Henrique Bomfim Pinheiro
Graduating in Bioprocess Engineering
My ease with mathematics and my interest in biology at school made me look for something that combined the two to form a career. I started with a degree in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Amazonas and then switched to Bioprocess Engineering, throwing myself into Rio de Janeiro.
If this change of life and also to a broader area of training gave me one particular benefit, it was the ease with which I could adapt to change. From an internship in Manaus with bacteria and spiders, then in Rio with heavy metal remediation, a short stint in phytochemistry, then molecular biology and, today, environmental DNA and metagenomics. As some of my teachers used to tell me, an engineer’s job isn’t to know everything, it’s to find out what you need to solve the problem.
Today I am a member of the environmental DNA species identification project, interacting with both our molecular biology and bioinformatics teams, and traveling around the southeast on our sample collection campaigns.
Outside the company, my bioprocesses are different: my hobby of producing craft beers, testing different styles and improving the process.