Dr. Rita Cruz is the Section Head of Strain Engineering at Ingenza, a leading biotech CRDMO in the evolving landscape of biomanufacturing and engineering biology, based on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Since joining Ingenza in 2016, Rita has been leading programmes with both academic partners and high-profile global customers to deliver high-risk disruptive and innovative technology whilst steering such programmes towards commercialisation. Successful applications range from platform vaccine development, agrobiotechnology and scalable production of enzymes for biocatalysis and home care products. Prior to her time at Ingenza, Rita received a PhD through the prestigious Marie Curie Industrial European Doctorate programme at the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology at Newcastle University in collaboration with DSM, a world leader in enzyme manufacturing.

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