Dr. Luis H. Reyes is an accomplished Associate Professor at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. As a chemical engineer from Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, Luis has dedicated his career to the innovative field of biological engineering. His research interests span molecular and synthetic biology, reverse engineering of microorganisms, laboratory adaptive evolution, microbiology, and nanobiotechnology. Collaborating with an interdisciplinary research group in the biomedical engineering area, Luis is involved in the development of bionanoconjugated vehicles for the transportation and delivery of biological molecules with therapeutic potential. This includes gene and enzyme replacement therapies, as well as the discovery and production of peptides for applications in the medical, food, and petrochemical industries. In food engineering, his work includes the sensory design of beer, protein replacement in dairy products, development of functional foods, and encapsulation of probiotics in food matrices. Luis also contributes to industrial applications by working on the production of biochemicals using biological platforms and the development of biosurfactants.
Dr. Juan C. Cruz obtained his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Colombia (2002) and later obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University (KSU) (2010) for his work on a new platform for enzyme immobilization to address biocatalysis challenges in non-aqueous media. Cruz has experience as Head of New Product Development in a chemical company, where he developed several nanotechnological applications to improve critical attributes of plastics according to the requirements and standards of new market niches. In 2016, he joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia). Cruz has more than fifteen years of experience working in the fields of industrial and medical biotechnology and, in particular, in the development of nanobiocatalysts; the fundamental understanding of protein–protein, protein–surface, and protein–lipid interactions; the development of new nanoparticulate vehicles for the release and guidance of pharmacological molecules; and the search for unique peptides with membrane activity.
