Karl Rumbold

Biography

I was born and raised in the mountainous Republic of Austria where the values of nature conservation and effective utilization of scarce resources were instilled from an early age. I developed a broad interest in natural history and engineering. Entering University, I studied general biology, botany and microbiology at the Universities of Graz and Vienna. With the idea to integrate bioscience and engineering, I did my masters thesis on molecular biotechnology at the Technical University of Graz. Inspired by the sheer unlimited opportunities in enzyme engineering and the promising scope of biocatalysis, i.e. making chemistry environmentally friendly, I decided to study for my PhD and was granted a graduate student bursary from the Austrian Department of Science.
In 2000, I started my international academic career at the University of Stellenbosch in the field of microbial lignocellulose utilization. From 2000-2002 I isolated various fungal enzymes and characterized their contribution in lignocellulose degradation. By interacting with and learning from numerous scientists from different backgrounds, I became one of the few new experts in the emerging field of biofuels and bioenergy generation, therefore increasingly interested in industrial microbiology and biocatalysis.
In my first postdoctoral position at the University College London (2003) I learned protein christallography. During my second postdoctoral position (2004-2005) at the University of Ghent, I was characterizing protein N-glycosylation in general and its role in microbial protein expression. While the climate crisis became global priority and crude oil prices reached all-time highs, industrial (or white) biotechnology established itself globally as the only foreseeable technology to both save the environment and fuel our economy. Owing to my expertise in biomass utilization and my postdoctoral experience, I was offered a position as scientist / project manager for a multidisciplinary research project based at the University of Ghent that developed tools and expertise for the metabolic modeling and engineering of E. coli for the production of succinate from renewable resources.
Following my continuing quest for finding innovative solutions for the bio-based industries, I joined the Dutch Research Organization TNO in Utrecht, as a scientist / project manager in the Food and Biotechnology Innovations Research Unit, in 2006. I was in charge of interdisciplinary research projects commissioned by leading biotech and chemical companies. The improvement of microbial production processes has since been at the core of my scientific interest and I am convinced that microbial metabolomics can assist a great deal in understanding the complex molecular interactions that direct substrate utilization and product productivity. In addition, I was keenly interested in the development and societal impact of industrial biotechnology.
In February 2009 I joined the School of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of the Witwatersrand as a Lecturer. I found myself in an ideal environment to continue my scientific research in industrial biotechnology while having been able to teach students to develop the skills required in order to become bioengineers in a bio-based economy. Consequently, I have established the Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory and received my first NRF rating in 2010 (C3) and have since been re-rated (C2). I have since been promoted to Senior Lecturer (2011), granted tenure (2012), promoted to Associate Professor (2015) and Full Professor (2021). I have found ample opportunities to collaborate with other internationally acclaimed research groups in South Africa, Austria, The Netherlands and China.
In October 2022 I joined the School of Bioengineering at FH Campus Wien | University of Applied Sciences.
I have graduated 27 MSc and 9 PhD students and my current h-index is 18.