Q&A with Luisa Gronenberg, Head of R&D for Functional Ingredients & Strain Engineering

Hi Luisa, tell us a little about your background

I have PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University and moved on to metabolic engineering to develop sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived products.

What is your role at Insempra?

I am head of R&D for functional ingredients and all strain engineering at Insempra, which means I work with a fantastic and highly talented team of strain and protein engineers as well as synthetic biologists.

What’s your favorite part of the job?
As we’re a new company, I have the opportunity to build my own team and have recruited some of the most talented and passionate people in the industry myself. Developing my own team that is incredibly dedicated to our mission is amazing!

Another thing I love is that because of Insempra’s model of collaborating with external specialists, I’ve had countless opportunities to interact with some incredibly interesting people within the biotech community.

What does your daily routine look like?
I start by checking in with our internal Insempra R&D scientists, who work on fermentation and strain engineering. Then I head over to our tech scouting team, to discuss potential new projects that we want to onboard and check in on existing collaborations that we’re working on, followed by lots and lots of reading…

Which company values resonate with you the most?
I joined Insempra because of its mission to help companies develop more sustainable products with nature. The company’s focus on sustainability and working on making a real and lasting difference in the world is highly rewarding and motivating to me. 

What’s unique about working for our organization?
Because Insempra is not focused on developing just one technology, we have the opportunity to work on a very diverse and broad number of projects. We achieve that by combining our internal expertise and collaboration with external experts in these fields, which is truly a unique approach in this industry. 

What’s the most exciting thing you are working on right now?
I’m currently running parallel in-vivo strain and metabolic engineering and setting up a cell-free platform, which allows us to do some of our pathway screening in a fast and high-throughput manner, which is super exciting! 

Thank you Luisa! 
If you have any questions for Luisa, reach out to her via LinkedIn

Posted by Nicole Laurence