Global climate change is real. More than ever, innovative ideas are needed to reintegrate CO2 into bioeconomy to ensure sustainable energy and material sources for the next generations. The research of Sandy explores microorganisms that are able to utilize CO2 for the production of high-value-added chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Those microorganisms, however, are not yet able to compete with classical biotechnological processes. Recently, Sandy is awarded an XS grant from the Dutch Research Council NWO, which she will use to design CO2 utilizing production strains with higher efficiency. The aim is to develop novel synthetic biology tools for the efficient genetic manipulation of these microorganisms to manufacture pharmaceuticals from CO2.

This project is part of a new research line that Sandy began in early 2020 at GRIP.