Plenary Lectures

 
Mørten Sorlie
Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Mørten Sorlie is a professor of chemistry and an excellent teaching practitioner at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Central topics in his work is the elucidation of mechanisms of carbohydrate active enzymes. Of special interest is the understanding and use of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) that have revolutionized the biorefining industry and are key enzymes in the transformation of cellulose to bioethanol. In his work, physicochemical techniques and methodologies with a special emphasis on kinetics, thermodynamics, analytics, and spectroscopy are used to understand the enzyme mode of action and use this information to improve enzyme activity.

 
Sandra Vojnović
University of Belgrade

Full Research Professor
Group for eco-biotechnology and drug development
Laboratory for Microbial Molecular Genetics and Ecology (LMMGE)
Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE),
University of Belgrade (UB)

EDUCATION

2011 - PhD in Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, UB
(Thesis: Regulation of expression of kgmB gene from Streptomyces tenebrarius)
2003 - MSc in Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, UB
1998 - BSc in Molecular Biology and Physiology, Faculty of Biology, UB

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2023 - Full Research Professor, Group for eco-biotechnology and drug development, LMMGE, IMGGE, UB
2018 - Associate Research Professor, Laboratory for Microbial Molecular Genetics and Ecology (LMMGE), IMGGE, UB
2013 - Research Associate, Laboratory for Microbial Molecular Genetics and Ecology (LMMGE), IMGGE, UB
2011 - 2012 - Post-doc Fellow, Biotechnology Developement Group at ICGEB, Trieste, Italy
2004 - 2011 - Research Assistant, LMMGE, IMGGE, UB
2001 - 2004 - Research Trainee, LMMGE, IMGGE, UB
1999 - 2001 - Ministry of Science Scholarship holder, IMGGE

RESEARCH INTERES

• Bioactive molecules, either natural products (secondary metabolites of Streptomycetes) or synthetically produced compounds, as a novel chemical scaffold for development of new antifungal drugs.
• Microbial biotechnology
• Bacterial fermentation; strain improvement of Streptomyces spp. in order to increase the amount of different bioactive molecules produced

 
Johann Heider
Philipps-University of Marburg

Professor for Microbiology (W3), Head of the Microbial Biochemistry Laboratory
Faculty of Biology, Philipps University Marburg/ Germany


EDUCATION
1999              Habilitation, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg/ Germany
1992              PhD
                      Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich/ Germany
1988              Diploma (Microbiology)
                      Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich/ Germany

CURRENT POSITIONS
2008 –           Professor for Microbiology (W3), Head of the Microbial Biochemistry Laboratory
                      Faculty of Biology, Philipps University Marburg/ Germany
2010 –           Member of LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology
                      Philipps University Marburg/ Germany

PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2005 – 2008  Professor for Microbiology (W2)
                      Faculty of Biology, Technical University Darmstadt/ Germany
1995 – 2005  Assistant Professor for Microbiology (C1/C2)
                      Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg/ Germany
1993 – 1994  Postdoctoral fellow
                      Department of Biochemistry and molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens GA/USA
1992              Postdoctoral fellow
                      Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich/ Germany

RESEARCH INTEREST

• Study of anaerobic metabolic pathways for unusual substrates.
• Molecular mechanisms and structure-function studies of metalloenzymes and their utilization for novel synthetic pathways.
• Pathways of anaerobic aromatics degradation such as:
  • The anaerobic degradation pathways of toluene, ethylbenzene, and indoleacetate
  • The mechanisms of novel carboxylases for acetone, acetophenone and phenol,
  • The mechanism and maturation pathway of bacterial tungstoenzymes.
    

 
Zbyněk Prokop
Masaryk University Brno

Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Zbyněk Prokop leads research team engaged in the study of fundamental principles of protein chemistry, enzyme mechanism and kinetics. His current research interests are the development of advanced biophysical methods for the structural and functional study of proteins and applications of microfluidics in life and biomedical sciences. He is a co-founder of Enantis Ltd, the first biotechnology spin-off company of Masaryk University operating in the field of enzyme technology and protein therapeutics.

 
Paweł Satora
University of Agriculture in Krakow

Prof. Paweł Satora graduated from the Faculty of Food Technology of the University of Agriculture in Krakow

He completed several scientific and training internships, as well as international conferences, including in Belgium, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Denmark, Ukraine, Spain, Italy and Portugal. In the years 2012-2016 he was the head of the Food Safety Laboratory of MCB UJ. Since September 2014, he has been the head of the Department of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology at the University of Agriculture in Krakow.
His research work is mainly related to microbiology and food biotechnology, especially the influence of killer strains and mixed yeast cultures on the course of alcoholic fermentation, spontaneous fermentation, as well as biosynthetic processes involving other groups of microorganisms, such as cyanobacteria and bacteria. In his research, he uses the latest techniques such as liquid and gas chromatography, spectrophotometry and molecular biology techniques (PCR-RAPD and -RFLP, Sanger sequencing, NGS).
He participated in 13 research projects, including 1 international one, in which he was the manager in 6 of them. It cooperates closely with research units from Slovakia, Portugal, Croatia and China.