Violeta Sanchez i Nogue’s Journey to Bioprocess Development at NREL - CleanTechnica

Violeta Sanchez i Nogue’s journey to becoming a senior researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) began with a childhood fascination with chemistry sparked by a junior chemistry lab kit. Growing up near Barcelona, she nurtured her passion through hands-on experiences, including an engineering boot camp that exposed her to university-level environmental research. She pursued chemical engineering at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, followed by a Ph.D. in engineering at Lund University in Sweden, where she engaged with NREL’s pioneering work in bioprocess development. Joining NREL in 2015 as a postdoctoral researcher, Sanchez i Nogue contributed to ambitious multidisciplinary projects focused on biofuel production and biotechnology, collaborating with universities, national labs, and industry partners. Her work involves leveraging the natural strengths of microorganisms in bioreactors and spans metabolic engineering, separations, catalysis, and analysis. She values the collaborative environment at NREL, appreciating the daily learning opportunities and the synergy created by diverse expertise. Beyond laboratory