About

Using bacteria to produce PHA bioplastics and other high value products from wood residue, in the context of a biorefinery, is an area of research Dr Christophe Collet is focussing on at Scion. Scion’s industrial fermentation platform is unique in New Zealand. It allows us to work with companies to test approaches to modifying and adding value to industrial by-products. We can conduct experiments from 1L to 100L scale, allowing sufficient quantities for downstream processing into a final product, and facilitating the scale-up and technology transfer of industrial biotechnologies.

Qualifications

PhD (Environmental Science and Engineering), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland - 2004
MPhil (Biological Sciences), University of Waikato, New Zealand - 2001
MSc (Biochemistry), University of Geneva, Switzerland - 1999

Research capabilities

• Fermentation: biopolymer (PHA) production
• Enzyme engineering, overexpression and purification
• Biocatalysis for biochemical production
• Lignocellulosic biorefinery
• Gas fermentation: Carbon capture into higher-value product
• Process development and scale-up

Career highlights

• Research Leader Industrial Biotechnology, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand - 2015-present
• Manager Technology Transfer and Fermentation Operations, Lanzatech, Auckland, New Zealand - 2007-2014
• Senior Research Scientist, ZyGEM Corporation, Hamilton, New Zealand - 2004-2007

Selected papers

Pilot-Scale Production of Hemicellulose Ethers from Softwood Hemicelluloses Obtained from Compression Screw Pressate of a Thermo-Mechanical Pulping Plant. Polymers (2023) doi: 10.3390/polym15102376

Biobased composite powders from PHA, waxes and lignocellulosic biomasses for powder-based additive manufacturing processes. Materials Today: Proceedings (2023) doi: 10.1016/j.matpr.2023.05.052

Composite powder, in particular suitable for additive manufacturing. WO2023222518A1 also referred as EP4276137 (2023)

Crystallization Behavior and Sensing Properties of Bio‐Based Conductive Composite Materials. Advanced Engineering Materials (2023) doi: 10.1002/adem.202200959

Extrusion of PHA-containing bacterial biomass and the fate of endotoxins: A cost-reducing platform for applications in molding, coating and 3D printing. Materials Today Communications (2022) doi: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2022.104162

3D-Printed Enzyme-Embedded Plastics. Biomacromolecules (2021) doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00105

Rheological Behaviour of High Cell Density Pseudomonas putida LS46 Cultures during Production of Medium Chain Length Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Polymers. Bioengineering 6: 93 (2019) doi: 10.3390/bioengineering6040093

Hydrogen Oxidation Influences Glycogen Accumulation in a Verrucomicrobial Methanotroph. Frontiers in Microbiology 10: 1873 (2019) doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01873

Integrating softwood biorefinery lignin into polyhydroxybutyrate composites and application in 3D printing. Materials Today Communications (2019) 19: 286-296 doi: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2019.02.008

Mixotrophy drives niche expansion of verrucomicrobial methanotrophs, ISME Journal, 2017

Control Of Bioreactor Processes, Patent: US 9617566 B2, 2017

Carbon Capture In Fermentation Using Blended Gaseous Substrate, Patent: US 9127296 B2, 2015

Multiple Reactor System And Process For Continuous Gas Fermentation, Patent: US 2015/0072387 A1, 2015

Methods Of Sustaining Culture Viability, Patent: US 8658415 B2, 2014

Fermentation Process For Controlling Butanediol Production, Patent: US 8673603 B2, 2014

Alcohol Production Process, Patent: US 8293509 B2, 2012

Microbial Alcohol Production Process, Patent: US 8119378 B2, 2012

Metabolism of lactose by Clostridium thermolacticum growing in continuous culture, Archives of Microbiology, 2006

Acetate production from lactose by Clostridium thermolacticum and hydrogen-scavenging microorganisms in continuous culture - Effect of hydrogen partial pressure, Journal of Biotechnology, 2005

Hydrogen production by Clostridium thermolacticum during continuous fermentation of lactose, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2004

Improvement of acetate production from lactose by growing Clostridium thermolacticum in mixed batch culture, Journal of Applied Microbiology, 2003