SupervisoryTeam

Supervisor Photo

Elísabet Pires

Supervisor Details

Email: epires@unizar.es

Organization Type: University

Organization Name: Universidad de Zaragoza

Short Biography: Elísabet Pires is full professor at the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Zaragoza. She started her research work on the development of heterogeneous catalytic systems applied to organic synthesis. Since October 2001, she focused her research on the design of chiral ligands, their immobilization and the study of the surface effects in enantioselective reactions. Nowadays her research deals with the development of new green solvents derived from glycerol and their use in solubilization and catalytic processes. She has authored 64 publications, 4 book chapters and 70 congress communications. She has participated in 23 research projects, 2 as principal investigator. She has been Principal investigator in 5 research contracts with companies.

Co-Supervisor Photo

Herminia De la Varga Pastor

Co-Supervisor Details

Email: herminia.delavarga@tervalis.com

Organization Type: Non-academic institution

Organization Name: Fertinagro Biotech, S.L.

Short Biography: She is research project manager in in the R&D department in Fertinagro Biotech, S.L., focused on the study of soil biodiversity to enhance sustainable agriculture. She has a Ph.D. in Biodiversity from Univesitat de Barcelona – IRTA focused on the traceability of fungi through molecular techniques, with strong knowledge on genetics and ecology. She was 4 years as postdoctoral researcher in INRAe (Nancy, France) were she supervised undergraduate and master's internship students, as well as stages of PhD students. In 2016 she obtained the qualification to be professor in French universities. She has demonstrated history of working in microorganisms, molecular biology and in biotechnology applied to agricultural and forest soil. She published 14 articles in high-impact international journals, 1 pre-print, three book chapters and several popular articles. Participated in 10 research projects (4 H2020); 23 scientific dissemination seminars; more than 20 participations and contributions in international congresses and conferences. Participated as a teacher in different courses to train technicians as well as scientific and technological transfer.

Added Value: A co-supervisor from Fertinagro Biotech enables us to enlarge network and to have access to industrial facilities and technologies. Fertinagro is a crucial biotechnology industry in Spain and specially in the region of our university. It has a strong network, not only in the country but also internationally. In addition, it will allow us to stay in direct contact with product development and having the opportunity of bringing our research to market and to industrialization. They have key facilities for the extraction of active compounds with non-conventional methods and have strong known-how on biotechnological processes key for our research. Furthermore, we currently have collaborations that are being successful for both parties.

Other Co-Supervisor Photo

Giorgio Grillo

Other Co-Supervisor

Email: giorgio.grillo@unito.it

Organization Type: University

Organization Name: University of Turin (UNITO), Department of Drug Science and Technology, Turin, Italy

Short Biography: Dr. Giorgio Grillo is Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin (Italy) (45 publications, approx. 850 citations, h-index: 18, source: Scopus). He possesses a BSc and a MSc in Industrial Chemistry, complemented with a PhD in Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He authored more than 15 oral communications (7 as invited speaker) and one lecture. Winner of the “Reaxys SCI Young Chemist Award” in 2020, he owned several fellowships supported by industrial partners. The research interests of Dr. Grillo revolve around the design of sustainable processes for biomass valorization, exploiting non-conventional technologies for the recovery and the conversion of natural metabolites. Studies have been performed on the application of microwaves reactors, cavitative systems (acoustic/hydrodynamic), mechanochemical equipment (ball-mill/extruders) and product downstreams (in particular fractionation/concentration). Dr. Grillo has been involved in different EU founded projects (EIT Food; BBI EU Project - PHENOILS; MSCA EU H2020 - COSMIC; MSCA Staff Exchanges), as well as in Scientific Committees of several national and international Congresses (i.e. VI EuChemS Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry; IV Green Extraction of Natural Products). Dr. Grillo co-tutored over 15 Master Thesis and currently covers the position of Tutor of a PhD Candidate in Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Grillo was co-organiser of two Summer School on Ultrasound and Microwaves (Unversity of Turin and KU Leuven).

Added Value: The PhD candidate will be trained on the use of non-conventional technologies and downstream equipment, with attention to scalability and industrial approaches. In particular, the experience gathered from previous industrial collaborations and related problem-solving skills will be shared. An in-depth vision on sustainability, in terms of technological approach and feedstock sourcing will be provided as well, considering the hot-topic of circularity and waste reduction/reuse (i.e. recycle of processing water, cascade extraction, …). Peculiarities and key-features of any proposed technique will be addressed to develop critical thinking, devoted to discriminate suitable applications for each process requirement. The proposed investigations will involve a methodical protocol able to describe the studied systems in terms of physical behavior (kinetics and steady-states), providing a theoretical support for further up-scaling.

ResearchGroup

Description: The CHESO group (Heterogeneous Catalysis in Fine Chemicals Synthesis, https://cheso.unizar.es/) is formed by 6 permanent members with a wide experience in the fields of Catalysis, Green Chemistry, Neoteric Solvents, Renewable Raw Materials Transformations and Circular Economy. More than 30 PhD thesis have been developed in the group, within the framework of a large amount of research projects. It has a fruitful collaboration with Fertinagro Biotech in different projects (both national and regional) related with the circularity in agro-food sector, as well as analytical services for characterization of natural extracts and fertilizers. UNIZAR and UNITO participate in the European University project UNITA, and both groups have recently started a collaboration, financed by the internationalization funds of UNITO, for the application of glycerol-derived solvents in chemical transformations.

ResearchLine

Description: Green solvents and technologies applied to extracts from microorganisms. Whereas green solvents and technologies (ultrasound, microwaves…) are commonly used to extract valuable products from vegetal materials, their use for the separation of mixtures obtained from microorganisms is very scarce. In this project, the glycerol-derived solvents developed by the CHESO group will be used to fraction the extracts obtained from yeast, starting from Metschnikowia pulcherrima, a system used by Fertinagro to get extracts with enzymatic inhibition activity. The use of those environmentally friendly solvents will be combined with those techniques able to facilitate the extraction, including microwaves, ultrasound and hydrodynamic cavitation, in which the group of UNITO has a long experience. The objective is to maximize and optimize the extraction of the active components of the yeast culture, in a more sustainable way.

CareerDevelopment

Objectives

  • Future postdoc employment at the University
  • Increased employability in the non-academic sector
  • International mobility
  • Building collaborative networks
  • Trainings to enhance career opportunities
  • Application of postdoctoral grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Application for projects and funding (Horizon Europe, national plans, etc.)
  • Involvement in teaching, supervision, or mentoring

Expected Outputs

  • PhD defense
  • Application of grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Publication of articles
  • Attendance to international conferences

Training Skills

  • Grant Writing
  • Communication to the civil society and public engagement
  • Open Science
  • Gender and diversity dimension of research
  • Ethics and Research Integrity
  • Policy making, such as Green Deal and sustainable practices
  • Intellectual Property
  • Research Valorization
  • Training for job interviews, CV writing
  • Advanced Digital Skills
  • Spanish
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