Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Drøbakveien 31, 1432 Ås,  Norway

Boris Zimmermann is a research professor (forsker med professorkompetanse) in spectroscopy in the Biospectroscopy and Data Modeling Group at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He has research expertise in organic, analytical, and physical chemistry, spectroscopy, chemometrics and data analysis, as well as conducting biospectroscopy studies involving biotechnology, biology, ecology, medical and veterinary research. Currently, his main activities include the development and optimization of experimental and data analysis methodologies for the characterization, identification, and classification of biological samples, as well as the development and optimization of novel photonics devices and spectroscopy-based process analytical technology in biotechnology. In particular, his focus is on the application of infrared and Raman spectroscopy for high-throughput screening and real-time process monitoring in microbial biotechnology. His research has been published in over 80 research papers, and he has received over 25 national and international research grants and awards.

Keynote Details

Wednesday 1 July

Symposium 22: Biotechnology solutions for new critical materials

Vibrational Spectroscopy as a Process Analytical Technology in Microbial Biotechnology

Microorganisms, such as microalgae, yeasts, filamentous fungi, and bacteria, are powerful cell factories for diverse products. Fermentation-based microbial biotechnology is expanding across food, feed, energy, chemical, and bio-based materials industries, driving the green transition toward a circular and sustainable economy. Microbial process development and optimisation requires technologies for process monitoring and high throughput screening. In this context, vibrational spectroscopy techniques (infrared and Raman) have seen rapid advancement and increasing application in recent years.
Infrared and Raman spectroscopies are fast, inexpensive, and highly sensitive methods for the analysis of biological samples, and have therefore emerged as dominant biospectroscopy techniques. They provide comprehensive and detailed information by simultaneously measuring measuring a wide range of functional groups and chemical constituents in bioprocesses. The spectra can be used for identification, classification and chemical characterization, as well as in regression-based analyses for tracking biochemical changes between samples or over time. This rich spectroscopic data is usually interpreted by using chemometrics, classical machine learning, and deep learning data analyses methods. Various measurement modes allow microscopy imaging of microorganisms at nanometer and micrometer scale, high throughput measurements of hundreds of samples, and online time-dependent measurements with fibre-optic systems.
The Biospectroscopy and Data Modeling Group at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences has extensive experience in developing and optimizing microbial processes using advanced vibrational spectroscopy. The group collaborates closely with the Norwegian food, feed, and biotechnology industries to valorize waste and residual materials by converting them through microbial processes into food, feed, nutraceuticals, biofuels, and biopolymers.