Name: Selin Kara

Affiliation: Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)

Address: Institute of Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hannover

ORCID: 0000-0001-6754-2814

Scopus: 57223038066

Short biography:

Professor Selin Kara obtained her Ph.D. in Bioprocess Engineering in 2011 from the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), where she conducted her doctoral research at the Institute of Technical Biocatalysis. From 2011 to 2013, she pursued postdoctoral research in the Biocatalysis Group at the Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), focusing on the development of sustainable biocatalytic processes. In 2013, she began her Habilitation (venia legendi) in the Chair of Molecular Biotechnology at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), and in 2015, she returned to TUHH to lead the “Reaction Sequences” research group at the Institute of Technical Biocatalysis. She completed her Habilitation in May 2018 in the field of Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering.

Since July 2018, Professor Kara has led the “Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing” research group in the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University (Denmark). Her research integrates biocatalysis with green chemistry and process engineering to develop environmentally benign and industrially relevant biotransformations. In addition to her role at Aarhus University, she has served since October 2021 as Head of the Institute of Technical Chemistry at Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), where she continues to advance interdisciplinary research at the interface of chemistry, biology, and engineering.

University/Company description:

Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) is one of the nine leading Institutes of Technology (TU 9) in Germany. Founded in 1831, LUH today serves as a place of study and work for ca. 28,000 students and more than 350 professors across a diverse disciplinary spectrum spanning the natural sciences and engineering, humanities and social sciences, and law and economics. Research facilities mentioned above are owned by the TCI and the research premises of LUH and are wholly independent from other beneficiaries and/or partner organisations.

Facilities, infrastructure & equipment:

• All standard equipment for molecular biology, protein production, and purification (DNA and protein electrophoresis, gel imager, PCR thermocyclers, incubator shakers, centrifuges, homogenizer, sonicator, ÄKTA systems)
• Standard Equipment for fermentation [Ambr®15, Ambr®250, DASGIP, several multiscale bioreactors, membrane filtration units (MF/UF)]
• Diverse reactor systems (enzyme-membrane-reactor, silica microreactors, rotating bed reactors, flow reactors, bubble column reactors, reactive distillation column, etc.)
• Modern analytics (UV-Vis, Plate reader, achiral and chiral GC, HPLC, GPC, FTIR, and NanoDSF)

Relevant publications and/or research/innovation products:

1. M. Milić, G. Vernet, H. Yen Le, N. Zhang, E. Byström, P. Domínguez de María, S. Kara, Assessing the industrial edge of the lipase-mediated oxidation of 2,5-diformylfuran to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid: Rotating bed reactors, an “acyl-donor-free” oxidation concept, and environmental aspects, Org. Process Res. Dev. 2025, 29, 4, 1058–1066. DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.4c00474.
2. P. De Santis, D. Wegstein, B.O. Burek, J. Patzsch, M. Alcalde, W. Kroutil, J.Z. Bloh, S. Kara. Robust Light Driven Enzymatic Oxyfunctionalization Via Immobilization of Unspecific Peroxygenase, ChemSusChem 2023, e202300613. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202300613.
3. L.-E. Meyer, D. Horváth, S. Vaupel, J. Meyer, M. Alcalde, S. Kara. A 3D printable synthetic hydrogel as an immobilization matrix for continuous synthesis with fungal peroxygenases. React. Chem. Eng. 2023, 3, 984–988. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RE00058CG.
4. M. Hobisch, P. De Santis, S. Serban, A. Basso, E. Byström, S. Kara, Peroxygenase-driven ethylbenzene hydroxylation in a rotating bed reactor. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26,2761–2765. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00211.
5. L. E. Meyer, B. Fogtmann Hauge, T. Müller Kvorning, P. De Santis S. Kara, Continuous oxyfunctionalizations catalyzed by unspecific peroxygenase. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2022, 12, 6473–6485. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CY00650B.