Miller Magazine Issue 137 May 2021

74 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / may 2021 LIVZYM, the first and only biotechnology R&D indus- trial enzyme factory in Turkey, is a company that focus- es on sustainable solutions in food production, the vital importance of which has been better understood during the Covid-19 pandemic. Founded in 2014 by Serdar Uysal, who carried out scientific studies in distinguished univer- sities of the USA for 13 years after completing his under- graduate education in Turkey, the company aims to re- duce the foreign dependency of Turkey in the enzyme sector, which has reached a volume of 10 billion dollars in the world. We had the chance to talk to Dr. Serdar Uysal, Found- ing General Manager of LIVZYM Biotechnology, about the future of food, biotechnology, the enzyme sector, and the company's goals. Mr. Uysal, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself so we can get to know more about you? I am originally from Odemis, a town of Izmir. But, I was actually born in Kars, a city where my father was deployed as a military serviceman at the time. So, I attended primary school in 3 different locations due to my father’s service. I have always loved reading since I was a child. It has al- ways been exciting for me to understand the nature of existence and earth, to discover our journey on the plan- et Earth as the mankind. I was nearly equally interested in social and basic sciences. Although I built my career on molecular biology and biochemistry, I was particularly interested in philosophy, anthropology and mystical tradi- tions as well. If you go ahead and start a talk about Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Wittgenstein, we can talk with you about them hours and hours. It may be because of passion about reading that I had a thriving life as a student at school. Having completed my Master’s Degree at ITU, I had the chance to carry out scientific studies at distinguished universities in the USA for 13 years. My first stop was MIT. Then, I completed my Ph.D at the University of Chicago, after which I studied for "Our goal as LIVZYM is to contribute to the widespread use of enzymes in the indus- trial field by growing the market in our geography with a local language, as the first biotechnological enterprise in the enzyme field. With the essential capacity boost and infrastructural investments, we aim to supply significant part of the enzymes needed by Turkey first, and then by our region.” ‘It is our goal to supply significant part of the enzymes needed by Turkey first, and then by our region’ Dr. Serdar Uysal Founder CEO LIVZYM Biotechnologies