PDEng-trainee Magdalena Stepien
For Magdalena Stepien, the BioProduct Design programme is ideal. It offers her a chance to deepen her theoretical knowledge through advanced courses, as well as gain practical designing experience at a company. And all of this within a cooperative learning environment, under expert supervision.
When Stepien finished her education in her home country Poland, she didn’t feel like she was finished learning. True, she had successfully concluded an MSc degree in Biotechnology, but she didn’t feel ready for the reality of industrial product design.
“Today’s society places so many demands on biotechnological products, that you need to be extremely well acquainted with the concepts of bioproduct design if you want to design a successful product. Often the demands placed on a product are at conflict with each other. How do you balance these demands? How do you design a product that is innovative, ethically acceptable, economically viable, as well as environmentally sustainable? As a fresh MSc graduate you are simply not sufficiently equipped for that challenge.”
Stepien therefore came to Delft in pursue of a postgraduate education. She had been introduced to The Netherlands already during her MSc programme, holding a three-month scholarship in Wageningen in 2004. The country’s academic climate, as well as Delft’s international reputation, enticed her to return to the Netherlands.
Over the past year, Stepien has taken general courses, for instance in systems biology and bioconversion technology, and advanced courses, including Applied Genomics of Industrial Fermentation. This last course is offered in close cooperation with industrial partners. “This is an excellent opportunity for us to meet people from the field, who are able to present practical examples and realistic industrial problems.”
Mandatory courses also include design theory and methodology, project management, economic evaluation, and a course on ‘turning technology into business’. This course also addresses issues such as ethics, societal acceptance, and intellectual property rights. “Sometimes these courses felt a bit like a burden, but as soon as you engage in an actual design project, you realise that you do need to take all these aspects into account, and that you need this solid background to do that properly.”
Each student in the programme follows an individual track, composed in close dialogue with TU staff. Stepien is choosing her courses within the Cell Factory track, which focuses on the properties of biological cells and their potential industrial applications. “A cell is truly a small factory, which has some amazing properties. To me it is very exciting to find out how a cell works, and how you can engineer it in a way to make it meet high industrial demands.” Besides Cell Factory, the PDEng programme offers three other tracks: Drug Delivery and Diagnostics; Molecular Design; and Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics.
The theory is put into practice during the second year of the PDEng programme, which is spent on an individual design project in industry. Stepien does not know yet at which company she will conduct her project. “I am very curious, and eager to start, although I am still really enjoying the first-year group design project.” And after that? Stepien hopes to stay in The Netherlands for a few more years to gain additional experience at a biotech company. But eventually, she is planning on returning to Poland to put her knowledge and expertise to good use there. “Poland needs qualified people to set up viable biotech businesses. By working for a large company that operates in The Netherlands as well as in Poland, I hope to contribute to the development of fruitful business connections between Western and Eastern Europe.”
(Text: Nienke Beintema, photo courtesy: Jacqueline de Haas)
