About - myBIOS

Claudia Rinnofner, DI Dr.

Chief Executive Officer

Claudia Rinnofner earned her PhD at Graz University of Technology (TUG) in the research group of Prof. Anton Glieder at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology. Her PhD thesis focused on the production of recombinant proteins in Pichia pastoris employing synthetic promoters. She has more than 20 years of experience as a scientist, working with Pichia pastoris and strain engineering, including the production of various heterologous proteins. She worked at the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology as a scientist, and as a project leader at the company bisy. At the end of 2020, Claudia founded myBIOS with the ambition to advance industrial biotechnology by delivering innovative, scalable solutions for efficient and sustainable protein production.

Tamara Wrießnegger, Dr. rer. nat.

Head of Research & Development

Tamara Wrießnegger holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Graz Technical University. She brings over 15 years of experience as a researcher and project manager at the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, and contributed to numerous projects focused on metabolic engineering of Pichia pastoris and the development of whole-cell biocatalysts for the production of high-value compounds. She has co-authored over 15 scientific publications and contributed to two patent applications. Since joining myBIOS in 2025, Tamara has been driving the company’s innovation strategy, applying her expertise in molecular and cell biology, bioreactor cultivations, enzyme engineering, and applied biotechnology to advance breakthrough solutions.

Alexandra Deibuk, M.Sc.

Head of Laboratory

Alexandra Deibuk has a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and a master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine. She did her masters thesis at Graz University of Technology in collaboration with myBIOS focusing on the production of the SARS-COV2 spike protein and a horseradish peroxidase conjugate in Pichia pastoris, thereby making the first steps towards a novel independent methanol-free protein production technology. Alexandra joined myBIOS in 2021. She is currently working as Lab-Team Leader at myBIOS.

Franziska Gruber, DI

Research Scientist

Franziska Gruber completed her master’s degree in Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology (TUG) in 2023 after studying Molecular Biology as her bachelor’s degree. Her master thesis covered topics of cholesterol-response mechanisms and MAP-kinase signaling in modified Pichia pastoris. In 2024 and 2025 she supported myBIOS as a scientist.

Lukas Schönleitner, M.Sc.

Research Scientist

Lukas Schönleitner has a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and a masters’ degree in Biotechnology. He did his master thesis at Graz University of Technology (TUG) in the group of Birgit Wiltschi focusing on the integration of non-canonical amino acids in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli. Lukas joined myBIOS in 2024. His focus is on exploring new approaches to overcome bottlenecks in methanol-free protein production in Pichia pastoris.

Alexander Gutmann, DI Dr.

Consultant

Alexander Gutmann has 15 years of experience in biotechnology research and development. He managed development and optimization of fermentation and downstream processes, and organized scale-up to piloting and commercial manufacturing in the CDMO industry. He has also a strong academic track record in biocatalysis and related fields. Alexander joined myBIOS in 2024. Since 2025 he is supporting myBIOS as an independent consultant.

Publications

Felber, M., Pichler, H., Ruth, C., 2014. Strains and molecular tools for recombinant protein production in Pichia pastoris. Methods Mol. Biol. 1152, 87–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0563-8_5

Fürst, M., Kerschbaumer, B., Rinnofner, C., Migglautsch, A., Winkler, M., Fraaije, M., 2019. Exploring the Biocatalytic Potential of a Self-Sufficient Cytochrome P450 from <i>Thermothelomyces thermophila</i> Adv. Synth. Catal. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.201900076

Hartner, F.S., Ruth, C., Langenegger, D., Johnson, S.N., Hyka, P., Lin-Cereghino, G.P., Lin-Cereghino, J., Kovar, K., Cregg, J.M., Glieder, A., 2008. Promoter library designed for fine-tuned gene expression in Pichia pastoris. Nucleic Acids Res. 36, e76. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkn369

Hashem, C., Stolterfoht, H., Rinnofner, C., Steinberger, S., Winkler, M., Pichler, H., 2020. Secretion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Lipoxygenase by Pichia pastoris upon Glycerol Feed. Biotechnol. J. 15, 2000089. https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.202000089

Mellitzer, A., Ruth, C., Gustafsson, C., Welch, M., Birner-Grünberger, R., Weis, R., Purkarthofer, T., Glieder, A., 2014. Synergistic modular promoter and gene optimization to push cellulase secretion by Pichia pastoris beyond existing benchmarks. J. Biotechnol. 191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.08.035

Näätsaari, L., Mistlberger, B., Ruth, C., Hajek, T., Hartner, F.S., Glieder, A., 2012. Deletion of the pichia pastoris ku70 homologue facilitates platform strain generation for gene expression and synthetic biology. PLoS One 7. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039720

Rinnofner, C., Kerschbaumer, B., Weber, H., Glieder, A., Winkler, M., 2019. Cytochrome P450 mediated hydroxylation of ibuprofen using Pichia pastoris as biocatalyst. Biocatal. Agric. Biotechnol. 17, 525–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BCAB.2018.12.022

Ruth, C., Buchetics, M., Vidimce, V., Kotz, D., Naschberger, S., Mattanovich, D., Pichler, H., Gasser, B., 2014. Pichia pastoris Aft1 – a novel transcription factor, enhancing recombinant protein secretion. Microb. Cell Fact. 13, 120. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-014-0120-5

Ruth, C., Glieder, A., 2010. Perspectives on synthetic promoters for biocatalysis and biotransformation. ChemBioChem 11. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.200900761

Ruth, C., Zuellig, T., Mellitzer, A., Weis, R., Looser, V., Kovar, K., Glieder, A., 2010. Variable production windows for porcine trypsinogen employing synthetic inducible promoter variants in Pichia pastoris. Syst. Synth. Biol. 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11693-010-9057-0

Stolterfoht, H., Rinnofner, C., Winkler, M., Pichler, H., 2019. Recombinant Lipoxygenases and Hydroperoxide Lyases for the Synthesis of Green Leaf Volatiles. J. Agric. Food Chem. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.9b02690

About us