Julia Linke

PhD Student

Research:

Non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are responsible for many premature deaths and it is important to decrease the current level of this mortality. In last years, personalised immunotherapies showed great results for treatment of several cancer types. However, these therapies are currently very expensive due to complex and costly manufacturing processes and protocols.

The aim of Julia’s PhD is to make personalised adoptive T-cell therapies (ACT) more affordable via application of nature-inspired solutions and achieving process intensification. She looks at the mechanisms present in nature, such as the immune response mechanisms in human body and impact of tissue stiffness, to apply these to improve the effectiveness of therapy bioprocessing.

Julia is the first Cohort of EPSRC Interdisciplinary DTP Studentships at UCL and is based between Chemical Engineering Department and the Division of Medicine. Her background is in bioprocessing of cell-derived compounds and biotechnology. Julia’s interests include commercialisation of scientific discoveries and translating them into useful products or services.

For 3 years she has been involved in different synthetic biology projects under supervision of Professor John Ward (UCL Biochemical Engineering). This work included degradation of plastic waste with microorganisms as a part of Microbiology Society or EPSRC grants. In October 2021, with CNIE, UCL Trellis and Plastic Waste Hub (UCL), Julia helped to organise a community event in Hackney on recycling of plastics, which will be repeated.

In 2020 Julia became Cohort 25 on prestigious 3-year Engineering Leaders Scholarship (ELS) under the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), which is given to top 30 engineering students within the UK.

Education:

BSc Bioprocessing of New Medicines (with Business and Management), UCL, 2021