Michelle van der Helm

Biography

Michelle (1994) was born and raised in Delft, the Netherlands. After completing her B.Sc. in Molecular Science & Technology (summa cum laude) at both the Delft University of Technology and Leiden University, she continued the MSc Chemical Engineering programme (cum laude) in Delft, majoring in Chemical Product Engineering. Her M.Sc. thesis was awarded with the AkzoNobel graduation prize for Chemistry and Process Technology and the KNCV Golden Master Award. Currently, she is a PhD candidate under professor Rienk Eelkema. Her research focuses on signal transduction in organic materials and involves both (organo)catalysis and out-of-equilibrium system engineering.  

Career & Education

2017 - present PhD candidate - TU Delft, Advanced Soft Matter - 'Signal transduction in organic materials'
2017 Graduate research intern - DSM Delft (Food specialties) Downstream processing, Integrated bioprocessing
2015 - 2017 M.Sc. Chemical Engineering - TU Delft, Master thesis - 'Enzyme reactions in monolithic microreactors', collaboration with the Silesian University of Technology Poland, Cum laude, average grade 9.4
2016 Summer School, Future Food Utrecht: Sustainable food production - Utrecht University, Faculty of Science (UU)
2012 - 2015 B.Sc. Molecular Science and Technology - TU Delft and Leiden University, Bachelor thesis - 'Biocatalytic reduction of activated alkenes using whole cells from Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC 17895', Summa cum laude, average grade 9.0

Research Interests

Catalysis, Organic chemistry, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Systems chemistry, Out-of-equilibrium systems, Soft materials

Publications

Van der Helm, M. P.; Bracco. P.; Busch. H.; Szymanska. K.; Jarzebski. A. B.; Hanefeld. U., Hydroxynitrile lyases covalently immobilized in continuous flow microreactors. Catalysis Science & Technology 2019, 9, 1189-1200.

Chen. B.-S.; Médici R.; Van der Helm M. P.; van Zwet Y.; Gjonaj L.; van der Geest R.; Otten L. G.; Hanefeld U., Rhodococcus strains as source for ene-reductase activity. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 2018, 102 (13), 5545-5556.

Awards

2017 Golden Master Award, Best master thesis in 2017, Award made available by the KNCV, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging 

2017 AkzoNobel Graduation prize in Chemistry and Process Technology, Best master thesis in academic year 2016-2017, Award made available by AkzoNobel, The Royal Holland Society Of Sciences And Humanities

2017 Best Graduate Faculty of Applied Sciences, Best MSc student of the Faculty of Applied Sciences (Delft University of Technology), Award made available by the Delft University Fund

2013 Young Talent Award in Chemistry, Best grades in academic year 2012-2013, Award made available by Shell Global Solutions International, The Royal Holland Society Of Sciences And Humanities