About.Why have we started Rift Protein?
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Established in 2023We're based in the Leiden Bioscience Park, an excellent environment to share ideas and collaborate.
We have an extensive network in East Africa, to source ingredients such as mung beans, from smallholder farmers, and establish local processing facilities, powered by renewable energy. |
Our GoalWe are currently focused on plant protein. We expect to source and produce in East Africa and Europe. Why Africa? Africa has an abundance of agricultural production and Kenya provides a major source of geothermal electricity and hot water in the Rift Valley.
But we also have an interest in precision fermentation and expect to diversify into this space over time. |
Our Team
Michiel is responsible for business management, funding and strategic direction. He is co-founder and chair of the largest East African equipment lease finance business and was previously in institutional investment management. He has a DPhil in physiology from Oxford University.
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Annelies is a plant biotechnologist with a PhD from Leiden University, a postdoc at TU Delft designing molecular methods for improving industrial enzymes and subsequently a senior scientist at Leiden University looking at novel techniques to improve bioactive metabolites in plants as well as a Group Leader at de Ruiter Seeds. Annelies has expertise in plant physiology, tissue culture, natural products analysis, biochemical and molecular techniques and bio-assay guided fractionation.
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Monica Vlasie
Food Scientist Monica is a food application scientist and has a PhD in Biochemistry, specialising in enzyme kinetics, a postdoc at Leiden University in structural studies of proteins and has worked for the past 19 years in food proteins and enzymes as well as plant dairy applications in the private sector at DSM, FrieslandCampina and IFF
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Work with us?We don't have any current vacancies but are interested to engage with part-time advisers with expertise in protein biochemistry, food product development and computational protein design. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to have a conversation.
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