Francisco Plou

Francisco Plou, graduated in Chemistry from Zaragoza University in 1988. He obtained his PhD in 1993 from Autonomous University of Madrid working under the supervision of Prof. Antonio Ballesteros. In the period 1992-1999 he was a visiting scientist at the Queen Mary and Westfield College (London). Since 2000, he is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Catalysis, CSIC, Madrid (Spain). He has published more than 100 papers and book chapters on biocatalysis.  He leads the Applied Biocatalysis Group at the Institute of Catalysis (CSIC). He organizes technical courses on HPLC and assays of enzyme activity. His research interests are the biotransformations of carbohydrates using single or multi-step processes, the enzyme immobilization and the process optimization on laboratory-scale for production of novel compounds. He has supervised 12 PhD Students and is currently Treasurer of the Spanish Society of Catalysis. Dr. Plou has an active participation in Biocatalysis Networks in the Iberoamerican Region. He also participates in the teaching of Biocatalysis at the Master of Biotechnology (Autonomous University of Madrid)

Publications and scientific-technical documents

Original papers in SCI journals: 110
Original papers in journals not belonging to SCI: 9 Book chapters: 23
Editor of Books: 2
Editor of Special Issues: 1
Patents: 14
h-index: 30
Number of total citations: ~2950

Selected papers:

• “Environmental biocatalysis: from remediation with enzymes to novel green processes”. M. Alcalde, M. Ferrer, F.J. Plou and A. Ballesteros. Trends in Biotechnology, 24, 281-287 (2006).
• “Immobilized biocatalysts: novel approaches and tools for binding enzymes to supports”. P. Torres-Salas, A. del Monte-Martinez, B. Cutiño-Avila, B. Rodriguez-Colinas, M. Alcalde, A. O. Ballesteros, F. J. Plou. Advanced Materials, 23, 5275–5282 (2011).
• “Dried alginate-entrapped enzymes (DALGEEs) and their application to the production of fructooligosaccharides”. L. Fernandez-Arrojo, B. Rodriguez-Colinas, P. Gutierrez-Alonso, M. Fernandez- Lobato, M. Alcalde, A.O. Ballesteros and F.J. Plou. Process Biochemistry, 48, 677-682 (2013).
• “Galactooligosaccharides formation during enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose: towards a prebiotic enriched milk”. B. Rodriguez-Colinas, L. Fernandez-Arrojo, A.O. Ballesteros, F.J. Plou. Food Chemistry, 145, 388-394 (2014).

Awards, Honours

• CINFA Prize (2014) of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy
• 2012 Digital CSIC Prize: Publication with the highest number of legal downloads − more than 10,000− in the Institutional Repository Digital CSIC [“Laccases and their applications: a patent review”, A. Kunamneni, F.J. Plou, A. Ballesteros, and M. Alcalde; Recent Patents on Biotechnology, 2, 10-24 (2008)]
• 2010 EDP University Challenge 2010 on renewable energy, sponsored by EDP Renováveis
• 2008 Best Patent in the Madrid Region (Madri+d 2008), sponsored by Madrid Government
• 1995 III A-IQS European Award on Enzyme Technology, sponsored by Instituto Químico de Sarria.