Marja Ilmén Email & Phone Number

I obtained my master’s degree in 1991 at the University of Helsinki in genetics, including studies on biochemistry, plant physiology, and general biology. I have a PhD in molecular genetics (1997) from the University of Helsinki on regulation of gene expression of cellulose degrading enzymes in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. I work as a principal scientist at VTT since 2011, and previously I was a senior scientist and research scientist at VTT. I have more than 20 years of experience in genetic engineering of a variety of microbes, i.e. Saccharomyces, Pichia and Candida yeasts, T. reesei and the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, for the production of secreted enzymes and metabolites of biotechnological value. During my employment at VTT I have collaborated with international biotechnical and chemical companies on yeast strain development and managed large multi-year projects on metabolic engineering of yeast hosts (1999-2010). I have developed novel yeast hosts for e.g. industrial production of lactic acid and, alternatively, for biofuel production from cellulose containing substrates. During the years 2011-2014 I have worked on metabolic pathway engineering of the photosynthetic organism Synechocystis and established cyanobacterial engineering capabilities at VTT. Synechocystis strains were constructed for the biological production of alkane fuels in the EU FP7 project DirectFuel by introducing synthetic pathways along with modifying the native metabolism. I have recently engineered E. coli and yeast Pichia kudriavzevii for production of isoprene and got acquainted with the relevant metabolic pathways which produce precursors for isoprene production. The work on alkane-producing Synechocystis engineering as well as isoprene-producing yeast continues within a national programme Living Factories: Synthetic Biology for a Sustainable Bioeconomy.

Listed skills include Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering, Metabolic Engineering, Strain Development, and 12 others.