Chemical and Biochemical Reactor Engineering and Safety (CREaS), Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Pedro Fardim is affiliated to KU Leuven in Belgium where he holds a professorship in Chemical Engineering for Health & Care at the Faculty of Engineering Science, Department of Chemical Engineering, CREaS Division. He is also President of the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE) Association, a non-profit organisation with more than 50 institutions and companies from 20 European countries, and Associate Editor of International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (Elsevier) and Journal of Polymer Engineering (De Gruyter).
He obtained his Doctor of Science in Chemistry at State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil and his Habilitation in Chemical Engineering at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. During 2005-2019 he was Program Chair of International Master Program in Chemical Engineering, Head of the Laboratory of Fibre and Cellulose Technology and Full Professor in Biomass Engineering at Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the International Academy of Wood Science and a member of the American Chemical Society. His research interest lies in topochemical engineering, a way to understand and mimic the bioassembly present in natural materials to create sustainable technologies for process and product design. His research is inspired on systems such as trees, plants and different microorganisms. He teaches sustainable chemical engineering for new materials and chemicals, biochemical process engineering and chemical engineering for human health.
Biofabrication is his passion, and he is inspired about patterns and functions of bioshapes in nature. He is intrigued about natural stimuli-responsive systems and by interactions and reactions in confined spaces. He aims to reproduce the natural systems using water as medium and biological polymers and inorganics as components. Topochemical engineering [1] or the science to build three dimensional architectures using a combination of directed assembly and disassembly is his tool. The skillful combination of natural molecules or hybridization of biological polymers with small synthetic segments are used to direct the assembling process. The new processes and materials can be used in pharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, diagnostics, packaging, cosmetics, and materials for energy.
Polysaccharides (PS) are abundant biopolymers that can be produced in large scale and are relevant for food, health, and materials. They are common denominators for combining chemical engineering, chemistry, material science, bioscience, biotechnology, and medicine to create a completely new generation of sustainable products and to enhance human and planet health [2]. However, PS still face several challenges in sustainable processing, control and design of structure-property relationship and fabrication of functional materials. Their potential to tackle great challenges remain locked and unexploited. In this talk, we will address challenges and opportunities of PS covering functional therapeutics, functional prevention, personal care, and sustainable processes. Functional therapeutics involves the creation of new biomaterials for tissue engineering, targeted drug delivery and encapsulation. Functional prevention involves the holistic of product design and formulation without health threatening additives or components. Personal care focuses on design of sustainable products such as cosmetics and personal hygiene products. Sustainable processes involve the development of new processes combining chemical and biochemical processes using green solvents. Future directions and the importance of interdisciplinary and joint venture initiatives between PS scientists and technologists, policy makers and industry are presented and discussed.
[1] L. S. Sobhanadhas, L. Kesavan, P. Fardim. Topochemical Engineering of Cellulose-Based Functional Materials Langmuir 2018, 34, 34, 9857–9878 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b04379
[2] M. Gericke et al & P. Fardim The European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE) research roadmap 2040: Advanced strategies for exploiting the vast potential of polysaccharides as renewable bioresources Carb. Polymers 2024, 326, 121633 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121633
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