What makes RIPE the project what it is today is attributable to our team members who dedicate their hard work and efforts to our mission—feeding the world in the face of climate change and a growing population. This postdoctoral feature series focuses on sharing the new endeavors of our researchers as they move on to the next chapter in their lives. 

Anbarasu (Anbu) Karthikaichamy was a postdoctoral researcher in Steven Burgess’ lab at the University of Illinois. His research focused on building molecular tools for studying photosynthesis in the smallest microalgae. For the RIPE project, Anbu helped develop synbio tools that would enable his team to use Ostreococcus tauri as a model organism to study photosynthesis, and leveraging that knowledge to higher plants to improve photoprotection and photosynthesis. Read more about Anbu here.

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Where is your new opportunity, what is your title, and what will you be doing?
I will be working as a Research Scientist at Provectus Algae, Noosaville, QLD, Australia. My primary job is to characterize genetic parts in microalgae and design a pipeline for heterologous protein expression in microalgae for commercial use.

How have your experiences at RIPE helped you prepare for this?
Large scale DNA assembly and cloning experience that I gained from the RIPE project helped me enrich my CV and also additional sessions through PSCB at IGB put me in a good position to land an industrial job.

What is one of your favorite RIPE memories?
The first time when we saw transgenic Ostreococcus (microalgae) on media plates and everyone in the group was super happy, since it was the first time ever in RIPE we got a plasmid DNA transformed into Ostreococcus.
Then it would be field sampling during summer, in which I helped my group collect soybean leaf samples. Particularly, pre-dawn measurements were super fun because I never wake up that early. Also, while sampling, I encountered a lot of insects, bugs, worms, etc, which I enjoyed photographing :) I can share the pictures if you would like to feature.

What advice do you have for current RIPE postdocs?
Try to use the most out of what RIPE offers in terms of resources and a wide network of collaborations.

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As told to: Amanda Nguyen || RIPE Communications Specialist