The chemistry of yeast – from Patagonia to local beer

In researcher Rike Stelkens’ laboratory, populations’ adaptation to environmental stress is studied with the help of a very special organism – yeast.

Stelkens’ research group investigates domesticated and wild yeast from all over the world, aiming to understand how populations evolving over hundreds of generations adapt to stressful conditions, with a particular focus on adaptation to environmental changes and global warming.

Hear Stelkens describe her research and have a taste of her latest discovery: a wild yeast strain from Patagonia. In addition to being used in her research, the yeast has also become an ingredient in a new locally produced lager beer, developed in collaboration with the brewery Nils Oscar.

During the evening, Nils Oscar’s brewmaster Andrés Furukawa shares more about the beer’s development and leads a beer tasting* where you will get to try the beer brewed with Patagonian wild yeast, along with a few other flavors.

*Please note that the beer tasting includes alcohol.

Rike Stelkens

Rike Stelkens is an Associate Professor and Wallenberg Academy Fellow in the Department of Zoology at Stockholm University. She earned her PhD in Biology and has held postdoctoral and fellowship positions in Switzerland, UK, and Germany. Since 2017 she leads her own lab, specializing in experimental evolution and genomics.  

Rike’s group studies how biodiversity arises. For her research, she uses domesticated and wild yeast species that live in forests all around the world. She tracks how populations evolve over hundreds of generations and adapt to stressful conditions. She is especially interested in how populations adapt to environmental change, with a focus on global warming. 

Beyond applications in food and fermentation, insights from Stelkens’ research can help understand how species might adapt, or fail to adapt, under rapid environmental change, e.g. due to climate change.