Meet the VEG-i-TEC PhD Student, Raejeong Ryu

Exploration of Marine Bacteria: Unveiling Chitin-Degrading Enzymes 

Raejeong is a PhD researcher investigating the chitinolytic potential of marine bacteria. Her research aims to valorize crustacean shell waste – a chitin-rich by-product of seafood processing - through enzymatic bioconversion. She focuses on identifying and characterizing marine bacterial strains that encode chitin-degrading enzymes. These strains are explored for their enzymatic activities and integrated into a bioprocess converting chitin into chito-oligosaccharides and chitosan. This work contributes to sustainable bio-valorization strategies on crustacean shell waste and development of a circular bioeconomy.

This study includes in silico screening and selection of bacterial strains with gene encoding for chitinolytic enzymes at research groups Food Biochemistry & Microbiology and Biosystems & Biotech Data Science (Ghent University Global Campus, Incheon, South Korea 🇰🇷), as well as enzyme activity screening and fermentation optimization at VEG-i-TEC (UGent, Campus Kortrijk, Belgium)

Her PhD is conducted under the supervision of Prof. dr. ir. Katleen Raes from VEG-i-TEC, Prof. dr. ing. Sam Van Haute and Prof. dr. Joris Vankerschaver from Ghent University Global Campus.

This research is funded by Belgian Special Research Fund (BOF) – Ghent University Global Campus label.