Valeria Grazú, selected to participate in the advisory program of the European Innovation Council EIC WOMEN

La CSIC researcher in the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon, INMA, joint institute of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, Valeria Grazú, has been selected by the European Innovation Council (EIC) to participate in the SCHEDULE EIC WOMEN Leadership. A program that tries provide female role models and innovative business leaders across the spectrum of innovation, technology and business. For 6 months Grazú will offer her advice and support to women, both entrepreneurs and scientists, to help them improve their skills leadership, networking and technology transfer.

Valeria Grazú has been selected thanks to the project FET-OPEN HOTZYMES that coordinates and which has funding from the European Innovation Council and which tries to achieve the enzymatic production of chemical compounds. As Valeria Grazú tells us, “the enzymatic production of chemical compounds, allows for more efficient industrial production processes with lower energy consumption than those obtained through chemical synthesis. “The incorporation of several biocatalytic steps in cascade reactions and in a single reactor offers a clear benefit in terms of time, resource and performance efficiency in addition to reducing processing steps.” The HOTZYMES H2020 FETOPEN project works on an innovative concept to overcome one of the main problems of biocatalytic cascade reactions, the fact that each of the enzymes has specific environmental needs (for example the optimal reaction temperature). To the By coupling enzymes with magnetic nanoparticles, the temperature conditions can be locally adjusted and thus create the optimal environment for each enzyme participating in the cascade reaction. The application of an alternating magnetic field (AMF) in the bioreactor allows the local heating process to be controlled remotely.

The European Innovation Council is Horizon Europe's one-stop shop for all types of innovators, from individuals to organisations, research institutes, universities or companies. Together with other parts of Horizon Europe, it stimulates all forms of innovation, from incremental to breakthrough and disruptive innovation, with a focus on market-creating innovation.

The launch of the program, whose registration are currently open will take place on May 20 from 10:00 to 11:30 in online mode.