Jochen Förster

Jochen Förster is a Professor and Chief Technology Officer at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He leads the Biofoundry unit, focusing on cutting-edge research in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and sustainable biomanufacturing. His work integrates systems biology and data-driven approaches to engineer microbial cell factories for the production of high-value biochemicals.

• University: Technical University of Denmark
• School: Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability
• Department: Biofoundry
• Academic Rank: Professor
• Email: jfor@biosustain.dtu.dk

Research Interests: Jochen Förster's research spans metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and strain development in yeast and bacterial systems. His work emphasizes non-GMO techniques, evolutionary engineering, and the use of functional metagenomics to improve microbial production platforms. He is particularly focused on sustainable bioproduction from renewable feedstocks and assessing the environmental impact of biotechnological processes.

The recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward integrating systems-level understanding with practical bioproduction goals. His team works on both eukaryotic (yeast) and prokaryotic (bacteria) systems, applying rational and evolutionary engineering to optimize titers, tolerance, and product profiles. A growing emphasis is placed on sustainability, as seen in life cycle assessments of biochemical production processes.

Scientific Awards: No specific awards are mentioned in the provided text.

Advising and Grants: Jochen Förster is actively supervising multiple PhD students across diverse projects related to strain design, protein production, and methylotrophy. He is the main supervisor in several funded PhD projects, indicating active grant leadership and mentorship. His involvement in high-impact publications and media coverage also reflects successful research translation and outreach.

Labs and Teams: He leads the DTU Biosustain Biofoundry, a state-of-the-art platform for automated strain engineering and testing. This facility supports high-throughput development of microbial cell factories and integrates with pilot-scale production capabilities, enabling rapid translation from lab to industry.