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The forefront of chemical engineering research

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 1, pages 18–27 (2024)Cite this article

To mark the inaugural issue of Nature Chemical Engineering, we asked a collection of scientists working in different branches of chemical engineering to share their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for their respective fields.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Laura Torrente-Murciano

  2. Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jennifer B. Dunn

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Panagiotis D. Christofides

  4. Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jay D. Keasling

  5. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jay D. Keasling

  6. California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jay D. Keasling

  7. Division of Biological Systems and Engineering, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jay D. Keasling

  8. Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA

    Jay D. Keasling

  9. Center for Biosustainability, Danish Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark

    Jay D. Keasling

  10. Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Shenzhen, China

    Jay D. Keasling

  11. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Sharon C. Glotzer

  12. Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), BioProcess Engineering Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Sang Yup Lee

  13. Laboratory for Chemical Technology, Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Kevin M. Van Geem

  14. Chemical Process Development, Global Product Development and Supply, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Jean Tom

  15. State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, R&D Center of Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, Panjin Institute of Industrial Technology, Liaoning Key Laboratory of Chemical Additive Synthesis and Separation, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, China

    Gaohong He

Authors
  1. Laura Torrente-Murciano
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  2. Jennifer B. Dunn
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  3. Panagiotis D. Christofides
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  4. Jay D. Keasling
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  5. Sharon C. Glotzer
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  6. Sang Yup Lee
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  7. Kevin M. Van Geem
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  8. Jean Tom
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  9. Gaohong He
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Laura Torrente-Murciano, Jennifer B. Dunn, Panagiotis D. Christofides, Jay D. Keasling, Sharon C. Glotzer, Sang Yup Lee, Kevin M. Van Geem, Jean Tom or Gaohong He.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

J.D.K. has financial interests in Amyris, Ansa Biotechnologies, Apertor Pharma, Berkeley Yeast, BioMia, Cyklos Materials, Demetrix, Lygos, Napigen, ResVita Bio, and Zero Acre Farms. L.T.-M., J.B.D., P.D.C., S.C.G., S.Y.L., K.M.V.G., J.T. and G.H. declare no competing interests.

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Torrente-Murciano, L., Dunn, J.B., Christofides, P.D. et al. The forefront of chemical engineering research. Nat Chem Eng 1, 18–27 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-023-00017-x

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