Nils is a postdoc in the Criddle Lab at Stanford University, California, and part of CUBES (the Center for Utilisation of Biological Engineering in Space), as well as a collaborating scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Before joining CUBES, Nils was the Synthetic Biology Task-Lead with USRA at NASA Ames Research Center. He holds a PhD in Metabolic Engineering from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and an engineer’s degree (Dipl. Ing.) in Biochemical Engineering, from the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.
With a recent focus on utilising C1-feedstocks, he genetically engineers microbial cell factories that produce high-performance polymers. His goal is to develop biological production platforms in support of human long-duration space-exploration missions, while creating a sustainable chemical industry on Earth “on the way”.