Rio Hermantara, S.Si., M.Biotech., Ph.D.

Rio Hermantara, S.Si., M.Biotech., Ph.D. is a passionate life science enthusiast born and raised in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His love for science motivated him to pursue degrees and a career in the field of life sciences. He achieved his bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from UNIKA Atma Jaya Jakarta, where under the guidance of Prof. Antonius Suwanto, he completed a project on microbial genetic profiling from tempeh samples. Feeling the need to learn more about the applications of life science on human health, he decided to enroll in a graduate degree program in Biotechnology at Universitas Gadjah Mada. He completed his studies, under the supervision of Dr. Henny Herningtyas, Ph.D. Sp.PK, by conducting initiative stem cell research where he was able to isolate primary Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from umbilical cord samples and engineered them to become bone precursor cells. Upon graduating, he joined an international research-based diagnostic lab that worked towards preventing the spread of the dengue virus, the World Mosquito Program (WMP) at Universitas Gadjah Mada. His main role in this molecular diagnostic lab was to perform and analyze RT-PCR from mosquito and human blood samples for Wolbachia and dengue viruses.

In 2016, he decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Dr. Adam West. His main thesis project focused on the development and assessment of CRISPR-Cas9 strategies on the efficiency and fidelity of human genome editing. With this research, he gained lab experience in extensive molecular cloning, cell culture, flow cytometry analysis, epigenetic analysis, and human genome editing in cell lines and Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). He is now keen on starting his own lab and research at i3L and is open to collaborations utilizing CRISPR technology for genome editing and diagnostic purposes. Anyone with similar interests is welcome to contact him through email.