Pauline Liesfeld
Product Development

In our Introducing the BioAnalyt Team series, meet Pauline Liesfeld, a member of our Product Development team at BioAnalyt.

Pauline, 31, was born and raised in Kreuzberg, one of Berlin’s most multicultural neighborhoods. Since almost all of her family has settled in Berlin, she feels pretty rooted in the city and believes that she will always return, no matter how far she travels or how long she lives abroad.

Regarding her academic and career choices, Pauline considers herself lucky to have realized from the beginning about wanting to study Chemistry. According to Pauline, organic chemistry is something that has always intrigued her. 

‘Just like people who have an aptitude for arts and music, when I see chemical structures, it always makes sense to me,’ Pauline says. 

Hiking in Northern Italy

After finishing high school in 2010, she went straight ahead to do her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, graduating in 2013. After that, Pauline moved on to complete her Masters in 2016. Then, after taking a break for half a year, she began her doctoral research and was eventually awarded a Ph.D. from the Humboldt University of Berlin in 2022.

Pauline’s doctoral studies focused on a combination of organic chemistry and photochemistry, where she researched photoswitchable molecules that change their properties when light shines on them. The research also involved the synthesis and extraction of molecules for spectroscopy analysis.

Even though Pauline remained enrolled at the Humboldt university throughout her studies, she also traveled abroad during her Master’s and spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley, where her research focused on organic polymers for organic electronics. 

Visiting Zeniarai Benten Shrine in Kamakura, Japan

Regarding her shift from academia to the industry, Pauline feels it is crucial for her to have a sense of being a change-maker and doing something that can make the world a little bit better through her work. 

Pauline says that at BioAnalyt, she feels like a part of a team where everyone is equal. In addition, she considers herself ideal for the job because her career at BioAnalyt combines her academic background and other interests that she couldn’t pursue during her time at the university. 

Pauline’s motivation at her job is driven by the need to understand a problem, make sense of it, and eventually be able to come up with a solution and make it work, which is why Pauline feels that the product development process for her is always an emotional roller coaster with many highs and lows. 

Doing small fireworks in Japan wearing a Yukata

‘There are days when I feel so excited and happy because I think I found a solution to the problem, and the next day it will be completely different, leaving me frustrated and sad because something didn’t work out,’ Pauline said.

Outside of her work, Pauline is fascinated with Japanese culture and has been learning the language for some time now. According to her, it was always a dream for her to visit the country, and the language is relatively easy to learn, at least at the beginner level, and one can start having conversations pretty quickly.

Pauline also loves to cook international food, mainly Mexican and Japanese food. According to Pauline, that’s also why she finds BioAnalyt so interesting because a significant part of what we do here is about food and nutrition. 

Pauline loves to run and is planning to participate in the half marathon in spring this year. She is also very passionate about sustainability and tries to in-cooperate it into her private life and keep it in mind while working. 

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