EBB
Mr Raffaello Garofalo

Mr. Garofalo was born in Florence Italy, in 1971. He was appointed Secretary General of the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) – i.e. the European federation of biodiesel producers – in May 2002. Previously he worked for four years within FEDIOL, the European Federation of Vegetable Oils Producers, dealing among others, with non-food uses of vegetable oils, which include bio-lubricants, bio-solvents and of course, biodiesel. In 1998 he worked temporarily in the European Commission (DG Agriculture) as well as within the Research Directorate of the European Parliament. After graduating with distinction in Politics in the International Politics Department of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences-Po), in Paris, in 1997, he was admitted as a foreign student at the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He obtained a Master’s Degree on European Administrative Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges in 1998.

UNIFI
Prof. Mario Tredici

Professor of microbiology at the University of Firenze, he has 20 years of experience working with microalgae. Is presently involved in the advisory groups of major initiatives on algae, such as the FAO Climate Change and Bioenergy Unit”. He is also member of the Technical Advisory Panel del “International Network on Biofixation of CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Abatement with Microalgae” since its constitution on 2000. Further he has been consultant for the International Energy Agency for the Photoproduction of Hydrogen. 

(www.co2captureandstorage.info/networks/Biofixation.htm)

DI
Mr. Jean-François Rous

Mr. Jean-François Rous was born in Perpignan France in 1967. He was appointed Innovation Deputy Director for SOFIPROTEOL in February 2008. Previously he held different R&D management positions within Unilever (8 years) and Rhodia (5 years). He has also managed an industrial site producing libraries of molecules for the pharmaceutical industry and more recently has been involved in project set up, funding and notifying (Europe) in the health, biotechnology and chemistry sectors through the French Industrial Innovation Agency (AII).

WU
Prof. dr. René H. Wijffels

Professor René H. Wijffels holds an MSc in the field of Environmental Technology and a PhD in Bioprocess Engineering, both obtained at Wageningen University. Since 1991 involved in this group in education for the curriculum biotechnology and research in environmental biotechnology and later marine biotechnology. In marine biotechnology research programs have been developed in the field of photobioreactor design for production of microalgal products and cultivation of sponges for production of marine pharmaceuticals. In 2005 he obtained the VICI-grant from the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research on the topic ‘Photosynthetic Cell Factories’ With a VICI grant senior researchers are offered the possibility to setup and lead their own research teams. Since 2007 he is chairman of the Bioprocess Engineering Group. Rene is board member of the International Society of Applied Phycology, European Society of Marine Biotechnology and the editorial boards of the journals Marine Biotechnology and Microbial Biotechnology.

BGU
Prof. Boussiba Sammy

Professor Boussiba received his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biochemistry of Cyanobacteria in 1981 from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is heading the MBL team since 1995. His current research interest concerns the utilization of microalgae for human health and environmental protection. Among his achievements in this area are the unique development of the biotechnology for the production of astaxanthin-rich Haematococcus biomass and the successful expression of BTI toxin genes into nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria for combating tropical diseases. As an outcome of this work, commercial enterprises have been set up, one located in the Arava, a pilot plant for the production of the valuable carotenoid astaxanthin produced from the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis. Currently he serves as President of the International Society of Applied Phycology (ISAP).

UAL
Prof. Emilio Molina Grima

Professor of Chemical Engineering and the head of the Chemical Engineering Department at the UAL. His main expertise areas are in the fields of bioprocess engineering, chemical and biochemical reactors design, aloriza and operation, and gas absorption with simultaneous chemical reaction. He has coordinated an European Project and participates in two others and coordinated several national R&D ones. He has supervised 16 PhD students and published more than 150 papers.

Roquette
Dr. Frederic Bouvier

Frederic BOUVIER was born in 1964 and he is currently working for Roquette, more precisely for corporate research Direction, since 1992. He has a Food Science Ph.D background, specialized in biochemistry of lipids (his PhD dealt with palm oil extraction improvement thanks to enzymes).

From 1992 to 2001, he was in charge of the analytical laboratory for physical characterization of materials: his team used rheology, tensiometry, thermal analysis, microscopy (optical and electronic) to characterize Roquette products and finished goods from the market: food, feed, pharmaceutical products and also many industrial ones (such as concrete, plaster, paints…). Afterwards he became in charge of the application laboratory for paper & board from 2001 till end of 2006: during this period of time his team carried out research in starch use for paper and board making, including wet end applications of starch, surface sizing and coating, and also starch glue formulation for corrugated board. In 2007 and 2008, he was in charge of all the industrial applications laboratories at Roquette: bio plastics, plasticizers, films, emulsions, coatings and paints, detergents, solvents, adhesives and building materials.

He joined the Nutrition and Health Research Programs Direction early 2009, as Scientific Manager of the NUTRAHUB® Program, including ALGOHUB® program. He is very enthusiastic to focus on new developments in Food, Nutrition and Health Sciences and to contribute, with Roquette, to set up a microalgae processing sector.

ISC
Dr. Benoit Quéguineur

Benoit Quéguineur holds an M.Sc from the University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Montpellier, France. He is a PhD student who has been working on several projects in the Irish Seaweed Centre amongst them the aquaculture of edible seaweeds, the population dynamics study of carragenophytes, the nutritional value of Irish macroalgae, as well as various field surveys. His main interest is in brown algal phlorotannins and their anti-oxidant properties both in vitro and in vivo. 

UGENT
Prof. Wim Vyverman

Wim Vyverman (1963, PhD Biology) leads the research group Protistology and Aquatic Ecology (www.PAE.UGent.be) (established 1996) of the Department of Biology at Ghent University. He is a full-time professor at UGent where he teaches various subjects incl. Aquatic Ecology, Microbial Ecology and Limnology. His current research focuses on the regulation of diatom metabolism, cell and life cycles, speciation, biogeography and ecology, global change and freshwater and marine ecosystem functioning. He has authored over 130 ISI ranked articles, 2 books and 6 book chapters.
A unique culture collection of freshwater and marine diatoms and other protists is maintained at the laboratory within in the framework the Belgian Coordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (http://bccm.belspo.be/). These comprise several model organisms for studies of the regulation of the cell and sexual life cycle, the nature and evolutionary significance of infra- and interspecific variation in phenotypic traits (such as fatty acid composition and oil content, toxicity, mixotrophy,..), and experimental evolution.
The laboratory is well-equipped with microscopic facilities, culture rooms, molecular and chemistry labs and has state-of-the-art expertise in the selection, maintenance, and improvement of diatoms.

NE
Dr. Vítor Verdelho Vieira

Necton´s R&D manager. Graduated in Physics. More of 15 years of experience in Microalgae Biotechnology. Large experience in developing and managing several national and international Projects.

IMPERIAL Colleage Of London
Dr. Raphael Slade

Raphael's research interests include energy systems analysis and the role of energy policy in supporting technological innovation.  Recent work has focussed on examining the commercial and environmental prospects of biomass-derived transport fuels.

He joined Imperial College from the Carbon Trust where he was responsible for delivering the Trust's £4m Applied Research Programme supporting the development and commercialisation of energy technologies in the low carbon sector.

Raphael holds a PhD in Bioenergy from Imperial College, an MSc in Environmental Technology (also from Imperial College), and a MA in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge.

IMIC
Dr. Vilém Zachleder

Senior research scientist, head of Laboratory of Cell Cycles of Algae, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. He has been involved for more than 30 years in research into the cell cycle and its regulation in algal cells. He has published about 60 original papers, 5 patents dealing with this problem. The project will benefit from his experience in cell and molecular biology of algae. He has been a main coordinator of 7 domestic grant projects (GACR, GAAV), 9 projects of international cooperation (programs KONTAKT, EUREKA MSMT).

LM
Dr. Laura Martinelli

Chemical Engineering Master degree in 2001. She worked for 7 years for the Fiat Research Center as project leader. Successfully coordinated several EU, National and local projects. During this period she coordinated the polymer molecular modeling group and the nanostructured material group in Plast-Optic Research Center. (Co)author of 14 publications in recognized scientific international press, currently running an agency providing project management services in R&D field.