Carolina Barcelos, Ph.D.

Senior Fermentation Engineer

Carolina Barcelos is part of the Fermentation and Product Recovery group at ABPDU. She focuses on process optimization for biofuels, bioproducts, and chemical precursors in a variety of bacterial, yeast and fungal expression hosts. Before joining the ABPDU team, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, where she worked with a robotic platform to produce and optimize a multi-component enzyme mixture for the hydrolysis of ionic liquid pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. She also studied the synergistic action of ligninolytic enzymes (laccases and peroxidases) in the modification/degradation of lignin using model and complex substrates.

Carolina graduated in Chemical Engineering and received her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Process Technology within the Department of Biochemical Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The focus of her doctoral thesis was in the conversion of the whole crop of sweet sorghum (sugary, starchy and lignocellulosic fractions) for bioethanol production. For eight years, Carolina was a researcher at LADEBIO, a partnership between the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Brazilian Oil Company, where she was responsible for developing new biomass valorization processes with emphasis on the production of butanol and other organic solvents.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Process Technology, Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Uberlandia

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Fellow at Joint BioEnergy Institute
  • Researcher, Laboratory of Bioprocess Development, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • Intern, Cosmetic Division, Start Quimica