What Maochao says about the Master's in Biotechnology

Maochao - Alumnus of the programme

What year did you graduate?

"I graduated in 2021."

What is your current job and where is it located?
"I’m working in a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development and industrialisation of innovative monoclonal antibody drugs and other therapeutic protein drugs. It is located in Chengdu, a metropolitan city that is the hub of Southwest China. My work is about the development of the antibody purification process."

How did you find your job and how long did it take?

"It took me less than a month to find the job on a Chinese recruitment site."

How are you changing the industry or the world (in a large or small way)?
"Nowadays, there is an increasing demand from researchers producing biopharmaceuticals – which are antibodies and proteins used as drugs. However, the purity requirements for these proteins that are used for drugs are high and have to get through all the regulations. As we know, proteins can be fragile. They can clump together, and they can denature easily - these are very hard things to manipulate. What I'm doing now is to build and optimise the purification processes of antibody candidates based on their respective properties and to make them industrialised and commercialised through scale-up."

What was especially useful about the programme that you use in your everyday work?
"I learned the basic principles of various purification chromatographs from this programme."

What do you miss most from your time at LU?
"I really miss my last year at Lund University. I remember that I chose to conduct my 10-week Advanced Course in Biotechnology during the last summer vacation, followed by my thesis project and research assistant job. I enjoyed the research time there. I gained a lot of experience about how to design an experiment, arrange my time, discuss in a team, analyse the data and present my experimental results to the other researchers. As the projects progressed, critical thinking and literature review were developed to solve the problems. This is also why I want to apply for a PhD position and go much further in academia."

What was the focus of your degree project?

"My degree project focused on the engineering of phage-derived lipolytic enzyme for potential PET degradation."

Do you have any advice for prospective students coming to Lund?

"Lund is an international university town located in southern Sweden. You will never be bored, since LU has a rich student life, and there are always plenty of opportunities to meet other students. There are also lots of companies here involving various industries. You can make friends and share your views and ideas with people worldwide. Don’t worry about the language. The entire program is carried out in English, and the Swedish locals also have a high level of English. I hope all of you will enjoy your university life in Lund!"