How many groundbreaking discoveries and inventions do we know – and how many female researchers come to mind? In 2015, the UN established the "International Day of Women and Girls in Science", which is celebrated annually on February 11 to honor the crucial of women in science and technology, a world still predominantly male. A perfect occasion for Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) to launch the "Women in Science" series, which focuses on outstanding female researchers within its own ranks. It begins with Dr. Miriam Edel, whose early career in technical microbiology was just crowned by an extraordinary grant.
For her research project "INSPIRE: Innovative Approaches to Succinate Production in Membrane Biofilm Reactors," the microbiologist and her junior research group secured a significant grant of 2.2 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). "BioKreativ – Creative Young Scientists Conduct Research for the Bioeconomy" supports young scientific teams in developing their innovative solutions for a sustainable and bio-based economy. A sensational success for the researcher, who thereby not only achieves a milestone in her still young career but also secures funding for the implementation of her project over the next five years as well as salaries for herself and three doctoral candidates.
Flagship Project: Recycling CO2 into Useful Products
How can CO2 be fixed – that is, convert inorganic carbon dioxide from the air or exhaust gases into a solid organic form, a product that can be meaningfully used? This question motivated Miriam Edel in view of the worsening climate crisis and the pressing challenge to reduce CO2. "I chose the knallgas fermentation and the production of succinate," she explains her approach in a process where bacteria grow using hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2. Succinate – also called succinic acid – is a natural component of human energy metabolism and is used by industry in dietary supplements and cosmetics. "The process is quite promising because it has a broad range of end products," explains the microbiologist with a PhD, but follows with a big BUT related to the knallgas: it is highly explosive and therefore difficult to integrate into processes. That is why she chose a novel approach in this context: a membrane biofilm reactor that can separate the two gases that together are explosive.
A stable and catalytically active biofilm is crucial for such an approach. Here, Miriam Edel can build on her previous focus over the last three years: the genetic modification of microorganisms so that as much target product as possible is produced. "We have worked on genetically optimizing a biofilm on a small scale," the scientist happily states regarding the valuable foundation from her own research. To approach a truly scalable model, the project will upscale this to a ten-liter volume.
With great enthusiasm, the junior research group leader looks forward to the practical implementation of her theoretical ideas. "If you think very far ahead, such a membrane biofilm system could recycle CO2-rich gases everywhere into useful products like succinate, which industry can use in a variety of ways." Promising prospects that align perfectly with TUHH’s sustainable research orientation, which supports the project by creating a postdoc position.
Full-Time Scientist and Mother
Before the official start, Miriam Edel expects a personal highlight at the end of May: her third child. Scientific career and family – this is well compatible for the 32-year-old, who works full-time on site. Her children motivate her all the more to commit professionally to a sustainably livable future. "Without my partner and his equal involvement, my career would not be possible," she emphasizes. With their two children, now four and almost two years old, he already took on child sick days and six months of parental leave with the second child and will do the same with the third.
Another man plays a significant in Edel’s career path: her supervisor Prof. Dr. Johannes Gescher. She began her PhD in Applied Microbiology with him at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. "When he moved to TU Hamburg in 2021, he offered me a postdoc position including shared responsibility for doctoral candidates. He gave me great trust and thus supported my career," Miriam Edel summarizes, who started the position at TU Hamburg in May 2022. "My supervisor believed in me and supported me regardless of the fact that I would have children and might be absent longer." She continues to feel that support to this day.
Gender Equality at TU Hamburg
"As a woman, you are already seen and promoted more nowadays," Miriam Edel believes – also regarding her presence on the management board of the SFB Smart Reactors, for which the involvement of a junior female researcher was explicitly desired. Regarding professorship appointments, women also have better chances today, confirm the gender equality officers at TUHH: The university was positively evaluated for its gender equality concept aimed at parity within the federal and state Professorinnenprogramm 2030. As part of this funding, in spring, TUHH will appoint a female professor whose position will be co-financed by the program for five years. The funds thereby freed are to be used exclusively for gender equality work. This is intended to increase the current quotas of approximately 30% female students, 21% female scientific staff, and 12% female professors. And to ensure that stories as impressive as Miriam Edel’s continue to be told here – not only on February 11, but throughout the year.
