MANJYOT KAUR

My name is Manjyot Kaur and I am from India. As far back as I can remember, how the human body worked intrigued me and the synchronicity with which the countless organs in an organism functioned never ceased to be a source of marvel. In June 2012, I enrolled in an undergraduate program in biotechnology engineering at Madhav institute of Technological Sciences (MITS, India).

In the final year of the biotechnology program, I joined Effectual Knowledge Services, Noida, a leading IP management advisory firm, as a Research Associate in the Lifesciences department, where I conducted prior art searches for patentability/enforcement issues of disclosures/patents. Then, I joined another Intellectual Property firm, ExpertLancing Services, Noida in 2017 where I worked as a Business Development Associate for 9 months.

I hoped to engage in research pertaining to the use of biological systems and living organisms to contribute to improve human health, so, in 2018, I enrolled in a Master’s degree in Biotechnology at Lund University, Sweden.

During my Master’s, I took part to the iGEM 2019 (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition where I worked with 10 amazing people towards genetically modifying the probiotic strain E. coli Nissle by expressing arsenic and lead transport and accumulating genes, to obtain a sustainable solution to prevent toxic metal poisoning. This project was performed under the supervision of Dr. Nélida Leiva Eriksson and Dr. Johan Svensson Bonde (Dept. of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University) and we were awarded with a gold medal in Boston, USA for our research.

My master thesis project was done in collaboration with the biotech company Carbiotix AB, Lund, which offers microbiome healthcare through a portfolio of microbiome modulators as well as a range of cost-effective gut health testing services. My main objectives were to focus on optimal extraction of arabinoxylooligosachharides (AXOS) from corn bran, reduce the existence of under-utilized agricultural byproducts thus generating added value to products such as prebiotics. This was performed in the Department of Biotechnology under the supervision of Senior Lecturer Javier Linares-Pastén (Dept. of Biotechnology) and Dr. Peter Falck (CSO, Carbiotix AB).

Since November 2020, I joined the FunHoMic consortium as ESR 13 where I am working with Biose (Clermont-Ferrand, France) and the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at Université Clermont Auvergne under the co-supervision of Dr. Karine Roget and Prof. Christiane Forestier, respectively. My role is to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the inhibition of Candida albicans by Lcr35, a Live Biotherapeutic Product (LBP) with effective anti-fungal properties.