Dr. Melanie Oey is a Research Officer at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience in the Group of Prof. Ben Hankamer, who directs the Centre for Solar Biotechnology. She was born in Berlin, Germany, and went to the University of Potsdam to study Biochemistry. During her studies she worked at the Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm, Germany, where she also received her Ph.D. in 2009 for her work on the production of pharmaceuticals in tobacco plants. In the same year she came to Australia to work at the University of Queensland, and has since then developed new technologies which form a key pillar for the Centre for Solar Biotechnology – Algae Protein Therapeutics.
More recently Melanie has further expanded her focus on using microalgal derived compounds as well as their ability to produce oxygen from light for medical and food applications.