Franziska Uber

A few years ago, Franziska Uber was still sitting and studying in seminar rooms and lecture theatres on the Jülich campus. From 2011 to 2016, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering and then her Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering. In November 2021, she returned to the lecture theatre - this time to inform Jülich students about alternative nutrient solutions for cultivating cells. She is keen to raise awareness of sustainable, animal-free products and offer them as an alternative to conventional animal-based products. We spoke to her about her time at the UAS and her life since then.

You lived on the Jülich campus during your studies. How did you like campus life?

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at first that my place at university was in Jülich and not Aachen. I'm from Aachen and didn't really want to move to Jülich. I moved into one of the halls of residence and lived in an international flat share of five people. That was really cool. In general, life on campus was great because it promoted a nice sense of cohesion among us students, also in terms of living. There are a lot of international students at Jülich, so many different languages were spoken everywhere and I got to know many cultures. We organised barbecues. We organised meals where we cooked Lebanese, Chinese or Indian food. When the weather was good, we met on and around the beach volleyball court. Looking back, I don't regret moving to Jülich one bit. If I were to do something differently, I would take a little more time to enjoy student life even more, because it was a really cool time.

Are you still in contact with former fellow students or FH Aachen students?

Yes, most of my closest friends are from my time at the FH. I also think it's important to keep in touch with my former professors and fellow students. Many of my former fellow students now also work in the life science, biotech or medical technology sector, and we can network well. Others have founded their own companies, which I can support via social networks.

What did you do after graduating?

I wrote my Master's thesis at a medical technology company in Aachen. I made an application there, got the job and started working in marketing as a product manager straight after graduating. It was a very interesting position that I liked and where I learnt a lot.

It went very well for them there, so it could have gone on like that. But you put the brakes on after a while and left the company. Why did you take this step?

I had five years of study behind me and had been in the job for three years. I liked it there, but I had doubts as to whether it was really what I wanted to do for the next few years or even decades. So I decided to take some time out and go travelling. I wanted to press reset and see how I wanted to continue living and working. I travelled for a year, from August 2019 to August 2020.
I did a lot of planning in the first few months, but that became less and less, and I let myself drift more and more. In Thailand, I completed my Divemaster (training to become a professional diver with the opportunity to work as a dive guide) and worked in a diving centre on the island of Koh Tao. Well, and then Covid came, and everything changed, including the opportunities for travelling. I started working freelance in online marketing from Thailand. It became increasingly clear to me that I wanted to work for a company or organisation that produces sustainably and uses resources responsibly. That's how I came into contact with my current employer PL BioScience.

Last year, you returned to Germany and accepted a permanent position at PL BioScience. What do you do there?

I have remained true to the combination of biomedical knowledge and marketing and work as a Marketing & Business Development Specialist. My tasks are varied and involve a combination of market observation and research, customer contact and classic online marketing. I also freelance as a virtual assistant for social media and online marketing for various clients. The key thing for me is that I can fully identify with the goals and values of my employer and that I am part of a great team. I first needed the journey to realise that this is exactly what matters to me. And I find both of these things at my current employer. This is the only reason why I can stand in front of today's students with conviction and tell them about our products.

What makes your nutrient solution more sustainable?

Culture media for cell cultivation are usually made from animal products. They are mainly produced in countries such as Brazil, North America and South Africa. So, in addition to the ethical issue of animal use, we are also dealing with an enormous resource issue. Our culture medium, on the other hand, is obtained from recycled human blood platelets. We collect platelet concentrates from blood banks or clinics that can no longer be used due to their storage time (the blood donations have to be disposed of after four to five days). We then prepare the platelets using mechanical methods so that the most important growth factors and nutrients are freely available. After treatment, the culture medium then achieves even better results than conventional animal products.

Why do you go to universities to educate people about these alternative nutrient solutions? Do you see a great need for information?

I started out a bit on my own. During my studies, like the vast majority of my fellow students, I didn't look closely at nutrient solutions or other laboratory equipment. I went to the laboratory and used the equipment that was available. But I didn't really know anything about the materials and technologies back then. That wasn't required either. I also wouldn't have known which companies to contact for which materials. I wanted to close these gaps with the guest lecture.

What was the students' re-registration like?

I was very pleased with the feedback from the students, as it was consistently positive. Many of them told me afterwards that they didn't know much about the composition and origin of the cell culture media. They were totally interested in the ingredients, production method and also the cost-effectiveness of this alternative product.

How did the contact with FH Aachen come about?

The Innovation Transfer Section at FH Aachen helped me to contact the right lecturers at the Jülich campus. For me, contacting FH Aachen was obvious for several reasons: firstly, FH Aachen is very close to the companies, and secondly, I also have a personal connection to the university, as I studied at Campus Jülich myself. I was actually always in contact with the university, but it was more informal.