Communications

On Monday 15 June, Dr. Morad CHADNI successfully defended his « Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches » (HDR), granting him the authority to direct PhD students.

This new accreditation, awarded by Université Paris-Saclay, is a clear recognition of his dedication and contributions to the field of process engineering. His manuscript, titled « Développement d’Eco-procédés pour l’extraction et la purification des composés phénoliques », reflects years of research and expertise.

Congratulations Morad on this well-deserved achievement!

URD ABI - AgroParisTech is proud to introduce its 2026 interns cohort:

Alyssa Toussaint from Yale University, USA (Chemistry team), Cameren Hurrell from Penn State University, USA (Downstream process team) (not pictured), Amira Chermiti from INSAT - Institut National des Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie, Tunisia (Biotech team),

Sara Betaar from Université Grenoble Alpes, France (Downstream process team), Quentin Araujo Da Justa from Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, France (Biotech team), Enzo Boncinelli from AgroParisTech, France (Biotech team),

Davidson Onwumelu from University of Lille 1 Sciences and Technology, France (Downstream process team), Marvin Guery from Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France (Biotech team), Andrey Khodakovskiy from American River College, USA (Chemistry team).

From Monday 18 May to Friday 22 May, two members of the Process Engineering team of ABI visited several academic partners in Lithuania.

Thanks to the financial support of AgroParisTech, Morad and Emilie had the pleasure to visit different institutions such as : Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas University of Technology, Vilniaus Kolegija and Association Uzventis Health Center.

During this visit, they had the opportunity to showcase URD ABI’s research activities to establish new partnerships around biomass valorisation, sustainable processes, food and bio-based innovations.

Thanks to Dr. Audrone Ispiryan for organising this visit and to all the professors, researchers and staff members from the Lithuanian universities and institutions.

On Monday 4 May, URD ABI was delighted to welcome its first Marie-Slodowska Curie postdoctoral fellowship.

Dr. Muhammad Rehan Khan has joined the Chemistry team for a two years project, titled « Development of Smart PHBV films with microencapsulated spirulina as TUnable food contact MAterials » (STUMAT).

He will work with his two supervisors, Florent Allais and Sami Fadlallah.

Enzo's final defense marks the end of the joint thesis program between URD ABI - AgroParisTech (AgroParisTech) and the University of Florida (UF) who allowed 4 French students - Florent Diot-Néant, Thin Vhin N'Guyen, Robin Fournier and Enzo Petracco - to be awarded both the PhD from UF and that of ABIES.

During the week of February 23^rd, Kévin Magnien represented URD ABI at the 2026 International Agricultural Show. On Tuesday, February 24^th, he took part in the Innovation Day held at AgroParisTech, where he showcased URD ABI’s activities and the Biotech’InnLab dispositive alongside two supported start-ups: Alternative Innovation and BioFerm’Tech.

On Thursday, February 26^th, he participated in the round table organized by Ferments du Futur on the INRAE booth, focusing on “Fermentation & Sustainability.” This event was an opportunity to discuss circular economy approaches through the example of the Pomacle-Bazancourt Biorefinery, the Biocobalt project on riboflavin production by solid-state fermentation, and more broadly the valorization of industrial byproducts.

Our director's annual stay at Monash University marks a special milestone: 10 years of collaboration with Prof. Gil Garnier's BioPRIA, and the Monash Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Monash, as Adjunct Professor. Over the past decade, what started as a collaboration has grown into a sustained, deeply valued scientific relationship between URD ABI - AgroParisTech and Monash University.

Florent Allais had the great honor and pleasure of opening up the plenary session with a talk on "Upgrading biomass by combining Green chemistry and biotechnologies".

The ReSOURCE initiative brings together researchers, innovators, policymakers and industry stakeholders from both Africa and France to tackle critical challenges and share solutions for a sustainable, bio-based future.

The URD ABI team involved in the PLAMINPACK project (PRIMA) participated to a seminar organized at FST Université Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech. The seminar was dedicated to the development of biodegradable food packaging based on bio-sourced polymers and bioactive compounds for improving the preservation of perishable foods.

It was a great opportunity to showcase the progress of the PLAMINPACK project, as well as the activities of the Process Engineering team at URD ABI. The team also had the chance to visit the Marrakech Innovation City.

At the Industrial Agro-Biotechnolgies Research Unit of AgroParisTech (URD ABI), Lithuanian postdoctoral researcher Audronė Ispiryan recently completed an inspiring research internship (one month stay) focused on transforming berry processing residues into valuable resources for the food and cosmetics industries. As part of her postdoctoral project “Enhancing the Value of Berry Pomace: Effects of Fermentation on By-Product Properties and Applications”, Audronė worked with the Processing Engineering Team under the guidance of the URD ABI Director, Florent Allais, collaborating closely with Dr. Morad Chadni, Emilie Isidore and, Abdouramane Dosso.

Their research explored how fermentation and innovative extraction methods, including ultrasonic homogenization, can unlock bioactive compounds in both fermented and non-fermented berry pomace. These compounds, such as anthocyanins and antioxidants, have the potential to enrich food formulations and natural cosmetic ingredients.

The collaboration at URD ABI has already sparked plans for future joint projects between AgroParisTech and Vytautas Magnus University. The teams are now developing ideas for further research in bioprocess optimization, circular bioeconomy, and sustainable ingredient development.

Quentin Carboue had the honor of presenting his work on pigment production using a fungus grown on a non-sterilized medium at the 8th Symposium on Environmental Biotechnology and Engineering (8ISEBE), held in Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil.

The conference focused on various biotechnological strategies to mitigate environmental impacts, including wastewater treatment of polluted effluents, soil bioremediation, biofertilization, and biodegradation of recalcitrant polymers.

It was a great opportunity to meet renowned researchers — especially from Latin America — working in these areas, and we hope that it will lead to future collaborations!

On Wednesday 22, October, Florent Allais had the great honor and pleasure of giving a talk at Cosmetorium 2025 (Barcelona, Spain) on how URD ABI - AgroParisTech scientists combine biomimicry, green chemistry, biotechnology and eco-extraction to offer sustainable and safe alternartives to current decried fossil-based UV-filters.

This talk included results achieved through the ANR (Agence nationale de la recherche)-funded Sinapuv and Lagoon projects as well as the BoostCrop FET-Open project.

Works from our collaboration with Monash Chemical and Biological Engineering and BioPRIA (Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia) were also showcased.

The URD ABI team took part in in the 2nd International Conference on Biomass Valorization for Sustainable Applications (BIOVASA) in Tunisia. It was a great opportunity to share our work and progress on biomass valorization for different fields such as food, cosmetics, polymers, and anticorrosion applications. URD ABI was represented by:

- Emilie ISIDORE , who presented “A green and simple recovery of secondary metabolites from common rue (Ruta graveolens)”

- Amel Chammam, who shared the progress of the ANR (Agence nationale de la recherche) project "CoBY" with her talk “Corrosion inhibitors from vegetal by-products: Extraction, purification and understanding the mechanism of action”

- Christian Cravotto, who discussed “Sustainable recovery of bioactives from Mediterranean by-products for active packaging applications” within the PLAMINPACK project (PRIMA Partnership)

- Morad Chadni presented our membrane contactor technology and its applications for the hashtag#purification of biomolecules from hashtag#biomass.

It was a great pleasure to welcome the Fulbright France IEA 2025’s participants at Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie to showcase URD ABI - AgroParisTech’s international activities and especially the ones we have with the USA (e.g., Fulbright France fellowship, dual PhD degree, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Florida-France REU program, junior & senior researchers exchanges, creating a new Gordon Research Conferences).

Thanks to the organisers of Fulbright France

Looking forward to potential new collaboration initiatives!

URD ABI - AgroParisTech was at the "Village de la bioéconomie" at Foire de Châlons.

Congrats to Boris Tran, Capucine Jezegou and Christian Cravotto for their great pitch at "Nos chercheurs ont du talent".

Many thanks to all the visitors who stopped by at our booth (part of the Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie's booth) that showcased our research.

URD ABI is proud to announce that Florent Allais has been invited to give a talk at the American Chemical Society Fall 2025 National Meeting, taking place in Washington, DC (USA).

He has presented his work in the Green Polymer Chemistry Symposium, thanks to the kind invitation from HN Chen and Richard Gross. His talk highlighted URD ABI’s latest advances in sustainable polymer chemistry, reinforcing the team’s commitment to developing innovative and eco-friendly solutions at the interface of chemistry and biotechnology.

The ACS National Meeting is one of the largest gatherings of chemists worldwide, providing a unique platform to share cutting-edge research, foster collaboration, and exchange ideas with the international scientific community.

Florent Allais recently had the pleasure of visiting his alma mater, the University of Florida, where he reconnected with long-time friends and colleagues in the Department of Chemistry.

During the visit, fruitful discussions were held with Professors Ronald K. Castellano, Lisa McElwee-White, Matthew Eddy, Steve Miller, and others regarding the dual Ph.D. program between UF and AgroParisTech. Both sides expressed strong enthusiasm for renewing and strengthening this academic partnership, which has already created valuable research and educational opportunities for students and faculty alike.

A highlight of the visit was checking in on the three AgroParisTech students - Félix Noël Quarante, Matteo Zambrano Carrillo, and Kiran Souprayenmestry - who are currently hosted across three UF research groups (Steven Bruner’s, Steve Miller’s, and Yong Zeng’s labs, respectively). Their internships are part of the NSF-funded REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, coordinated by Professors Valeria D. Kleiman and Tammy Davidson.

Witnessing these dynamic international exchanges firsthand was both inspiring and affirming. URD ABI is proud to contribute to and benefit from such strong academic ties and remains committed to advancing global scientific collaboration.

Last June, URD ABI received Dr. Itza Nallely Cordero Soto from the National Technological Institute of Mexico in Durango to perform analyses on her newly synthetized biopolymers.

On this occasion, she gave a conference entitled "Agave residues: potential for obtaining value-added compounds", dealing with the valorization of byproducts obtained from the mezcal and tequila industries.

As part of the BoostCrop team, URD ABI - AgroParisTech has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Horizon Prize 2025.

The BoostCrop (FETOpen project) partners(University of Warwick, AgroParisTech, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Radboud University, Aix-Marseille Université, Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR), University of Bristol and GAB Consulting / SynTech Research Group) have pioneered the development of a library of biocompatible nature-inspired molecules that harness solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. These molecules are applied onto plants as a water-based foliar spray. By converting UV radiation into heat, they provide the crop with supplementary heat thereby encouraging successful crop growth in cooler geographical regions and helping mitigate against sudden daytime frost damage. These molecules also proved to boost crop growth (plant growth regulators), making them very promising sustainable multifunctional ingredients for biocontrol.

URD ABI - AgroParisTech had the great pleasure of welcoming to the Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie the 12 American students currently on placement in the Université Paris 6 Pierre et Marie Curie-Jussieu, Université de Strasbourg, Université de Toulouse and URD ABI - AgroParisTech laboratories within the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded REU program.

During these two days, under the guidance of Valeria D. Kleiman and Tammy Davidson (UF Department of Chemistry - University of Florida ) the students presented their work, took a tour of Soliance – Now part of Givaudan Active Beauty (thank you Christophe Fleury for your time!), discovered the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery from the roof of the CRISTANOL mill (thank you Thierry Caron, Michel Mangion and Elise Merlot!) and visited the CEBB.