Research Interests

My research group is loosely structured in 5 research clusters:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

Historical Photos

2013 Photo

2013-14 Group Photo

2012 Group Photo

2012 Group Photo

2013 Photo

2013 Group Photo

2012 Group Photo

2010 Group Photo

Opportunities in My Group

The research is highly interdisciplinary and there are occasional openings for new graduate students.