Portrait

Newly graduated industrial researcher: “My education combines the best of two worlds”

29-year-old Mette Simone Madsen was in no doubt when she decided to enrol in the industrial PhD programme at DTU. She wanted to merge research and work experience and create results that make a difference.

Mette Simone Madsen is standing next to DTU Biosustain's glass sculpture of an enlarged E. coli bacteria which is an important part of our gut microbiota. Photo: Magnus Møller.

Friday 24 February 2023

Linnea Lundberg

Mette Simone Madsen was in the process of completing her MSc programme at DTU when she came across an interesting job advertisement on LinkedIn. The company Gubra—a contraction of ‘gut’ and ‘brain’—was looking for an industrial PhD student to study what happens to our gut microbiota when we take medication for diabetes and obesity.

Mette had already considered enrolling in a PhD programme, but she did not want only to conduct research. She also wanted to be part of a company and develop as an employee. The job advertisement therefore sounded perfect. 

She applied for the position, and a few days after graduating as an engineer, she began her industrial PhD, which consisted of employment both at the DTU Biosustain research centre and with Gubra and was co-funded by The Innovation Fund.

At Gubra, she became part of a team that conducted order-based preclinical research into metabolic diseases. This resulted in a high work pace and many different tasks, which confirmed Mette Simone Madsen’s feeling that she had ended up in the right place.

“There was room to think outside the box because Gubra focuses on innovation and science. Gubra is committed to new technology, and the company undoubtedly gave me the best framework for creating research results that can make a difference for all those who need diabetes medicine, for example,” she explains.

The lamp at DTU Biosustain is a realistic model of a DNA string. Photo: Magnus Møller.

Crazy about viruses and fungi

The seeds of Mette Simone Madsen’s decision to conduct research into gut microbiota were sown much earlier.

“I’ve always been fascinated by viruses and fungi, watched a lot of science fiction films, and loved post-apocalyptic stories with viral pandemics, so doing research into all the bacteria and fungi found in our intestinal flora made a lot of sense to me,” she says.

Already in high school, Mette Simone Madsen was interested in learning more about the body, while also improving her technical skills. In fact, she liked both sports and mathematics:

“I considered studying medicine, but I grew up in a family of engineers, and I was pulled more and more towards DTU. I knew that I would have the opportunity to combine these two interests there,” she explains.

She therefore completed a bachelor’s degree in Human Life Science Engineering and an MSc in Bioinformatics, where she specialized in studying gut microbiota.

Mette Simone Madsen often visited Building 202 at DTU's campus in Lyngby while she was studying. Photo: Magnus Møller.

Wanting to inspire others

Very briefly put, an industrial PhD is a research collaboration between a company and DTU, and it provides an obvious opportunity for the company to obtain the latest research-based knowledge.

Mette Simone Madsen defended her PhD thesis in March 2022 and, before then, she had accepted a temporary position at Gubra. She is now looking for her next exciting career challenge and feels well prepared for the labour market as a newly graduated industrial researcher. That is also the reason why she has agreed to be interviewed. 

“My education undoubtedly combines the best of two worlds, and I hope that my story can inspire others to choose to do an industrial PhD if they want both to conduct research and be part of a company,” she concludes.

Mette Simone Madsen found her next career challenge just as this article was published. She has signed a contract with Novo Nordisk and will start working as a molecular scientist within New Methods at their QC Microbial Competence Center, Biotech and Rare Disease QC beginning in March 2023.

Industrial PhD

Information about the Industrial PhD programme

DTU collaborates with a vast number of businesses in educating of PhD students.

The following models of collaboration are available:

  • Co-funding a PhD student: Businesses that are interested in having a specific problem investigated have the option of partially financing a PhD student at DTU. Under such an arrangement, the enrolled PhD student typically receives funding from a business for one year. The funding covers salary, tuition fees and overhead to the university.
  • Industrial PhD: This arrangement is administered by Innovation Fund Denmark. The purpose of the arrangement is to further development and innovation in the Danish business community. The Innovation Fund provides financial support to businesses that wish to take on industrial PhD students. For more information about this model, please visit the web pages of Innovation Fund Denmark.

If your company is interested in taking on a PhD student but needs assistance in locating an academic supervisor from one of DTU's departments, please contact the Office for PhD Education at phd@dtu.dk.

Contact

Morten Otto Alexander Sommer

Morten Otto Alexander Sommer Scientific Director Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability