F. Gabriel Acién Fernández - Last advances on algal biotechnology from the perspective of the University of Almeria
Graduated from the University of Granada in 1992. Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Almería from 2012 onwards. Prof. Acién has participated in 17 European projects in addition to National projects and contracts with companies. He published more than 250 papers in international journals and 15 book chapters, in addition to 15 patents. He is Vice-President of EABA and a member of international societies such as the International Society for Applied Phycology, the Latino American Society for Algal and Environmental Biotechnology, and the Spanish Platform of Biomass (BIOPLAT).
Joan Tarraga - Career Insights in Algae Biotech and Beyond
Joan Tarraga is an entrepreneur, building companies to improve human health and wellbeing. Since 2020 he is the Chief Business Officer of GAT Therapeutics as well as Chief Executive Officer at Algaktiv, manufacturing sustainable microalgae actives for performance skincare and clean beauty brands. His broad experience in the business world includes previous placements were at Greenaltech, Algalif, Siemens Healthineers and Bayer. During this session, Joan will share his experience in biotech and outline some questions that may help Young Algeneers reflect on how to shape their future.
Laurent Picot - A novel strategy to purify antiviral peptides from seaweeds
Dr. Laurent Picot is a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at La Rochelle University, France. His academic background includes a Professoral Habilitation (HDR) in Biochemistry from La Rochelle, a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Rouen and a Master in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. His research focuses on natural molecules from marine and terrestrial biomasses, particularly their extraction, purification, synthesis, and pharmacological applications. He is affiliated with the UMR CNRS 7266 Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs) laboratory, where he leads a research group on pigments and heterocycles for cancer prevention and treatment.
Dr. Picot has contributed to over 90 scientific publications, in the field of microbiology, marine biotech, marine pharmacology, with a particular focus on microalgae and seaweeds application for human health, including anticancer, antiviral and antibacterial applications. He holds an international patent on photodynamic therapies, and has received international recognition as one of the "Top 2% most cited scientists in chemistry in 2023" by Stanford University. He serves as an Associate Editor for several scientific journals, including Marine Drugs, and frequently reviews for high-impact publications.
He has played a significant role in fostering international collaborations, notably through the creation and coordination of the Franco-Brazilian Network on Natural Products (FB2NP), which brings together researchers in the field of natural substances. His work has also been supported by European and national research projects, including ANR and the "INTERREG EnhanceMicroalgae" initiative, where he coordinated key research activities.
In addition to his research, Dr. Picot is actively involved in teaching and supervision, contributing to the training of students and early-career researchers in biotechnology, marine pharmacology, and marine biotechnology. His academic and research endeavors reflect a commitment to advancing knowledge in natural products biochemistry and its applications to health and sustainability.
Iulian-Zoltan Boboescu - Enabling microalgal biotechnology by rethinking its downstream processing
After completing his PhD at the Politechnica University Timisoara, Romania, and the Biological Research Center Szeged, in Hungary, working on novel microbial – microalgal biohydrogen production approaches, Dr. Boboescu was offered a Mitacs Accelerate fellowship at the Sherbrooke University in QC Canada. Here, he developed and scaled-up novel second and third generation biorefinery technologies together with some of the biggest North American companies active in the fields of biofuels, biocommodities and specialty chemicals. Dr. Boboescu joined the Bioprocess Engineering (BPE) group of Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands, after securing a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to develop a novel acoustic biorefinery approach. Presently, Dr. Boboescu is leading the Biorefinery group at BPE, working on novel extraction, fractionation and formulation technologies for microbial biotechnology applications. In this context, Dr. Boboescu is employing eutectic mixtures, enzyme cocktails and external fields (electric and acoustic) to enhance, simplify or completely rethink current downstream technologies.
Avigad Vonshak - Spirulina: A perspective on where we started achievements and failures
Professor (Emeritus), faculty member and director at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) and faculty member at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel, founder and director of the International School for Desert Studies
Professor ( Emeritus ) Avigad Vonshak was a faculty member at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel and served (2002 – 2010) as the Director of the BIDR. He was also the one to establish the International School for Desert Studies and was its first director. (1998-2003)
After finishing his term as the director of the BIDR he was nominated to serve as the Dean for international Academic affairs of BGU. (2010-2012).
His research interests include the study of environmental stress in micro-algae aiming at identifying the mechanisms involved in the adaptation of dense algal cultures to the extreme environment existing in many drylands. His current research interest is the development of methodologies for strain selection of micro algae better fitted to outdoor mass culture.
Prof. Vonshak is known internationally mainly for his contribution to the development of the biotechnology for mass culturing of the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) Spirulina under large-scale conditions. The concept was developed as part of the approach that sustainable development of drylands requires the need to develop new innovative biotechnologies that will make use of the special environmental condition of drylands and increase the water use efficiency as compared to conventional agriculture methodologies. He published more then 100 articles, chapters in book and edited the book on Spirulina.
More can be found on the link
Dorinde Kleinegris - Sustainable aquaculture practices - a role for microalgae?
Principal Investigator Microalgae at NORCE, Associate Professor in Marine Biotechnology at the University of Bergen
Dr. Dorinde Kleinegris is Principal Investigator Microalgae at NORCE and holds a part-time position as associate professor in Marine Biotechnology at the University of Bergen. She has a background in bioprocess engineering from Wageningen University. The research of Dr. Kleinegris focusses on microalgae strain selection and improvement, cultivation and process design, as well as techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies of the microalgae production chain. Next to scientific participation and supervision in projects, she has strong background in project management, both of EU and national projects as well as bilateral projects with industry.
Dr. Dorinde Kleinegris is Principal Investigator Microalgae at NORCE and holds a part-time position as associate professor in Marine Biotechnology at the University of Bergen. She has a background in bioprocess engineering from Wageningen University. The research of Dr. Kleinegris focusses on microalgae strain selection and improvement, cultivation and process design, as well as techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies of the microalgae production chain. Next to scientific participation and supervision in projects, she has strong background in project management, both of EU and national projects as well as bilateral projects with industry.
Pia Lindberg - Engineering cyanobacteria for production of solar chemicals and fuels from CO2
Pia Lindberg received her PhD from Uppsala University in 2003, and was a postdoctoral researcher at CEA Saclay and UC Berkeley. In 2009, she returned to Uppsala where she is now an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry - Ångström. Her research interests are in developing photosynthetic microorganisms into green cell factories for sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. Work in her group is focused on engineering cyanobacteria, redirecting the metabolism of the cells towards production of desired compounds, to generate new strains capable of converting CO2 into useful products.
