Alina Rekena, Author at Bioengineering@TalTech

TalTech Science Day 2023 was a success!

Alina Rekena — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 17:17:46 +0000

The Science Day event at the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology took place on April 28, and our research group organised a workshop Future Food From Microbes for the 2nd consecutive time. This year, participants had an opportunity to take part in guided experiments in our laboratories on fermentation technologies and metabolic engineering, and engage in stimulating discussions with our team members. Anyone interested in molecular biology, bioreactors, or other biotechnology disciplines was offered something interesting.

For the participants, it was a perfect chance to learn, explore, and interact with scientists who share enthusiasm for science. For us, the Thanksgiving celebration served as a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the achievements and milestones we reached during the Science Day. We are truly grateful for the organisation by the department, which enabled us to create an engaging and enriching experience for the high school students. We look forward to future events that will continue to inspire and ignite the curiosity of young minds!

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Master’s Thesis Projects (2023 – 2024)

Alina Rekena — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 08:36:58 +0000

Our lab will accept two master’s thesis students (local/ international/ Erasmus academic exchange) this summer. These thesis projects combine aspects of chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and biology to develop engineered living materials for biochemical production. The first project envisions the fabrication of functional living materials, while the second project focuses on the design and application of flow bioreactors.

The thesis projects will require two semesters for completion, starting in the summer of 2023. Therefore, students expecting graduation in the summer of 2024 are welcome to apply. We will consider students having a materials science, chemistry, biology, polymer science, chemical engineering, food technology, biotechnology, or an interdisciplinary background.

More information and how to apply: HERE

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TalTech Science Day 2022

Alina Rekena — Mon, 23 May 2022 09:00:10 +0000

On April 29, TalTech Science Day 2022 event took place at the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology. Food Tech and Bioengineering group organised a workshop “Future food from microbes”. The workshop was devoted to the production of bread and introducing yeast-based cell factories. Participants were introduced to bread baking technologies and experiments improving nutritional value of bread and beyond. The general feedback of the workshops was very positive, 86 % of participants graded it with 9 or 10 in a 10-point scale. More about the workshop, in pictures.

Altogether, Science Day 2022 at Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology offered 19 different workshops that were attended by 89 participants. Majority of workshop participants were high school students, but almost every 4th participant was from outside educational system. Next time it is going to be more focused on high school students and is planned for the next year 2023.

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New collaboration supported by Yeast4Bio

Alina Rekena — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 09:04:24 +0000

In autumn 2021, Alina Rekena from our group was visiting Heinemann Lab from Molecular Systems Biology research group led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Heinemann at University of Groningen, the Netherlands, to work on the development of thermodynamics-based computational models for non-conventional yeasts. The visit was supported by Yeast4Bio Short Term Scientific Mission program. Alina learned how to develop computational models integrated with biochemical thermodynamics, including Gibbs energy balance, and worked on a core metabolic model of Rhodotorula toruloides. The productive collaboration with Heinemann Lab will enhance the competences in systems biology of our group, help to study metabolic properties of non-conventional yeasts and to use computational tools to design efficient yeast-based cell factories, which is the topic of Alina’s PhD studies.

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