Defence

Three undergraduate students successfully defended their theses that were conducted under the bioengineering laboratory.

  • Kristjan Pals, BSc in gene technology 2024 “Phosphoketolase gene knockout by CRISPR/Cas9 in nonconventional yeast Rhodotorula toruloides” supervised by Alīna Reķēna
  • Maive Hanni, BSc in gene technology 2024 “Comparison of genome-scale metabolic models for investigating lipogenesis metabolism in Rhodotorula toruloides” supervised by Alīna Reķēna
  • Oksana Tingajeva, BSc in gene technology 2024 “Rhodotorula toruloides’ exopolysaccharides: production, optimization and characterization” supervised by Rahul Kumar and Henrique Sepulveda del Rio Hamacek.

The students noted that conducting theses in the bioengineering laboratory gave them valuable experience on how laboratory work is conducted and good time management skills. They learned how to investigate metabolism in silico, improving their programming skills in Python. R. toruloides is a notable lipid producer and knowing the more specific metabolic pathways allows creation of more efficient microbial cell factories. The theses are part of a wider picture which aims producing oils such as palm oil and biodiesel in a more sustainable way.

Read the full theses in TalTech digital library:

  1. Fosfoketolaasi geeni väljalülitamine CRISPR/Cas9 meetodil mittekonventsionaalses pärmis Rhodotorula toruloides – TalTech raamatukogu digikogu

2. Ülegenoomsete metaboolsete mudelite võrdlus Rhodotorula toruloides lipogeneesi uurimiseks – TalTech raamatukogu digikogu

3. Rhodotorula toruloides’i Eksopolüsahhariidid: tootmine, optimeerimine ja iseloomustus – TalTech raamatukogu digikogu