Liliana Calzadiaz Ramirez is a PhD Candidate at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology. Liliana currently studies enzyme engineering, and visited KAUST after being invited by the SSB lab as a speaker to deliver a talk titled "Testing, Screening and Evolving NADPH-regenerating enzymes with an E. coli NADPH-sensor strain."

Prof. Lauersen gave a talk at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia hosted by Prof. Ian Paulsen and Dr. Briardo Llorente. The talk was titled "Transforming Algae into a Sustainable Production Platform."

Prof. Lauersen gave a visiting lecture at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at University of Queensland, Brisbane, hosted by Prof. Ben Hankamer. His lecture was titled "Transforming Algae into a Sustainable Production Platform," and was focused on explaining the potential Algae hold as a biotechnology platform.

In October, Prof. Lauersen had a chance to visit Dr. Claudia Vickers's team from Australia in Singapore, and then visited Australia directly, to learn more about the future of Synthetic Biology.

Prof. Lauersen today had the chance to deliver a talk at a conference in Singapore on the topic of "Future Trends in Synthetic Biology: Asian Perspectives." His talk was titled "Transforming Algae into a Sustainable Production Platform," and represented the Saudi Arabian and Persian Gulf potential for joining the Synthetic Biology revolution.

On the latest “Young PIs” interview series, Konstantinos Vavitsas from EUSynBioS interviewed Prof. Lauersen based on his recent appointment as an Assistant Professor. Even though Konstantinos and Prof. Lauersen have published a paper together, it was their first chance to discuss science, algae, and the future at large together.