About Octarine

Octarine harnesses the science of nature to pioneer planetary solutions through exploration and innovation. Driven by a sustainable future where pressing environmental and social challenges are met with transformative solutions. Grounded in a robust scientific foundation and unrivalled expertise in cell factory engineering, precision fermentation and enzymatic enhancement, we proudly unveil world-leading synthetic biology platforms, poised to transform entire industries for the betterment of society and the planet. Utilizing our proprietary fermentation-based manufacturing platform, our flagship product is a range of environmentally responsible, nature-based dyes in commercially elusive, vibrant colors. Employing an innovative dyeing process, they can be efficiently and directly dyed on a range of natural and synthetic fabrics under ambient conditions and without the use of harmful chemicals. Notably, these vibrant dyes can also be scaled up and seamlessly integrated into our commercial partners’ existing supply chains; because we believe that colors shouldn’t come at an environmental cost.

We are a highly diverse team of at least 7 different nationalities with backgrounds in biochemistry, synthetic biology, enzyme engineering, bioprocessing, chemistry, and textiles. In July 2022 Octarine opened its brand-new, custom-built lab facility in central Copenhagen with dedicated analytics, DSP, molecular biology, and fermentation capacity. With strong international investors and partners Octarine seeks to make a positive impact on the world, bringing to market truly ground-breaking solutions that solve real unmet needs.

Do you want to do an internship or research project (for your BSc or MSc thesis) at Octarine?

We’re looking for our next batch of students to work alongside our scientists brining innovative science to commercialization. Students will have full access to Octarine’s lab facility and will be mentored/supervised 1 on 1 by an expert industrial research scientist. Most importantly, students will have the opportunity to tackle a real-world research problem with immediate industrial application.

Projects are offered in one of the following broad research areas;

Yeast metabolic engineering: Engineer yeast to produce natural or novel molecules with interesting application, or design and implement genetic strategies to improve production from already established biosynthetic pathways. Specifically, students can work on our natural colours program, working to engineer yeast to produce vibrant natural colours for use as textile dyes.

Enzyme engineering: Apply rational, semi-rational, or random mutagenesis strategies to develop new and improved enzymes for colour production. Projects could involve improving enzyme activity towards an existing colour or engineering new novel enzyme activities towards new-to-nature compounds.

Fermentation optimization: Design, implement and optimize fermentation processes to scale the production of Octarine’s molecules. Specifically, students can design and implement new optimization strategies to improve fermentation yields.

Downstream purification: Design, implement and optimize purification processes to isolate and recover molecules produced by fermentation and/or biocatalysis. Specifically, students can work on our natural colours program to improve and optimize the purification process.

Organic chemistry: Using our fermentation derived bio-based molecules as starting substrates, apply green chemistry principles to synthesize new and potentially improved colours.

Application development: Work with our growing range of bio-based colours to explore new and innovative ways to use them, either through optimizing the textile dyeing process or by investigating new application areas.

Something else? We’re happy to hear from you even if your background doesn’t fit into one of the scientific areas above. Please reach out to us to brainstorm a completely new project that could be of interest to Octarine.

Requirements

We can offer internships or research projects as part of ongoing or recently completed academic studies. This means you should be an active University or Higher Education student looking to do a research project as part of your academic studies (e.g. a thesis), an internship as part of your course requirements (e.g. an industrial internship), or you should be a recently graduated student looking to gain work experience before embarking on a career (e.g. Erasmus internship).

Additionally, you should have a solid theoretical understanding of at least one of the research areas listed above, as well as some practical hands-on experience working in the field.

What we can offer:

The opportunity to become an integral part of a highly ambitious start-up backed by serious investors and industrial partners
A stimulating scientific environment with friendly colleagues and opportunities for personal and professional development
A chance to work in one of Europe's most vibrant cities, and in a country known for its high quality of life and exceptional work/life balance
Please note. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer stipends or scholarships, this means if you are coming from outside of Denmark you need to be self-sufficient

How to apply:

Interested candidates should initiate contact with Octarine’s CSO Nick Milne (nickmilne@octarinebio.com), and include a CV and brief motivation letter outlining why you want to do a research project with us, and importantly, some ideas on a topic for the project

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