Hassan Sakhtah, PhD

I completed my PhD studies in Biology at Columbia University, where I conducted research in the laboratory of Dr. Lars Dietrich from 2010-2016. My research on secondary metabolites is unique and highly interdisciplinary, using genetic, electrochemical and spectrophotometric approaches to detect redox-active antibiotics called phenazines produced by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After graduating, I developed an environmentally conscious method for the production of compounds commonly used in perfumery using the yeast Hyphozyma roseonigra. This method will be used in large-scale, high cell density fermentation setups to produce compounds of interest industrially. I am currently designing and executing scaleable processes to produce molecules of interest using microbes (E. coli, K. phaffii, K. lactis) at New England Biolabs, a world-leading biotechnology company making reagents and therapeutics.