Victoria Haritos

Assoc Professor

Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4630-9647

Phone0399056873, +61402412780
EmailVictoria.Haritos@monash.edu

18 Alliance Lane, 36
3800 Clayton
Australia

Accepting PhD Students

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Personal profile

Biography

Broadly my research brings together biology and engineering to address future manufacturing needs.

I am interested in discovering and designing enzymes for specific and fast reactions as isolated biocatalysts. In addition, I'm researching the metabolic and systems biology of cells in culture - examining productivity and underlying reasons behind heterogeneity in response and how this can be modified - using our high throughput culture and single cell analysis facility.

I use biocatalysts at different scales; the simplest scale being the isolated enzyme to the most complex such as a self-replicating cell. Each approach has their benefits and disadvantages. The easiest to implement is an isolated biocatalysts but these have limited capacity for product formation and processing. At the other extreme, whole cells have complex biochemical pathways to consider and require approaches like metabolic engineering or synthetic biology to streamline and improve production of selected metabolites.

Also, we're applying research knowledge to improve thermal processing outcomes and preserving nutrients in processed foods by working with a range of food and beverage companies. In a different direction, we are using yeast to convert food wastes and byproducts to biodiesel production.

Research interests

Enzyme discovery and design; metabolic engineering of yeast and bacteria; systems biology of cultured cells.

Application areas: biocatalysis; bioprocessing; energy

Monash teaching commitment

CHE1010 Grand Challenges in Chemical Engineering: delivering sustainable water, food and energy
CHE4180 Research project
CHE4171 Biochemical engineering
CHE5882 Biomass and biorefineries
CHE5889 Food Engineering

Supervision interests

Final year (CHE4180) students; PhD students interested in these research areas are welcome to apply

Research area keywords

Enzymes
metabolic engineering
cell heterogeneity
Lipid metabolism
synthetic biology
Protein engineering

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Projects 2018 2019

1 Finished

Re-Thinking Biofuels in Australia: An analysis through the lens of energy law and policy

Kraal, D., Haritos, V. & Cantley-Smith, R.

Monash University – Internal Department Contribution, Monash University – Internal School Contribution

1/07/18 → 30/06/19

Project: Research