SPEAKERS

BRUNO SOMMER FERREIRA

Bruno Sommer Ferreira, Chemical Engineer; PhD in Biotechnology (Technical University of Lisbon). He has performed research at Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon) and the University of Toronto (Canada) in diverse areas of biotechnology and bioprocess engineering. He co-authors more than 50 scientific publications and patents and was principal investigator in over 20 international collaborative research projects. He co-founded and is CEO of Biotrend, now part of the A4F group, and Executive Board Member for Research and Innovation at A4F. He is also co-founder of Silicolife. Bruno has served as vice-president of P-Bio and as member of the Executive Board of the BlueBio Alliance.

CARLA BRAZINHA

Carla Brazinha, Assistant Researcher, has a 5 years degree in Chemical Engineering, with a specialization in Biotechnology; a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering focused on Pervaporation and on-line Mass Spectrometry. She has a Post-Graduation in Enology at UC Davis USA. Between her degree and Ph.D., she was 7 years outside Academia in the Marketing Department of Procter & Gamble, at the Process Technology Department at Zeneca, Scotland and as Chemical Division Sales Manager at Neoquímica, S.A. Her scientific interests are: (1) Biorefinery of microalgae, plants and fish; (2) Membrane emulsification; (3) Characterisation of mixed gases/vapour transport properties of dense films through on-line Mass Spectrometry. She published 44 papers in peer-review journals; 3 book chapters; 37 oral communications and 39 poster communications.

CELINA PARREIRA

Biologist with a Master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology (2013, University of Coimbra). At A4F, she has accumulating over 8 years’ experience in microalgae production from laboratory scale to industrial scale, with participation in several European bioengineering R&D and client projects. She is currently senior RD&I project manager, participates in consultancy activities and gives support to the prospecting team.

CRISTINA MATOS

Cristina Matos, Head of Biorefinery at A4F, holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering, sub-field Biochemical Engineering. She worked for 6 years as project officer for the European Commission – Joint Research Centre and as a researcher for the National Laboratory for Energy and Geology, between 2009 and 2014. She developed a multidisciplinary profile working in different areas of knowledge, ranging from: biorefineries, sustainability assessment, bioeconomy, water treatment and policy support. Overall, the quality of her work is translated in 27 peer-reviewed publications, 15 reports for policy support and more than 40 oral communications.

EDGAR SANTOS

Edgar Santos received his PhD in Process Engineering from the University of Toulouse and the Chemical Eng. degree at IST– University of Lisbon. At A4F, he joined the senior engineering team focusing in photobioreactor engineering and R&D in European projects, the Lisbon Experimental Unit and industrial microalgae production. Edgar has an extensive knowledge and experience in project development, having participated in national and European R&D projects, and he is a specialist in the design and implementation of industrial-scale microalgae production units. He is currently A4F’s Executive Board Member for Engineering and Industrial Projects and Director of the ALGATEC Eco Business Park.

ELSON GOMES

Elson Gomes is the coordinator of the CoLAB BIOREF branch in Póvoa de Santa Iria which is composed by 4 human resources. This team works in close collaboration with A4F in several concepts regarding microalgae biorefineries.
Elson Gomes developed his PhD work on the valorization of waste streams from the pulp and paper industry namely the production of phenolic compounds from lignin and their purification through filtration, adsorption and crystallization. His work is still focused on the recovery of high added value molecules but now obtained from a different matrix, microalgae.

GABRIEL ACIEN

Graduated by the University of Granada in 1992, and Ph.D. at the University of Almería (Spain) in 1996. Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Almería from 2012 onwards. Prof. Acién has participated in 12 European projects in addition to 40 National projects and contracts with companies. Regarding publications, he published more than 100 papers in international journals and 12 book chapters, in addition to 10 patents. He is member of International Society for Applied Phycology and Latino American Society for Algal and Environmental Biotechnology, and editor of Algal Research and RELABIAA journals, in addition to reviewer of international journals. Major contributions on Biotechnology of microalgae field are related with the improvement of photobioreactors design, scale-up of production systems, and economic analysis of production processes.

JEAN-PAUL CADORET

Jean-Paul Cadoret has 35 years of experience in Research and Industry in the field of algae and marine biotechnology, dedicated to innovation. He has served successively as Researcher, Team leader, Lab Director and Unit Director in the governmental Institute IFREMER. Former Managing Director of the private Marine Biotech Company GREENSEA. Co-Founder of the company Algenics, and the company Iaso-Biotech, and has authored 80 publications and 10 patents. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at ALGAMA Foodsand President of EABA - European Algae Biomass Association.

LILIANA RODOLFI

PhD in Food Biotechnology, associate professor of Agricultural Microbiology. Research topics since 1997: microalgal cultivation for fatty acids, pigments, antibiotics, food and feed, biofertilisers and biostimulants, CO2 biofixation, wastewater treatment. Photobioreactor design and performances. Responsible of Research Unit of FP7 projects BIOFAT, Fuel4Me, SPLASH and the H2020 project NOMORFILM. Elected member of the Executive Committee of ISAP, of the Steering Board of EABA and of the Executive Committee of AISAM. Co-founder of the spin-off company Fotosintetica & Microbiologica Srl. Among the word 2% top scientists according to PLOS Biology ranking 2019 and 2020.

LUÍS COSTA

Luís Costa comes from Lisbon, Portugal. He is a Biological Engineer (2004) and a Chemical Engineering Ph.D. (2008) from the University of Lisbon.
In 2009, Luís started working at A4F – Algae for future and had several appointments in R&D, project management,  implementation of industrial scale microalgae production facilities. Since 2015, he acts as Chief Operations Officer at A4F. In 2020, Luís was appointed Executive Board Member in charge of Operations and Business Development at A4F, as well as Board Member at Biotrend, a bioprocess optimization company of the A4F Group. He has also been a member of the EABA Steering Board since 2018.

OLAF KRUSE

Olaf Kruse started his scientific carrier as a PostDoc at Imperial College London with research topics on Plant Molecular Biology. In 2006, he was appointed as the Head of Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the European Science Foundation (ESF) in Strasbourg/France. In 2007, he became a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland/ Australia. In 2009, he was appointed as a Full Professor at Bielefeld University/Germany and in 2015 as the Scientific Director of the Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec). His research as Chair of Algae Biotechnology  focusses on Molecular Biology and Synthetic Biology of microalgae to establish them as green cell factories.

RICARDO CALADO

Ricardo Calado was born in Cascais (Portugal) and in 2005 he obtained his PhD in Biology (specialization in Animal Biotechnology) by the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon University; in 2008 he joined the University of Aveiro (UA), where he is now Principal Researcher with Habilitation. He has authored more than 240 peer reviewed scientific articles and is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries (published by Wiley). He manages the research unit CEPAM-ECOMARE (@UA) where he evaluates sustainable practices of aquaculture, namely the performance of different integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) designs to maximize the use of nutrients supplied through aquafeeds.

RUI PEREIRA

Presently the Head of Seaweed Division at A4F – Algae for Future. Until the beginning of 2020, he was the research director at Algaplus, Lda, a company that he co-founded in 2012. Academically trained as a Biologist, obtained his PhD in 2004, working  between the University of Porto and the University of Connecticut (UConn, USA). As researcher, including also the years in the business sector, accumulates the experience of >20 national and international research projects, several book chapters and >40 peer reviewed papers. Currently leads Worg Group 2 - Ulva in aquaculture of the Cost Action SeaWheat (CA20106) and project Biofábrica.

SARA BADENES

Sara Badenes is a Chemical engineer from Instituto Superior Técnico, with PhD in Biotechnology. She started at A4F-Algae for Future in 2016 and her previous roles included: Senior R&D Project Manager, where she was involved in several international R&D projects, and Business Development Officer. In 2020, she took the lead of the Innovation Center where she manages A4F’s laboratory and pilot unit and lead the activities concerning microalgae cultivation R&D.

SILVIO MANGINI

Scientific Officer at Archimede Ricerche Srl, subsidiary of A&A Fratelli Parodi Spa (Genoa) engaged in industrial production of high-quality microalgae biomass and active ingredients manufacture, running the biggest microalgae plant in Italy and founding member of EABA. MSc degree in Industrial Chemistry with 35 years of experience in energy management, process engineering, food and pharma regulations, microalgae biotechnology. Involved in BioFAT FP7 on algae biofuels and Saltgae H2020 EU projects. Former member of CEN/BT/WG218 and currently Convenor of CEN/TC454 Algae standards /WG5. Board member of EABA. Coordinator of Organic production Committee of AISAM.

TERESA CRESPO

Teresa is a Senior Scientist at iBET. is Head of the Food Safety & Microbiology Laboratory and Quality Assurance Manager of iBET. Her area of expertise in the last 30 year has been microbiology and molecular biology, in particular in microbial characterization and ecology of microbial populations and on antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity/virulence mechanisms of bacteria. Her areas of research have been focused on microbiological (bacteria, fungi, viruses, microalgae) aspects of food quality, safety and authenticity, on the study of antimicrobial activities of bioactive compounds, and water reuse. She has authored 85 papers, 9 book chapters and editor of 1 book.