The EFB Division Biobased Materials aims at bringing together experts from academia and industry to advance both scientific and industrial development of Biotechnology related to production, processing and recycling of Biomaterials and foster collaborations and scientific exchanges among its members.
George M.
Gübitz
Chair
Austrian Biotechnologist, grad. 1993 and Ph.D. 1996 Graz Univ. Technology. He has spent one year in Central America investigating upgrading of byproducts from oil seed plant processing. As an Erwin-Schroedinger Fellow, he developed enzyme based strategies for lignocellulose processing at Univ. British Columbia, Canada from 1996–1998. This work demonstrated the potential of enzymes to replace toxic chemicals and to lower energy consumption in polymer processing thereby reducing the negative environmental impact. Back at TU–Graz and later as a full professor at Univ. of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna and head of the Institute of Environmental Biotechnology he created a large network in enzyme based polymer processing. He participated in 26 European projects and coordinated 11 out of which. His achievements in the development of environmentally friendly processes resulted in various awards, 12 patents and more than 250 peer reviewed publications.
Manfred
Zinn
Vice-Chair
Head of the research group Biotechnology and Sustainable Chemistry at HES–SO Valais (Sion, Switzerland). Dr. Zinn is particularly interested in bioprocesses with prokaryotes and eukaryotes. His core activity is the tailor–made biosynthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates and biopolymers in bacteria for industrial and medical applications. With respect to bioprocesses, he is designing and optimizing diverse cultivation methods (batch, fed–batch, chemostat, two–stage chemostat, biofilm chambers) and is familiar with up–scaling of bioprocesses from agar plate to pilot scale (300 L). State–of–the–art in process controlling (on–line analytics) has been developed in his group to assess the performance of cells and bioprocesses. Prof. Zinn has published more than 90 publications in peer reviewed journals, 10 book chapters and proceedings, and filed 4 patents.
Ma. Auxiliadora
Prieto
Education, mobility
M. Auxiliadora Prieto is Full Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy-SusPlast (www.susplast-csic.org), gathering fourteen Institutes of CSIC with twenty-five multidisciplinary researcher groups devoted to implement plastic circularity. At the Biological Research Center-Margarita Salas (CIB-CSIC) she is the Head of the Polymer Biotechnology group as part of the Plant and Microbial Biotechnology Department. The group aims to explore and exploit the bacterial abilities to produce and degrade bio-based polymers (polyesters and bacterial cellulose) in order to contribute to global sustainability, using tools of molecular biology and metabolic engineering, combined with omic technologies and synthetic biology. Prof. Prieto has participated and coordinated many national and international projects and is the main inventor of nine patents, three of them licensed to bio-tech SMEs dedicated to the production of bio-plastics. Prof Prieto has published more than 90 international scientific papers and is Editor in Chief of Microbial Biotechnology
Lucia
Gardossi
European Affairs
Susana
Rodríguez
General Secretary
Full Professor in Biological Water Treatment at the Department of Separation Science, LUT School of Engineering Science, LUT University, Finland. She got her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 from the University of Vigo.
She worked at the University of Santiago de Compostela as a Research Associate (2000) and at the University of Vigo as an Associate Professor (2000-2003) and an Isidro Parga Pondal Senior Research Fellow (2004).
Then, she was granted with a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship and moved to Rovira i Virgili University (2004-2008). In 2008, she received the I3 Professor from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education to the recognition of an outstanding research activity.
In 2009 she was granted with an Ikerbasque Professorship and joined the Technology Centre Ceit-IK4 (2009-2019).
Her research work involves the cultivation of microorganisms (submerged and solid-state fermentation), production of industrially and/or biotechnologically interesting metabolites, bioprocess optimization, enzyme technology, biodegradation of xenobiotic compounds, bioreactor design and wastewater treatment.
Other research interests are the reutilization of lignocellulosic wastes , lignin degradation and the recovery of valuable compounds from wastewater.
She has published more than 150 international papers in outstanding journals (h index 44), 77 communications at both national and international conferences, 18 chapters in books and 2 books. She is also editor of several international journals and books.
Tanja
Narancic
Website and Newsletter
I am an Assistant Professor at School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science. My research focuses on elucidating the metabolism of bacteria, and using this knowledge and synthetic biology tools to exploit these bacteria to make high value products.
I graduated with PhD (2012) from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia, where I developed a biocatalyst based on recombinant whole cells for Michael-type formation of C-C bonds and synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant compounds.
In 2013 I moved to the University College Dublin where I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the direction of Prof Kevin O’Connor. I investigated metabolic pathways of microorganisms using proteomics, metabolomics, enzymatic assays and synthetic biology tools as a part of FP7 and H2020 projects. In 2019 I joined Bioeconomy Research Centre BiOrbic as a Research Fellow. I am currently an academic collaborator in BiOrbic, where I coordinate several research projects among BiOrbic PIs, PostDocs, PhD students, as well as designing projects proposed by industrial partners.
Marija
Mojicevic
Social Media Secretary
Dr. Marija Mojicevic, has recently joined the Material Research Institute at AIT as part of the EU-China H2020 BioInnovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics (BioICEP) team. Marija completed her PhD in Biotechnology at the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia carrying out experimental work at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
Marija has considerable experience in bioprocessing and bioproduct generation. As part of her Masters and Batchelor degree programs Marija has performed and monitored a range of biosynthetic studies on areas including xanthan gum production and wastewater treatment including their modeling and optimization.
The primary focus of Marija’s PhD research was isolation of novel Streptomyces spp., their characterization and assessment of secondary metabolite production coupled with the detection, structural characterization and identification of antifungal compounds and optimization of their biosynthesis. As part of the BioICEP team, Marija will lead the biocatalytic and microbial plastic digestion technology stream at AIT. This is an exciting new and cutting edge addition to AIT’s suite of plastics technologies and will be instrumental in keeping AIT at the forefront of developments within the rapidly evolving field of polymers and plastics.
Jasmina
Nikodinovic
Treasurer
Andrew
Carnell
Industrial
Coordinator
Reader in Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Liverpool, Dr Carnell graduated in 1988 with BSc in Biological Chemistry and then PhD (1991) at the University of Exeter on the enzymatic Baeyer Villiger oxidation. After a postdoc in Montreal, he worked at Associated Octel Ltd before being appointed lecturer at Liverpool in 1996. His research centres on discovery and development of enzymes for conversion of biomass into bioplastics and for biodegradation of plastics and conversion into higher value chemicals. He collaborates extensively with industry and with Innovate UK and BBSRC funding has developed oxidase enzymes for a patented process for conversion of biomass-derived HMF to bioplastics intermediate FDCA. He has published over 50 high quality papers, 3 patents and 4 book chapters. He served as Executive Editor of the Journal ‘Biocatalysis and Biotransformation’ (2016 - 2019), on the Management Board of the BBSRC Network BIOCATNET (2014 - 2018) as academic lead for Biocatalyst Discovery and is on the Board of CoEBio3 at Manchester, UK.
Per-Olof
Syrén
Industrial
Coordinator
Per-Olof Syrén graduated with an MSc in Biotechnology from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in 2006. He did one year of his master at the University of California at Berkeley (Prof. Jack F. Kirsch lab) after which he performed his MSc thesis work in industry (AstraZeneca). He earned his PhD in biochemistry at KTH in 2011 (supervisor Prof. Karl Hult). This was followed by postdoctoral research as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Institute of technical biochemistry in Stuttgart, Germany between 2011-2013 (host Prof. Bernhard Hauer). After receiving a start-up grant from the Swedish Research Council (VR) he returned to Sweden and KTH to establish his independent research group.
His research focuses on merging biocatalysis with the material world with the overall goal to contribute to a better environment and health. In 2019, he was awarded the competence development award from his Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the Gunnar Sundblad Research Foundation for his work on polymer retrobiosynthesis. He is Associate Professor in Chemistry at KTH since 2016.
Stefaan
de Wildemann
Links with
start-up companies
Stefaan De Wildeman graduated as a Bio-engineer (KULeuven, 1998) and finished his PhD after discovering a new dehalorespiring bacterial species (Ghent University, 2002).
He joined DSM in 2002 and increasingly explored new biobased building blocks (B4) for novel materials.
From there, Stefaan co-developed the Master “BioBased Materials” and created the Chair of Building Blocks at Maastricht University.
His hunger for social impact made him the founder of B4Plastics – a polymer architecture company designing novel polymeric backbones from new BioBased Building Blocks (B4), with highest speed and accuracy.
Since 2020, B4Plastics joined the top-2% league of Green Deal Scale-Ups in Europe and became Winner of the Food Planet Prize 2021 – the biggest environmental award in the world today – for its breakthrough development of degradable fishing gear.
Contact by email │ Visit its website
Maximilian
Lackner
Dr. Maximilian Lackner is technical chemist and process engineer. He has been lecturer at Vienna University of Technology (VUT) since 2005, at JKU (Linz, Austria) since 2014 and at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien since 2015. He studied Technical Chemistry at VUT, where he also earned his PhD degree and completed his habilitation in chemical engineering. He obtained a Global Executive MBA from LIMAK University in Linz, Austria. Between 2004 and 2011 he has held several senior positions in the petrochemical industry in Europe and Asia. He has founded five companies. His expertise spans process engineering, chemical engineering, combustion, climate change mitigation, antimicrobials, online microbiology, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship, as well as bioplastics (PHA, PHB).
Artur
Cavaco–Paulo
AFOB coordinator
Professor at the Department of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho, Portugal. He graduated in Chemistry from the University of Lisbon in 1986 and completed his PhD from theUniversity of Minho in 1995. He has published over 240 publications in various areas such as fiber bioprocesses and biomedical and cosmetic formulations. In 2005, he received an Excellency Award from the Portuguese Science Foundation.
Gianluca
Ciardelli
Medical area
Coordinator (PhD Board BIOENGINEERING AND MEDICAL-SURGICAL SCIENCES).
Member of the Interdepartmental Center (PolitoBIOMed Lab - Biomedical Engineering Lab).
Richard A.
Gross
General
Full Professor and a Constellation Chaired Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). His research is focused on developing biocatalytic routes to biobased materials and other biochemicals. Current research programs include whole-cell routes to biosurfactants, ω-hydroxylation of fatty acids, protease-catalyzed peptide synthesis, biosynthesis and modification of bacterial cellulose, natural polymer derived hydrogels for biomedical applications, engineering cutinase for polymer transformations and biofibers for biocomposites. He has over 500 publications in peer reviewed journals, been cited about 19,000 times, edited 7-books and has 26 patents (granted or filed). He was the recipient of the 2003 Presidential Green Chemistry Award in the academic category. In 2010 he was the Turner Alfrey Visiting Professor and in 2014 he became a Fellow of the ACS Polymer Division. He founded SyntheZyme LLC in 2009 and serves as its Chief Technology officer. In addition, he Directs an Industrial University Cooperative Research Center at RPI entitled Biocatalysis of Macromolecules (CBM).
Stanislav
Obruča
General
Website: Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry Orcid: 0000-0002-9270-195X │ SCOPUS ID: 25621797900
Alessandro
Pellis
Platform molecules
After earning a PhD in Biotechnology in 2016 working at the University of Natural Resources of Vienna (BOKU) as Marie Curie fellow, he moved to the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence of the University of York sponsored by an Erwin Schoedinger individual fellowship (2017-2019). After going back to BOKU where he got promoted to Senior Scientist (2019-2021), he got a tenure track position at the University of Genova in Italy where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry. His research interests include the development of chemo-enzymatic strategies for polymer synthesis, functionalization and depolymerization, the valorization of the lignocellulosic biomass and the production of green solvents for polymer chemistry application. During his career he has published 75 peer-reviewed publications and 4 book chapters.
Alexander
Steinbuchel
Bioplastic
coordinator
Tzanko
Tzanov
General
Leader of the Group of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). He is a chemical engineer with large internationally acquired experience in biochemical functionalisation of (bio)polymers for industrial and biomedical applications, bioremediation of industrial effluents, enzymatic synthesis, polymerisation and coating. His post–doctoral research has been granted with Marie Curie and Ramon y Cajal fellowships. Dr. Tzanov has been participating in numerous industry–driven European research projects in the area of applied biotechnology, nanotechnology and health, several national and industry–funded projects, the CYTED programme for collaboration with Latin America, and the European research network COST. The “bio” component is an integral part of his research — bio–tools (enzymes), bio–processes and bio–materials are used to design functional coatings and textiles, cosmetic formulations, nano/micro drug delivery systems, medical and diagnostic devices, antimicrobial/antibiofilm strategies, bioactive and composites materials.
Andreas
Heise
General
PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Hannover (Germany). After a postdoc in a joint position at the IBM Almaden Research Center and Stanford University (USA), he moved to DSM Research (Netherlands) where he held an industrial senior scientist position until 2008. In 2008 he was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Stokes Senior Lecturer position under which he established a Polymer Research Group at Dublin City University. He is also holding a Research Fellow position at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and an Honorary Lecturer position at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). His research interests are in functional biopolymers and nanomaterials for advanced applications as well as sustainable polymers. He coordinated several interdisciplinary EU Marie Curie networks in the area of sustainable polymers and biomaterials and is currently leading a national project on Translational Research in Polymeric Nanomedical Devices (TREND).