Eight of OXIPRO’s Early Career Researchers took part in a flash presentation competition during the project’s annual meeting, held in Barcelona at the end of May. In just 3 minutes and using only one slide, they competed to deliver the best and most lucid presentation of their work in OXIPRO. All eight participants performed a remarkable feat, giving polished talks supported by well-designed presentations and sharp content.
It was a tight contest, but the judges (Kirk Schnorr, NOVOZYMES; Lesley Tobin, REDINN) decided that two candidates stood out as clear winners.
First prize was awarded to Yerko Fredes, a PhD student at the Group of Bioprocess Engineering and Applied Biocatalysis at UAB. He is working on the textile innovation case developing an eco-friendlier biobleaching process. He is a specialist in biocatalytic processes as well as enzyme purification and immobilization. His results are without a doubt a positive influence on OXIPRO’s success.
Second prize was awarded to Helena Balfagon, a Junior Researcher at Leitat. She joined the OXIPRO project a year ago and has been working ever since on the cosmetics and detergents case studies. During this time, she has increased her knowledge and skill set in protein expression, purification, and enzyme assays and kinetics, and is making a significant contribution to the project.
The speakers and their 3-minute presentations were:
- Ruite Xiang: ‘Smart bioprospecting and engineering of oxidoreductases’.
- Yerko Fredes: ‘Selection and application of carbohydrate oxidases for the developing of new eco-friendly cotton biobleaching process’.
- Veronica Bodescu: ‘Computational design of complex salt bridges’
- Ivan Dimitri: ‘Assessment of cellulosic supports for immobilization of CBM-tagged N-acetylglucosamine oxidase’.
- Rasmus Moen Ree: ‘Improving organoleptic properties of fish protein hydrolysates through monooxygenase engineering’
- Helena Balfagon: ‘Started from the bottom now we are here: laccase assisted monomer polymerisation for synthesis of polymeric UV filters’.
- Martin Floor: ‘Multi-objective optimisation for enzyme engineering’
- Lars Santema: ‘Thermostable flavin enzymes’
Everyone agreed that this flash presentation activity was a huge success and will likely take place again during our next annual meeting.