaction, which is exactly what the project aimed for.
👥👥The interest in the event was a success. There were over 80 people in the hall which was beyond expectations. Everyone was able to fit in and there was plenty of food🥐!
Thank you everyone who came and made the event happen!
Associate professor Petri-Jaan Lahtvee was honoured with White Star Class IV State medal by Estonian president Alar Karis! 🏅
Every year, the President of Estonia gives State medal for people with very special services and devotion. The White Star State medal is awarded to persons in state or local government service, as well as in recognition of services and achievements in the fields of economics, education, science, culture or sports, or other public service.
BioEng lab is honoured to work under his supervision and care.
Huge congratulations! ✨
Photo by Priit Mürk/ERR.
This year Christmas came early and Bioengineering laboratory received its long awaited liquid handling robot. The team underwent a basic training how to create simple protocols and was made familiar with the robot´s multiple modules.
“We are very excited to have liquid handling robot in our laboratory and are hoping to keep it very busy”, said Juliano Sabedotti de Biaggi, the Head of Lab Automation.
The new robot enables automated pipetting and working in sterile conditions and is a wonderful addition for routine time consuming liquid handling operations.
The robot was bought as a part of biofoundry under establishment thanks to the DigiBio project of the European Horizon sub-program Widening for Excellence, within the framework of which 15 million euros are allocated from the European Commission and 15 million euros from the state budget of Estonia.
TalTech – Tallinn University of Technology Bioengineering team and University of Tartu hosted a course on bioethics under the umbrella of Estonian Centre for Biosustainability at Institute of Bioengineering.
📖 Over the course of two days, our staff and students were educated on the topics of responsible research, data management, GMOs, consent and biological samples, animal testing, novel foods, biosafety and international protocols such as Cartagena and Nagoya.
🧫 The participants had a chance to visit the premises of yet to be build biofoundry, the laboratories of gas fermentation and wood valorization and peek behind the doors of BSL3 laboratory in University of Tartu. The programme was complemented with group work and teaming activites.
👩🏫 A special thank you to the interdisciplinary contributors – Sadia Khalid, Kaisa Orgusaar, Professors Kadri Simm, Erkki Karo, Andres Merits, Mart Loog, Petri-Jaan Lahtvee, Hannes Kollist, Vallo Varik, Rainis Venta and Ilona Faustova.
The course was called into existence under DigiBio project of the Horizon sub-programme Widening for Excellence.
TalTech Bioengineering team and Litegrav started a collaboration project to investigate growth of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in simulated microgravity. The aim of the project is to expose yeast cells to different stimuli and stressors, such as microgravity and radiation that would affect microbes in space. In addition to application in space technologies, a purpose is also to find out whether the conditions relate to an industrial process on Earthly conditions. Until today, most of the research has been conducted on mammalian cells but now is time to look into microorganisms as well. This is a follow-up project to a previous one which researched strain optimization and screening in microgravity and radiation in both liquid and solid cultures. Let´s wish a successful collaboration for Patrik Hollos (Litegrav), Srdjan Gavrilovic, Lev Aleksandr Kolesnikov and Petri-Jaan Lahtvee (TalTech) working on the project.
On 6-8th November, Bioengineering doctoral student Alīna Reķēna presented her work at 7th Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe in Brno, Czech republic.
She gave a delightful feedback: “I am very satisfied with the participation at ASBE7 conference, where I presented our work with CRISPR to uncover lipid synthesis mechanisms in Rhodotorula toruloides: a nonconventional host for microbial lipids and oleochemicals for circular economy. ASBE7 featured a fantastic venue in Brno Planetarium and Observatory with a great atmosphere. Selection of talks covered topics from microbial and mammalian to cell-free synthesis platforms. Many great talks offered by the generous programme of wide range of topics for everyone to find their favorite. I want to acknowledge the Estonian Doctoral School for the financial support to attend the conference.”
Recently, four 11th grade students of Tallinna 32. Keskkool have been seen working in the bioengineering laboratory. The aspiring girls Grete-Liis Tammaru, Maia Tžikanov, Luisa Aleksejev ja Mari-Ann Rõuk decided to start a student company as part of their 11th grade research project and solve a problem that occurs in everyday life. Their student company PopZip is developing 3D printed reusable lids for resealing aluminum beverage cans. The girls described that the idea was born out of a personal need, because it is not always possible to drink the entire drink at once. However, the lid created by the girls makes it possible to close the can again and put it in a bag if necessary.
The girls reached the Bioengineering research group when they turned to Tallinn University of Technology to get advice on using suitable materials. From there, they were put in contact with Kerit-Lii Joasoon, a master’s student working under senior researcher Rahul Kumar in the Bioengineering research group and Tommaso Tagliani, who have been helping PopZip with the prototype. In cooperation, a prototype has been developed and different materials have been tested. Silicone was chosen as the material for the product, since is suitable for contact with food as it is inert and has good properties for 3D printing as well as elasticity, water resistance and durability.
On 18th October The Science in three minutes competition found it´s end during an official gala. The competition initiated by Estonian Academy of Sciences was held in English for the first time. Bioengineering doctoral student Inna Lipova was one among the nominees and gave a powerful presentation about how food waste is being valorized into high value-added carotenoid astaxanthin through bioprocess.
Read more about Innas´s research here.
Doctoral student Alīna Reķēna and biotechnology specialist Kaisa Orgusaar took part of Bioconnect consortsium meeting in Riga, Latvia. During the day, partners discussed action plan for facilitating Baltic biotech sector. It was also a wonderful opportunity for networking.
