Vanda Knitlhoffer

I am a Research Assistant in the Macaulay Group since July 2023. I joined the Earlham Institute in 2018 and I was a part of the Genomics Pipelines group for more than five years.

I completed my BSc in Biology (2015) and graduated my MSc as a Biochemical Engineer in applied biotechnology specialisation (2017). During my studies I had the opportunity to work in both molecular and microbiology laboratories.

During my bachelor’s studies I joined a group in the Genetics department at my university and I was working with transgenic Danio rerio line to examine the relationship between autophagy and heart regeneration.

During my master's studies I worked with a company on creating biopesticide products using different bacterial strains. I was responsible for maintaining the viability of two Photoradus luminescens strains on agar-agar plates and upscaling the fermentation process to 10 litre stirred fermenters.

For my master's thesis, I compared the biodiversity of various benthic habitats using light microscopy and an automated water monitoring system.

My previous position in the Genomics Pipelines group included operating short- and long-read sequencers as well as performing various library preparation methods manually and on automated platforms.