PhD Portraits – Winter 2022

iBET has two newly-graduated PhDs: João Mendes (Downstream Process Development Lab) and Beatriz Cristóvão (Membrane Processes Lab).

We congratulate João and Beatriz for this important step in their careers and acknowledge their valuable contributions to the research areas of downstream and membrane processing.

Find below a PhD portrait of each of our new graduates.

João Pedro Pereira Mendes

PhD in Bioengineering – MIT-Portugal Program, ITQB-NOVA, NOVA University Lisbon (2 November 2022)

Host Laboratory: Downstream Process Development Lab, iBET

Thesis Title: Integrated continuous manufacturing of adeno-associated virus (AAVs)

Highlights:

• AAV process intensification by perfusion bioreaction with ATF and TFDF systems
• Integrated clarification with cell retention devices
• Multi-stage Tangential Flow filtration for inline single-passage concentration
• Periodic Counter-Current Chromatography for affinity purification of AAVs

Publications:
JP Mendes et al. (2022) Continuous Affinity Purification of Adeno-Associated Virus Using Periodic Counter-Current Chromatography. Pharmaceutics. 25;14(7):1346.

JP Mendes et al. (2022) AAV process intensification by perfusion bioreaction and integrated clarification. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 10:1020174.

New Position: Senior Capabilities & Insights Analyst at McKinsey & Company

Maria Beatriz Cristóvão

PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, NOVA University Lisbon (22 December 2022)

Host Laboratory: Membrane Processes Lab, iBET

Thesis Title: Anticancer drugs in the aquatic environment: where should we act and is nanofiltration a solution to this problem?

Highlights:

• Prediction of environmental concentrations of anticancer drugs in surface waters of Portugal, Belgium and India.
• Development of an analytical method to detect the anticancer drugs with the highest predicted environmental concentrations in wastewater effluents. Comparison of two different sampling approaches: grab and passive sampling.
• Laboratory scale experiments to test the treatment effectiveness of different membranes and photolysis processes.
• Implementation of a pilot scale nanofiltration unit in a domestic wastewater treatment plant to evaluate the removal of anticancer drugs from a real wastewater effluent and define the best operating conditions.

Publications:

MB Cristóvão et al. (2021) Detection of anticancer drugs in wastewater effluents: Grab versus passive sampling. Sci. Total Environ. 786: 147477.

MB Cristóvão et al. (2021) Treatment of anticancer drugs in a real wastewater effluent using nanofiltration: a pilot scale study. Sep. Purif. Technol. 288: 120565.

R Janssens et al. (2020) Photocatalysis using UV-A and UV-C Light Sources for advanced oxidation of anticancer drugs spiked in laboratory-grade water and synthetic urine. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 59: 647–653.

MB Cristóvão et al. (2020) Predicted concentrations of anticancer drugs in the aquatic environment: What should we monitor and where should we treat? J. Hazard. Mater. 392:122330.

MB Cristóvão et al. (2019) Treatment of anticancer drugs in hospital and wastewater effluents using nanofiltration. Sep. Purif. Technol. 224: 273–280.

R Janssens et al. (2019) Coupling of nanofiltration and UV, UV/TiO₂ and UV/ H₂O₂ processes for the removal of anticancer drugs from real secondary wastewater effluent. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 7: 103351.

New position: Senior Technologist at Pentair Water Process Technology BV (The Netherlands)