Dr. Freitag obtained her Diploma and doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the University of Hannover, Germany. After her PostDoc in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale University, CT, USA, she returned to Hannover to start her own research group in downstream processing and biotechnical analytics. After gaining the venia legendi (Habilitation) in biochemical engineering, she moved to Switzerland (EPFL, Lausanne) first as Assistant later as Associate Professor in Chemical Biotechnology. Since 2003 she holds the chair for Process Biotechnology in the faculty of Engineering Science at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. She is currently dean of the faculty. She is in the board of directors of the Bayreuth Center for Molecular Biosciences and the Center for Energy Technology as well as a member of the University’s Ethics committee and the general examination board of the Faculty of Engineering science.  

During her career, Dr. Freitag has published over 280 scientific publications and edited three books. She was cofounder of a company in the area of biomaterials and has served in over ten scientific advisory boards both in academia and industry. Her current research foci include: biopharmaceuticals (including biosimilars), mammalian cell culture, tissue engineering, technical microbiology, bioelectrochemistry, renewable energy and resources.