Profile

The quickest way to describe my professional profile is through the fact that:

“I have science embedded in my DNA, transcribed and translated into business”

I have a broad biological understanding, alongside a strong business sense, and have always enjoyed taking my scientific knowledge and bringing it into an even broader context.

Well rounded understanding, of a broad spectrum of biotechnological principles and methods.
Academic abilities along with a practical sense of laboratory and project minded work.
Broad understanding of business and entrepreneurship in life science.
Excellent at bringing ideas in to a broader contest, looking at the perspectives and possibilities.
Enjoys group work, and being able to bring different mindsets, cultures and nationalities together.
Very systematic and organized in all settings.
Great presentational skills and enjoys communicating projects further.

Academic Background

Master in Business Administration and Bioentrepreneurship (BBIP) 2014-2015

Directly after finishing my cand.scient. At University of Copenhagen, I began a one-year full time master degree at Copenhagen Business School.
BBIP is a platform for learning the skills required to translate life science into entrepreneurship and business. The teaching draws on industry experts, high quality academic faculty, real life cases, insight into bio ventures, and includes a three-month internship in one of Denmark’s leading life-science companies.

Letter of Recommendation

Master in Biology – Biotechnology 2012-2014

I began my master in Biology-Biotechnology in 2012, at University of Copenhagen.
The program had strong focus on engaging students in a wide range of biotechnological problems and throughout my master, I learned how to take my biological knowledge and combining it in diverse scientific contexts. My main focus lay within human health and diseases, and I strengthened my skills in this area significantly during my master studies. Furthermore, the program included extensive practical laboratory experience, including a full year of dedicated research.

Bachelor in Biology – Biotechnology 2009-2012

I began my bachelor in Biology-Biotechnology at the University of Copenhagen, which I finished in 2012.
The education provided insights and tools, which are part of revolutionizing research in health and diseases in humans, animals and plants. Thus, the study gave me a wide understanding of biotechnological approaches, in different scientific areas.
The courses where taught through lectures, group work and practical laboratory exercises.

CBS Master Courses

BioBusiness Marketing
BBIP - Entrepreneurship project
Finance, Valuation and Accounting in BioBusiness
Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy in BioBusiness
Governance, Control and Contracting in BioBusiness

KU Master Courses

Genome and cell biology
Immunology – theoretical
Lab animal science cat. C
Basic pharmacology and toxicology
Heterologous expression
Advanced biotechnology and intellectual property rights

KU Bachelor Courses

Introduction to biotechnology
Mathematics and data processing
Biophysics
Cell biology
Chemistry
Molecular Biology
Biochemistry 1 & 2
Statistical data analysis

Basic plant biology
Basic animal biology
Microbiology
Mammalian genomics
Microbial interactions
Bioinformatics
Experimental molecular biology

Important Projects

Master Thesis and internship at Zealand Pharma

I began an internship in the danish biotech company Zealand Pharma in February 2015, as part of my Master in Business Administration and Bioentrepreneurship at Copenhagen Business School. The project was a joint effort, which has been in collaboration with my thesis partner, and we have analyzed important elements involved in going from being a small entrepreneurial research company, towards establishing a company with the right resources to take projects further through clinical development. During our internship we have been able to interview a broad spectra of employees across management and leadership levels and furthermore participated in strategic meetings as observers.

Marketing project: Relationship analysis

As part of my course in BioBusiness Marketing, I created a report, based on interviews and analysis with representatives from both the Danish biotech company Zealand Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. The report provided an insight into the nature of the alliance, and identified important elements in creating a sustainable business relationship.

CRISPRrrr Business plan: Creation of a transgenic grapevine

As part of the entrepreneurship course at Copenhagen Business school, I created in a group a business plan based on an internal idea. I was one of the students chosen to be part of a trans-Atlantic collaboration with students from Georgia Tech University. We propose a plant enhancement technology that will prevent grapevines’ susceptibility to virus disease, thus resulting in higher crop yield without sacrificing quality. We intend to do so by establishing fields where we develop and grow transgenic grapevines, expressing a CRISPR/Cas system adopted from bacterial defense mechanisms.

microRNAs in obesity and obesity related phenotypes: Using pig as a model

I completed my master thesis working with microRNAs in obesity and obesity related phenotypes: Using pig as a model. Obesity and obesity related diseases have become a worldwide health problem over the last decades. The multifactorial link between obesity and certain metabolic health complications, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), is known as the metabolic syndrome, and plays a central part of the problem. The study aimed to investigate whether any interesting miRNA expression profiles could be observed between pigs with different metabolic parameters. Methods used in the project included Illumina sequencing, cDNA synthesis, standard qPCR and BioMark HD high throughput qPCR.

Advanced biotechnology and intellectual property rights

In advanced biotechnology and intellectual property rights, I was part of a bigger project regarding the theoretical generation of Alzheimer’s Disease specific neurons, via induced pluripotent stem cell technology, for a drug screening panel. Both specific scientific aspects were covered, as well as potential business model and search/analysis of relevant patents

Phenotypic prediction of pigmentary traits in forensic science

I completed my Bachelor by writing a larger project regarding phenotypic prediction of pigmentary traits in forensic science. In this project, I worked within a forensic research area that covers the possibility of making group-specific predictions of traits like hair, skin and eye color, from the use of DNA markers. I looked into the genetic background of such research, including the relevant genetic variations. A description of important experimental and statistically methods where furthermore described.

Experimental Molecular Biology

In Experimental Molecular Biology, I was part of a bigger project regarding In vitro experiments of short chain fatty acids anti-inflammatory effects. This was a project within the field of molecular immunology, where we as a group looked into the effect of short chain fatty acids on the level of interleukin-beta in whole blood samples, and isolated neutrophils. We used methods like RNA purification, qPCR, ELISA and FACS.

Poula Maltha Sørensen

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