“Microbes are able to use virtually every compound on Earth. While there are toxic molecules in the soil and water, as microbiologists, we can find the right microbes to mitigate the effects of such compounds. We are using microbes to tackle pressing problems like reducing heavy metal content in food crops. It’s an exciting time to be in ag-biotech and an exciting time to be at Talam.”
As a microbiologist at Talam, Fernanda may focus on small organisms in her work, but she thinks big in how she can apply them to help solve real-world problems. For the past 12 years, she’s worked in environmental microbiology. Now at Talam, she’s helping set up the company’s new U.S.-based lab where she’s designing the most efficient ways to identify and isolate the microbes that can help improve sustainability and safety in agriculture. But it’s taking that technology from its final step in R&D to putting it to work in farmers’ fields that excites her the most.