Frank Kensy, CEO & Co-Founder
Frank founded b.fab in 2018 and since then developed the company as managing director/CEO. He gained his entrepreneurial experience as founder and managing director of m2p-labs GmbH during 10 years growth of the company from a university spin-off to a worldwide leading supplier of microbioreactors and lab automation. m2p-labs was directly spun-off from his PhD thesis project with Prof. Jochen Büchs at RWTH Aachen. Before, he was group leader of the fermentation group at Rhein Biotech N.V. (today Dynavax) in Düsseldorf to develop bioprocesses for production of new recombinant enzymes and pharmaceutical proteins. Frank studied Biochemical Engineering at the University Essen, Madrid and at RWTH Aachen.
Sebastian Köbbing, Head of Synthetic Biology
Sebastian is Head of Synthetic Biology and is responsible for the genetic and metabolic engineering of production strains at b.fab. Sebastian earned his B. Sc. in Biosciences at the University of Münster and his M. Sc. in Biology at the RWTH Aachen University. For his PhD, he joined the Institute of Applied Microbiology under the supervision of Lars M. Blank and Nick Wierckx, focusing on the development of synthetic biology tools in Pseudomonas species. During his postdoctoral research at RWTH Aachen, Sebastian continued expanding the genetic toolbox for faster and more specific genetic and metabolic engineering across a broad range of microorganisms. At the same time, he supervised students and led several industry-driven projects for international customers.
Florent Collas, Head of Process Engineering
Florent joined b.fab in February 2021 as a Head of Process Engineering. He was previously involved in various white biotechnology projects aiming at producing bulk chemicals (isopropanol, butanol, isobutanol, isobutene…) from substrates of first, second (lignocellulosic biomass) and third (Syngas, CO2) generation. Within these projects, he gained experiences in bioprocess and metabolic engineering. Florent did his PhD between France (IFPEN in Rueil-Malmaison) and The Netherlands (Food and Biobased Research in Wageningen) and studied life sciences at the French “Grande École” AgroParisTech (former Institut National d’Agronomie Paris-Grignon).
Fernanda Vasquez Raffo, Laboratory Operations Manager
Fernanda assumed the position of Laboratory Operations Manager upon joining b.fab in February 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Technical University of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and a Master of Science in Biological Science from the University of Cologne. Her prior experience includes working in various laboratories at CECAD, Uniklinikum of Cologne, and the University of Bonn, where she acquired essential biotechnological practices and expertise making her a valuable asset to the team at b.fab.