Student testimonial
Maria Leon Roldan – MSc Biotechnology
I have discover my passion for Biotechnology during my Bachelor so I decided to continue in this direction. Now in my internship I am looking at cultivation and extraction conditions of different compounds from Spirulina. I found this topic really interesting since it combines both the aspects of bioprocess and the food technology.
Before starting, I had a meeting with my study advisor which explained everything really well and we made a tailored programme, which was really helpful.
Could you please give an introduction about yourself?
I am Maria and I was born in Colombia. Five years ago I moved to the Netherlands to study. I did my bachelors in Process and Food technology in the applied science university of the Hague. And within the studies I did my minor in Biotechnology and that’s when I discover my passion for it. I then decided that I wanted to continue with Biotechnology for my master and after visiting some universities I decided to join the course at WUR. After having done my thesis at the Biobased Chemistry and Technology chair group, now I am doing my internship in a company where we're working with spirulina. The aim is to explore cultivation conditions and extraction procedures of spirulina compounds that can be used in food applications. This is perfect for me because it also combines my background of food technology.
Did you know from the beginning which specialization you wanted to join?
No, at the beginning I was doubting between the Bioprocess technology and environmental specialization of Biotechnology master. It was really nice that when I started, my study advisor and I just planned for the first periods courses that I was interested. Therefore, I was doing courses both from process and environmental and biobased specializations helped me to figure out what I like the best. During the course ‘Biobased conversions’ I realized I was really interested in it and that is when I decided to join the Environmental and Biobased specialization as to do something regarding the environment and biobased sciences.
What advice would you give to a prospective student starting the master in Biotechnology?
I would suggest to always discuss with your study advisor, since we get a lot of different choices for courses and they are quite broad and different. If you don't know exactly what you're going for, ask for advice on how to tailor your programme. At the same time grab the chance that you get to do courses that you want to deepen your knowledge in. It's a great opportunity to actually focus on things that you're interested in which gives the motivation to study.