Scientific & Advisory Team

Pimchai Chaiyen is professor and Dean of the School of Biomolecular Science and Engineering (BSE), Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand. She is one of the most accomplished researchers in Thailand and has received numerous awards, including L’Oréal-UNESCO Woman in Science Crystal Award for the most accomplished woman scientist in Thailand (2017), Outstanding Scientist of Thailand (2015) and Outstanding Researcher Award (2012). She was named in the Asian Scientists 100 list by Asian Scientist Magazine and has recently joined ACS Catalysis in an Associate Editor role. Her research interests are in the broad areas of enzyme catalysis, enzyme engineering, biocatalysis, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and technology development in the areas of green, bio- and circular economy.

Nopphon Weeranoppanant is holding a joint position at Burapha University and Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC) in Thailand. He completed his M.S. and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he majored in Chemical Engineering. He received recognitions as an emerging investigator from Reaction Chemistry & Engineering (2019) and Journal of Flow Chemistry (2020). His research group focuses on developing processes for green chemistry. His current approaches span from flow chemistry to process intensification to bioprocess.

Thanyaporn Wongnate is a faculty member at the school of Biomolecular Science and Engineering (BSE), Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC). She has recently been awarded the 2019 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science National Fellowship and selected by Generation T Asia as one of people who have made a positive contribution to the Asian sustainability sector. Her research work is in the fields of bioenergy and biorefinery. She believes that bioenergy research can contribute significantly to global energy demand in the future and biomass can be converted to produce valuable products.

Ruchanok Tinikul received her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 2012 from Mahidol University. She was promoted to an assistant professor in 2016 and has been now as an academic staff member of Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University. Her current research focuses on redox enzyme mechanism and the applications of enzyme in biocatalysis to produce value-added compounds and development of bioluminescence-based biosensor.

In 2016, she received a special “Leave a Nest” award from Tech Planter Thailand arranged by Leave a Nest Co., Japan, to participate in Tech Planter Final Grand Prix, Tokyo. She is the co-founder of Enzmart Biotech Co. Ltd, the protein/enzyme technology based startup company (Enzmart Biotech Division of Biosynthai Technology Co. Ltd., at the present time).

Somchart Maenpuen received Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, with the Best Distinguished Thesis Award from Graduate Studies of Mahidol University. He was promoted to an assistant professor in 2016 and has been now as an academic staff member of Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Burapha University.

His current research focuses on enzymes catalyzing carbon-carbon cleavage reactions and their applications in biocatalysis. He has been promoted from the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) to receive the Research Grant for New Scholar in 2012 and 2016, and Mid-Career Research Grant in 2020. In academic career, his works have been published in the high impact-factor journals such as Journal of Biological Chemistry, FEBS Journal, PLoS One, Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, etc. In business aspect, he is the co-founder of Enzmart Biotech Co. Ltd, the protein/enzyme technology-based startup company.