DC1 - Isa Hollopp

Fellow Presentation :

My name is Isa Hollopp and I am a doctoral student at the UMR SayFood (Paris-Saclay Food and Bioproduct Engineering Research Unit) - Inrae in Palaiseau, France, as well as the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig, Germany.

I have obtained my bachelor's degree in molecular biology and biotechnology from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany, and my master’s degree in molecular biology from Umeå University, Sweden. During an internship at the Institute of Research in Horticulture and Seeds (IRHS – Inrae) in Angers, France, where I studied the transmission of bacteria from seed to seedling, I discovered my interest in the field of microbial ecology.

As I also happen to love fermented foods - olives, sauerkraut, kimchi, cheese (the smellier the better), sourdough bread… you name it - this PhD position could not have been a better opportunity. There is something magical about transforming simple food ingredients by harnessing the power of diverse microbial metabolisms.

In the FAIROmics project I am DC1 and my aim is to decipher fungal-bacterial interactions in plant based foods. Filamentous fungi and bacteria are key players in fermentation processes. The importance of synergistic interactions between them, in shaping fermentation and ripening processes such as cheese ripening, has been gaining more and more attention. When it comes to the fermentation of plant-based products these positive interkingdom interactions remain largely understudied. I hope to gain some insight by combining -omics methods, such as genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics, that have been proven as useful tools in detangling microbial interactions. Ultimately, the acquired knowledge will help to better control fermentation processes and design novel foods.