prof. dr. S. (Sandy) Schmidt

Sandy Schmidt completed her Ph.D. in 2015 in the group of Prof. Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifswald in the field of protein engineering and enzymatic cascade reactions. After a research stay at Delft University of Technology as postdoctoral fellow within the group of Prof. Frank Hollmann, she was working as group leader at Graz University of Technology. In April 2020, Sandy started as a tenure-track Assist. Prof. (Rosalind Franklin Fellow) at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen within the Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy at the Dept. of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Biology. In July 2024 she was promoted to Associate Professor (‘adjunct hoogleraar’ with ius promovendi).

Education

2012 – 2015 Ph.D. in Biotechnology (grade: summa cum laude, with distinction), University of Greifswald, Germany

2007 – 2012 Diploma in Biochemistry (equivalent to M.Sc.), University of Greifswald, Germany

Professional Experience

2024 - today Associate Professor (‘adjunct hoogleraar’ with ius promovendi), (University of Groningen, The Netherlands

2020 – 2024 Tenure-track Assistant Professor (Rosalind Franklin Fellow), University of Groningen, The Netherlands

2017 – 2020 Group Leader, Graz University of Technology, Austria

2015 – 2017 Postdoctoral Researcher, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Fellowships and Awards

2022 ERC Starting grant

2022 International Biocat Award, category 'Academic Research'

2022 NWO Vidi grant

2020 Rosalind Franklin Fellowship

2018 Poster Award, Gordon Research Conference on Biocatalysis

2018 Max Buchner Research Fellowship

2015 Poster Award, Biotrans Research Conference 2015, Vienna, Austria

Additional activities

• Coordinator of Horizon MSCA Doctoral network 'BiodeCCodiNNg'
• Coordinator of H2020 MSCA ITN 'ConCO2rde'
• Associate Editor for Frontiers in Catalysis (Biocatalysis section)
• Guest Editor for scientific journals
• Reviewer for scientific journals and grant proposals (national and international)
• Chair of "Next Generation Biocatalysis - An International Young Investigator" Symposium

Main Expertise

Biocatalysis, Rieske oxygenases, enzyme cascades, protein engineering, synthetic biology, strain engineering