Rate My Professor Bernd Rehm

Professor Bernd Rehm is a Professor in the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University and Director of the Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers. He earned his Master of Science in 1991 and Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology in 1993 from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. After his PhD, he worked as a Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia, followed by positions at the University of Münster from 1997 to 2003, where he completed his habilitation. From 2004 to 2017, Rehm served as Associate Professor and then Full Professor of Microbiology at Massey University, New Zealand. He joined Griffith University in 2018, contributing to the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics.

Rehm's research centers on microbial biotechnology, biopolymer synthesis, cell factory engineering, and the development of bio-based materials for vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. His team engineers bacterial systems to produce antigen-displaying biopolymer particles for needle-free vaccines targeting malaria, chikungunya, influenza, and Q fever. He has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific publications, with 24,724 citations and an h-index of 73 on Google Scholar. Key works include the books 'Biopolymers for Biomedical and Biotechnological Applications' (2020) and 'Microbial Production of High-Value Products.' Rehm has secured major grants, such as $831,444 from the US National Institutes of Health for a multistage malaria vaccine (2025-2026), $657,964 from the Australian Research Council for nanomedicine delivery (2024-2027), and additional ARC, NHMRC, and Department of Education funding exceeding $3 million. He teaches postgraduate courses like Advanced Molecular Biotechnology and Advanced Protein Engineering and directs the Master of Biotechnology program. Rehm received the Bernard Witholt PHA Award for his contributions to biopolymer research and influences industrial biotechnology and global health vaccine strategies.