Speakers

Dr. Marzio Monagheddu holds a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Sassari, and afterward completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Material Science at the National Research Council in Milano.

After almost a decade of operative roles with chemical companies and EPC contractors as process chemist, start-up engineer and licensing manager, he took the position of National Business Manager with a leading disinfection and sterilization provider.

Since 2015 he develops synergistic partnerships between VITO, industry and academia, fostering sustainable industrial development and helping leading edge innovations to become business successes.

Email: marzio.monagheddu@vito.be

Ludo Diels, Dr. in chemistry & biotechnology, is professor emeritus at Antwerp University, and senior advisor sustainable chemistry at VITO. He is Portfolio manager at the Advisory and Programming Group of Processes4Planet and chair of the Mutual Learning Exercise for decarbonization of the European Energy Intensive Industry. He is chair of the advisory board of Biorizon and member of the advisory board of the World Bio Economy Forum. He is member of the Scientific Council of the Nobel Peace Laureates secretariat.

Email: ludo.diels@vito.be

Dr. Ir. Winnie Dejonghe is since 2002 a project manager in the SCT team of VITO focusing on bioprocess development using renewable feedstock and integration of bioprocesses with membranes. She collaborated in (European) projects on the use of (immobilized) enzymes for process intensification in enzyme (membrane) reactors and contactors. Currently, she develops enzymatic processes to hydrolyse different polysaccharides into their respective oligosaccharides and optimizes lipase based processes for synthesis of fatty acid esters. She (co)-authored >50 SCI papers, and supervised multiple master and PhD students.

Email: winnie.dejonghe@vito.be

Dr. Yamini Satyawali holds a PhD in Bioscience Engineering and works as a scientist and project manager at VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. Her research focuses on intensified enzymatic processes with the aim of generating innovative or improved products across diverse sectors such as cosmetics, food/feed, and fine chemical industry. Her goal is to bridge the gap between research and practical application by addressing challenges inherent in enzymatic technologies. She has been the scientific coordinator of Horizon 2020 SPIRE project "INCITE," demonstrating industrial implementation of an enzymatic process. She has co-authored > 45 peer-reviewed publications and holds inventorship on three patents.

Email: yamini.satyawali@vito.be

Dr. Heleen De Wever holds a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences. Since 2001, she works as a project manager at VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. Her research focuses on 2 main topics. A first one is bioprocess intensification, which can often be achieved by integrating membrane technology with microbial conversions. A second topic is gas fermentation using C1 feedstocks, including CO₂ and methanol. Heleen has extensive experience in setting up and coordinating (European) research projects and in bilateral work with companies. She coordinated among others the recently finished Horizon2020 project BioRECO₂VER, which focused on valorization of CO₂-rich off-gases.

Email: heleen.dewever@vito.be