Jose Carvalho dos Santos

Reactor operation and modelling of bioplastic (PHA) production from wastewater using photosynthetic mixed cultures at laboratory scale. Analytical techniques utilized: chromatography (HPLC for volatile fatty acids and glucose analysis, GC for PHA analysis), segmented flow analysis of ammonia and phosphate, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), Aquasim software for simulation of aquatic systems.

Optimisation of antimicrobial nanoparticle synthesis and scale-up assessment. Product development: incorporation of antimicrobial technology in a wide variety of materials (including paint coatings and aluminium); as well as quality control: microbiological assays and evaluation of microbial inhibition of the modified materials with resort to ISO and ASTM standard methods.

Master Thesis work on the topic of biotherapy production and processing. Optimization of membrane capacity for biomolecule capture. Industrial study of purification ability and potential for gene therapy and vaccine production applications. Experience with several lab procedures, including RT-PCR for viral DNA analysis, HPLC for virus and contaminant analysis, SDS-PAGE and PicoGreen for protein and bacterial DNA quantification, respectively.

Intensive course intended to provide knowledge and update on current trends in software engineering and business information systems. Main curricular units: Mobile computing, Web computation, Business analytics, Programming fundamentals and logic, Java programming

Development of processes, materials and products of chemical or biological nature. - Master's thesis: Membrane-based purification of viral particles (in partnership with Sartorius Stedim Biotech) - 18/20 - Master's project: Design of a sophorolipid production plant - 17/20