Innovative biotech student sets his sights on science competition
Oskar Brännholm, who is working towards his Master's degree in biotechnology engineering, has an enormous interest in science and its applications.
Oskar Brännholm enjoys taking part in science competitions. While in his first year of the Master Programme in Molecular Biotechnology Engineering at Uppsala University, he has delved deep into an application that involves storing data in DNA. He now hopes to have the opportunity to develop the idea further in the international competition iGEM.
Oskar Brännholm is in his second semester of the Master Programme in Molecular Biotechnology Engineering. It was not by chance that he chose this programme.
“I think that life is the most beautiful thing in the universe, and it’s something that I find extremely interesting. Biotech also holds enormous potential and we have only just begun to scratch the surface. So, it feels like a promising field that I would love to work with,” says Oskar Brännholm.
And he has made a flying start by focusing on an idea he has had since he graduated from upper secondary school in 2023: a new method of synthesising DNA and RNA that can be used in applications such as DNA data storage. Using DNA as a storage medium, instead of silicon, would result in extremely sustainable storage solutions capable of containing enormous amounts of data in a minimal volume.
Technology search gave good insight
In the autumn, he spent a lot of time researching and came to a promising conclusion.
“I concluded that it is highly likely that such a system could be created and wrote a review article. To give the idea an even broader audience, I considered writing something for a journal that accepts work from undergraduate and graduate students. When I spoke with a teacher about it, they recommended that I contact UU Innovation, and the staff there took me much more seriously than I thought they would,” says Oskar Brännholm.
Oskar Brännholm is focusing on developing his idea for a new DNA synthesis method and is looking forward to the international iGEM competition. Photo: Shutterstock
With UU Innovation's help, he got a holistic idea of the state of technological development in the technical areas that his method involves, which include biology, physics, engineering and computer science. A technology search of this kind provides in-depth information through extensive searches of patent information.
“I got a lot of good information, some of which was new to me and something I would have never been able to find on my own. All in all, it gave me greater confidence that the concept I came up with is new and has potential for development, even if it is not possible to say with certainty that it does not already exist,” says Oskar Brännholm.
Focus on a science competition
Given the potential of the concept and his eagerness to develop it further, Oskar Brännholm has submitted it as a project proposal for iGEM. This is a major international synthetic biology competition where teams of students use molecular biology, bioinformatics and genetic engineering to develop new solutions to global societal challenges.
“I’m really looking forward to it. There’s no guarantee that we will be able to move forward with my idea, but it will be a lot of fun no matter what. A big aspect of taking part in the competition is socialising with students from other universities.”
Oskar Brännholm knows what he is talking about. While in upper secondary school, he participated in science Olympiads in both biology and physics.
“It was very valuable to get to interact with a lot of people interested in science, and it also gave me a strong foundation for my university studies, as I have already gone through some of the material we are working on now.”
Academia and industry
Although the first year of his Master’s programme is not yet over, Oskar Brännholm has a fairly clear picture of his future career. A doctorate is a given, and he would like to try working in both academia and industry in the future.
“Going as far back as sixth grade, I knew that I wanted to be a researcher, but I also want to work in industry for a while and possibly start my own business. I like the idea of doing both, because I think it’s good to have interaction between these two worlds. After all, the whole point of things is for your work to have some kind of outlet, for it to contribute to society in some way," says Oskar Brännholm.
Sara Gredemark