Microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms that are emerging as important players in industrial biotechnology. They have several advantages such as rapid growth, reduced water use, no need for arable land, and often GRAS status, so their role in the bioeconomy is increasing. Among them, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has become a reference model for chloroplast engineering, as its plastome enables targeted genome modification and high recombinant protein expression. This PhD project aims to apply synthetic biology and bioprocess engineering principles to develop a platform based on the chloroplast of green microalgae as a chassis to produce valuable biocompounds.
The PhD candidate can join one of the two ongoing research lines:
(i) Expanding the Modular Cloning Mocloro toolkit previously published by our group and developing regulatable gene expression systems for advanced chloroplast genome engineering.
(ii) Bioprocess engineering for scalable chloroplast-based biomanufacturing.



The PhD project will develop and optimize bioprocesses for the efficient production of high-value recombinant biomolecules in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The research will address strain-to-bioprocess integration by optimizing heterotrophic high-cell-density cultivation, bioreactor operation, and process monitoring to maximize product titer, productivity, and scalability.
Tasks
Pursue a PhD in synthetic biology and microalgal biotechnology.
The successful candidate will:
- Be encouraged and supported to apply for competitive predoctoral fellowships and will carry out their doctoral research within the recently awarded project
- Enrol the Bioengineering PhD program at Universitat Ramon Llull (link).
- Be based at IQS-School of Engineering, an internationally renowned research Institution in the field of Chemistry, Biosciences and biotechnology.
- Receive advanced training in microalgae physiology, molecular biology, bioprocessing and data-analysis methodologies.
- Parti

📌 PhD Candidate in microalgae synthetic biology and bioprocess engineering (España)
🏢 IQS Barcelona
📍 España