Staff

Fabian Fischer performs applied research with industrial and public partners.

He studied Chemistry at the University of Bern and was then Novartis Postdoctoral Fellow and CNRS Associate with the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He worked as first assistant at the Biotechnology Center of EPFL and became in 2002 Professor in Chemical Biotechnology at HES-SO Valais.

The research is funded by public and industrial sources and Chemical Biotechnology Team is working on:

• Microbial Fuel Cells for power production from biomass which has recently become a key activity. The biofuel cell concept is also been applied to microbial activity sensing permitting to assay metabolic activity of microbes.
• Industrial Biotransformation with isolated enzymes is a way to produce commodity products such as biolubricants, biosurfactants, biopolymers and others. A novel bioreactor is currently under construction in collaboration with the Systems Engineering Department. It offers friction free mixing of soft matter catalyst systems, permitting to save solvent and energy at the same time.
• Smart down-stream processing tools are less expensive to use. They permit in particular to isolate expensive highly diluted therapeutic glycoproteins. The process tools are based on intelligent materials that change their phase, up an external stimulus.

LIST OF PROJECTS

• Light-Enhanced Microbial Electrolysis Cell for Biohydrogen Production
• Methanisation in a bioelectric system
• Scale-up of a microbial fuel cell
• Studie zu Solaren Bioelektrischen Systemen
• Microbial fuel cell for electricity production
• Pilot scale microbial electrolysis cell stack for wastewater refining into: recycling fertilizer, chemical base, and phosphate free sewage sludge