HUERTA OCHOA, SERGIO

Professor Sergio Huerta-Ochoa was born in Orizaba Veracruz on July 16, 1956. He studied the Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Veracruzana in Orizaba Veracruz obtaining the degree in 1979. He completed his Master's studies in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa (UAM-I) in Mexico City obtaining the degree in 1984. He received his PhD from the University of Reading in the Uk in 1993.

He has been part of the staff of the Biotechnology Department (UAM-I) for 43 years. He won the 2017 Teaching Award from the Division of Biological and Health Sciences (CBS-UAM-I). He spent a sabbatical year (2007–2008) as Honorary Associate Researcher in the Biochemical Engineering Department, London University College, United Kingdom.

His experience focuses mainly on engineering bioconversion processes using whole-cells in partitioning bioreactors. His last three Conahcyt projects as technical manager are: Design and modeling of a bioreactor for the biosynthesis of lactones with whole-cells in aqueous-ionic liquid two-phase system (2004-2007); Scale-down strategies for partitioning bioreactors (2008-2011); Bioconversion of citrus flavones using whole-cells in a partitioning bioreactor (2015-2018). He is the co-author of 70 articles in International Indexed Journals (Index h 22, Scopus-Elsevier, march 2026), 20 book chapters, and edited four books: The books "Advances and applications of partitioning bioreactors" and the book "Whole-Cell Biocatalysis: Fundamentals and Applications" were printed by Elsevier. And the books "Enzymatic Reactors" and "Advances in purification and application of enzymes in biotechnology" were printed by our University.

He has supervised 14 Master's theses and 10 Doctoral´s theses. As Director of the Doctoral thesis "Study of the mechanisms of mass transfer, kinetic and deactivation of a three-phase partitioning bioreactor using whole-cells" won the Alfredo Sánchez Marroquín Award in 2015, awarded by the Mexican Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (SMBB) and Yakult. As Co-Director in the Doctoral thesis "Technological production of 2-Phenylethanol using a recovery technique with a hybrid material based on polyurethane and keratin fiber" the "State Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation Durango 2018" was obtained to the best Doctoral thesis in the category "Engineering, Industrial and Technological Development”.

Since 2017, he has been part of the Editorial Board of the Biochemical Engineering Journal (Elsevier). It belongs to the National Researchers System (SNI) in "Level III". He has been a member of the SMBB since 1995 and the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC) since 2014.