Successful industry placement resulted in student being offered a permanent position.

2021/22 MSc cohort member Jake Wiseman undertook his industry placement at MiAlgae. This innovative SME applies leading advances in science and technology to improve food security and reduce the impact of humanity on the planet. They aim to eliminate reliance on wild-caught fish as a source of Omega-3 by harnessing the potential of microalgae as a sustainable and rich alternative source. Additionally, MiAlgae’s innovative process uses co-products from the whisky industry which keeps production costs down.

During his placement, Jake undertook a project to help MiAlgae optimise their Clean-In-Place (CIP) protocol, which is used to clean their 1000L vessels. Jake gained invaluable experience in the industrial-scale production of omega-3 rich microalgae, including MiAlgae’s Clean-In-Place protocol for industrial-scale vessels. He also gained experience in the fermentation and harvesting of heterotrophic microalgae grown on co-products from the whisky industry.

Jake’s industry placement gave him a foot in the door with one of the limited number of companies working with microalgae at industrial scale in the UK, and although he admits that it was nerve-wracking initially, he says, ‘I quickly found my footing with the help of the amazing team at MiAlgae…It is truly refreshing to work for a company that has the best interests of the environment and its employees at its heart.’

For MiAlgae, the benefits of Jake’s placement with them included the successful completion of the project to optimise their Clean-In-Place protocol. The new protocol has now been implemented across all CIPs used at their production site, which has reduced both the time taken to undertake CIP, costs associated with the protocol, and water, electricity and chemical usage.

Jake’s successful placement with MiAlgae has led to him taking up a permanent position with the company. His manager, Ben Horton, said; ‘Jake has become a core part of the MiAlgae production team following his hard work during, and after, his placement with MiAlgae. From the outset of his placement with MiAlgae it was clear that Jake is enthusiastic, forward thinking and driven, making him fit perfectly into MiAlgae and the team both at our demonstrator plant and research laboratories. Making Jake an offer of full time employment with MiAlgae following his very successful placement with us was something we were very excited to do and we know that Jake will progress far within MiAlgae.’
 

Jake is an IBioIC MSc prize winner and is currently working with MiAlgae as a Production Operator.