Research Interests

My research group is loosely structured in 5 research clusters:

Biomass Pretreatment
Thermal, chemical (ionic liquids), mechanical and biological pre-treatment methods for lignocellulosic biomass are investigated. Effects of potential fermentation inhibitors are quantified in miniaturized high-throughput experiments.
Ethanol and Butanol Fermentation
Research focuses on in-situ product removal and process compression, as well as on reactor design and mathematical modeling. Scale related work investigate key process parameters from micro-scale, via bench-scale to pilot-scale.
Micro-Algae Cultivation
Genetic tools are being developed to enhance the production of high value chemicals in micro-algae. Additional work investigates ionic liquid-based lipid extraction and the continuous CO2 to lipid conversion for biodiesel production.
Recombinant Protein Production
Therapeutic proteins are being expressed in insect cells through the Baculovirus system. Protein purification and downstream processing is a secondary research focus.
Bioassay Development for Emerging Contaminants
Various bioassays for the quantification of genotoxicity and estrogenicity of micro-pollutants and their degradation products are being investigated in this cluster.

Group Members

Dr. Yuji Zhang, PDF,
research topic: "Valorization of micro-algae"
Email: yzha2336@uwo.ca
Ammi Janim, MESc,
research topic: "Efficancy assays for sterility applications"
Email: ajani6@uwo.ca
Zhanoran Xin, MESc,
research topic: "Geosim detection in grain"
Email: zxin7@uwo.ca
AnnikaTyszak, MESc
research topic: "Strain development for butanol fermentation"
Email: atyszak@uwo.ca
Rachel Schneiderman, MESc,
thesis topic: "TBD"
Email:

Alumni:

Ugur Gulmen, Research Associate, Resilience
Neha Batta. PhD student University of Western Ontario
Paavana Jayaram, unknown
Roya Barzegar, Data Administrator, First Canadian Title Co Ltd
Giacomo Ruggiero, PhD student, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
Connie Wen, PhD student, Penn State University, USA
Colin Couper, Raman Innovation Scientist, Tornado Spectral Systems, Hamilton, ON
Dr. Claudio Lira, Process Management - Data Analytics and Optimization, The Logit Group Inc.
Dr. Yi-Kai Su, Research Scientist, Resilience
Dr. Erin Johnson, Quality Assurance Engineer, Saputo Inc.
Dr. Kai Gao, Compliance Manager, Sanofi Pasteur
Dr. Valerie Orr/Ward, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo
Dr. Shreyas Yedahalli, MS&T - Process Engineering, Thermo Fisher Scientific Viral Vector Services
Cambridge, MA
Dr. Junwoo Kim, unknown
Dr. Bilal Al-Bataina, Project Supervisor, Neptune Technology Group, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Garret Munch, Policy Analyst, Public Health Agency of Canada at the National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Eric Doerr, Specialist for Product & Process (SPP), Sanofi Pasteur, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Sascha Kießlich, Field Application Scientist, Corning Inc.
Mark Weatherall, Medical School
Dr. Jun Zheng, PDF, University of Western Ontario
Dr. Jeff Wood, Assitant Professor, Twente University, Netherlands
Sura Ali, Research Associate, The University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Chen Feng, Environmental Scientist, G&L Group, Markham, Ontario, Canada
Simone Boiano, Production Operative Controller - Wafer Products, Ferrero, Alba, Piedmont, Italy
Anna Garruto, Production Group Leader, Whirlpool Corporation, Naples, Campania, Italy
Dr. Malihe Alaaf, PDF, Engineering, Western University
Dr. Priyanka Saxena, PDF, Guelph
Adrian McNeely, Life Agent at American Income Life
Thomas Krieg, Scientist, Boehringer Ingelheim
Dr. Xiaofei Tian, Associate Professor, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Alexander Nikolay, Corporate Development, Univercells
Raphael Gräter, Head of Process & Cleaning Validation, Boheringer Ingelheim Shanghai, P.R.C
Vivek Nagendra, Marketing Analytics Manager, Poshmark, San Jose, California, United States
Karen Schwab, Head of Cell Culture Technology Fermentation (MSaT), Boehringer Ingelheim
Kerstin Schwanitz, Food Process Engineer bei Bösch Boden Spies (BBS), Greater Hamburg, Germany
Julian Smith,Project Manager, JLL, Greater Toronto Area, Canada
Ershat Nayup, Graduate student at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Chad Grey, Director, Product Commercialization, Motif Labs, London, Ontario, Canada