Integrated Bioprocess Engineering

About Clemens Posten

Clemens Posten studied biology and electrical engineering in Bochum and Hannover (Germany) achieving two diploma degrees (1983). This choice was based on his passion for combining science and engineering. His doctoral thesis at the Institute of Automatic Control dealt with modeling and automation of ethanol production using the anaerobic bacterium Zymomonas mobils. Incidentally this topic has become topical again today. This not only allowed him to pursue his interests further but also to immerse himself in online and offline computer applications in biotechnology a new topic at the time. He was able to acquire further knowledge in this direction through theoretical expertise during his post-doc at the Institute for System Dynamics in Hamburg and his work as head of the Modeling and Automation working group at the GBF in Braunschweig (1989-1995). During these activities he got to know numerous practical bioprocesses and maintained close contacts to industry until today. In fact his extensive knowledge of bioprocess engineering dates back to this time. Due to his numerous publications he was appointed to the new professorship of Bioprocess Engineering (1995) in the faculty of process engineering. In teaching he was entrusted with the international study course Biotechnology at the École supérieure in Strasbourg and as co-founder in the study course Bioengineering in Karlsruhe (today KIT). He pursued the communication of his knowledge and his great overview with the same passion as science. Many students chose his institute to write their theses. During this time numerous including industry-related projects (about 2 Mill last 5 years) were acquired and successfully carried out by his employees including of course their own doctorates. The results are recorded in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications 5 books and 5 patents. Prof. Posten also became further known through his active memberships in scientific associations (IFAC esbes dechema eaba) and editorial boards of highly ranked journals. His scientific interests continue to focus on bioprocess engineering in the fields of particle biotechnology and photo-biotechnology. Design of photo-bioreactors modelling control and optimization of photo-bioprocesses interaction between reactor and cell physiology are practical spin-offs. Now he continues his career and his passion sharing his knowledge as co-founder of the consultant firm bio-compete.