Nonwoody Plant Lignin for Advanced Applications

Dr. Widya is a professor at the Research Center for Biomass and Bioproducts, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia. Her professorship is the valorization of lignin and cellulose for advanced materials and renewable energy. She leads the BRIN lignin and tannin derivative research group, which is dedicated to research and innovation on lignin and tannin valorization and has collaborated in many studies and universities overseas. The primary research areas are biomass conversion, biorefinery, cellulose valorization, lignin valorization for bioproducts, and biomass chemistry. She has been involved in various research projects, such as lignin for biosurfactants, fire retardants, seed coating, biocomposites, lignin for jet fuel, marine biomaterials, nanocosmetics from biomass, biomedical pulp, and pulp and paper.

Dr. Lee obtained his Ph.D in Wood Science and Technology at the Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia. After graduation, he continued his academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He was employed as a research fellow at the Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He is currently working as a senior lecturer at the Department of Wood Industry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang Branch Jengka Campus. His research interests include wood composites, wood treatments, wood adhesives and polymers.

Dr. Nur Izyan Wan Azelee is a senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and is currently an associate research fellow at Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD). She obtained her bachelor's degree as well as completing her Ph.D. in Bioprocess Engineering from UTM. Her research expertise is in enzyme technology, enzyme immobilization, carbohydrate analysis, biomass pretreatment, biomass conversion, process optimization, and enzyme kinetics. Currently, she is working on the pretreatment of biomass for efficient delignification, enzymatic hydrolysis and optimization for high sugar production, enzyme immobilization for transesterification for biodiesel production, and bioconversion of biomass into valuable ingredients for cosmetic products.