Novasep Strengthens its Advisory Board
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Novasep has announced the nomination of two new members to its scientific advisory board: Professor Alois Fürstner, a world expert in catalysis and director at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim (Germany); and Professor Alois Jungbauer, an internationally renowned specialist in purification processes and professor at the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology, University of Vienna (Austria).
Prof. Fürstner will provide Novasep with guidance on how to further develop its chemical synthesis technologies, particularly in catalysis, which is ubiquitous in the synthesis of life science molecules. Prof. Jungbauer will provide strategic assistance to Novasep in the field of biomolecule purification with a particular focus on continuous processes.
“Novasep is proud to have professors Fürstner and Jungbauer as members of its scientific advisory board. Their exceptional talent, experience and connections in academia and industry will help us refine the directions of our innovation and establish fruitful partnerships. Our objective is to develop ever more effective technologies and capabilities for contract manufacturing and purification systems for the benefit of our customers,” said Jean Blehaut, chief innovation officer at Novasep. “Together, we will continue to leverage the cross-fertilization between our synthesis, bioprocessing and engineering capabilities to enhance Novasep’s differentiation.”
Novasep has driving ambitions to become a major full service provider in all of its markets. The group deploys the innovation of its technologies and services to channel growth. As an example, the company recently announced a €10M ($11M) investment in a new facility to produce antibody-drug conjugates at clinical and commercial scales.
Austrian-born Prof. Alois Fürstner earned his doctoral degree in chemistry from the Technical University of Graz in 1987 under the supervision of Prof. H. Weidmann. After a postdoctoral stint with the late Prof. W. Oppolzer in Geneva, Switzerland and a residency in Graz, in 1993 Prof. Fürstner joined the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim, Germany. Five years later, he was promoted to director. From 2009-2011, he served as the managing director of the Institute, a post that he will resume in 2016. His scientific interests focus on organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis, including its applications in the synthesis of structurally complex natural products of biological significance and pharmaceutically active compounds. Prof. Fürstner has authored more than 320 publications. He is a member of several editorial boards, including those of ‘Science of Synthesis’, ‘Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan’ and ‘Angewandte Chemie’.
Prof. Alois Jungbauer received his PhD in Food Technology and Biotechnology in 1986 from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. Since then he has held the post of professor at the Department of Biotechnology. He teaches Protein Technology and Downstream Processing and Bioprocess Engineering. He also acts as area head and deputy director of research at the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology. He is currently working in the field of bioengineering of proteins, plasmids and viruses with a special focus on expression, downstream processing and characterization of large biomolecules. Prof. Jungbauer has had more than 250 articles published on recombinant protein production and bioseparation, 15 patents, 12 book contributions and recently a monograph entitled 'Protein Chromatography, Process Development and Scale Up'. He is executive editor and co-founder of Biotechnology Journal and on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the area of biochemical engineering.
