Heleen De Wever is a Project Manager at the Flemish Institute of Technological Research (VITO) in Belgium and leads the Biotechnology team in the business unit Separation and Conversion Technology. The main research lines of the team are bioprocess intensification, valorization of biomass and CO2-to-product bioconversions. Technological approaches include the combination of separation technology with bioconversions for high cell density fermentations, in-situ product recovery, enzyme immobilization and/or selective product separation, tailoring of biomass towards defined oligomer fractions, and gas fermentation at atmospheric and moderately elevated pressure.

Heleen’s interests are to develop industrial biotech showcases relevant for the biobased economy, to demonstrate the benefits of integrated separation and conversion for bioprocesses, and to advance innovations and optimize novel process concepts in collaborative projects with industry and/or academia.