Sarah Hammer

Sarah discovered her passion for harnessing microbes for sustainable biomanufacturing as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College while studying thermophilic bacteria. She went on to complete a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University under the guidance of Dr. José Avalos, where she engineered S. cerevisiae for enhanced production of branched-chain higher alcohols. She returned to Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering for postdoctoral work in the lab of Dr. Lee Lynd. Her work there focused on ethanol tolerance and production from cellulosic biomass in C. thermocellum, one of the bacteria that had first sparked her interest in the field eight years earlier.

Before joining MicroByre Sarah was a Strain Engineering Scientist at C16 Biosciences leading a team producing sustainable alternatives to palm oil. Sarah is excited to continue working with specialized microbes to generate sustainable and economically competitive products.