Dan Macken
Dan Macken
Student / Programme Doctorate at D-HEST
Additional information
Research area
Daniel is a Ph.D. candidate working on the project ‘Microalgae: A resilient and dense source of Micronutrients’ under the supervision of Dr Fabian Abiusi. He explores various innovative methods to enhance mineral and vitamin contents of several promising algae species. Micronutrient deficiencies already affects billions across the globe, yet climate change will further increase the cost of micronutrient rich food, exacerbating this vast, hidden problem. The aim of his work is to develop an affordable bioprocess reliably producing cheap micronutrient-enhanced microalgae.
Additional information
Daniel obtained a BSc Plant Science in the UK (Nottingham) and MSc Biotechnology in the Netherlands (Wageningen). He has a background in bioprocess engineering, strain development and genetic modification of plants and microalgae. For his MSc thesis he conceptualized a novel line of research, introducing a novel riboswitch into microalgae for temporal genetic expression control. Parallel to his studies he founded two start-ups: During his BSc, NutriGreens (continuing), a social enterprise combatting micronutrient malnutrition in Ugandan schoolchildren, which won the Enactus UK 2020 exposition and finished as semi-finalist at the Enactus World cup. During the MSc, AlgO Circular (discontinued), a startup creating microalgal circular food ingredients from food and beverage byproducts. Notably, AlgO won the ReThink Protein and also Dutch Cleantech challenges. In December 2023, Dan joined the team at SFP as a doctoral candidate.