Dr. Andrea Adamo, CEO and founder of Zaiput Flow Technologies, is an engineer and entrepreneur with extensive experience in the development of innovative solutions in the context of fluid flows and chemical processing applications.

Dr. Adamo holds a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Palermo, Italy and a Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics from the University Federico II of Naples, Italy in addition to a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also awarded the Fulbright Scholarship.

After completing his graduate studies, Dr Adamo joined the laboratory of Prof. Klavs Jensen, first as Postdoctoral Associate and then as a Research Associate. In the Jensen group he worked on different applications of microfluidics, microchemistry and flow chemistry developing solutions in a wide range of problems and scale. He then moved on to starting Zaiput keeping a leading role on both the technical and business side.

Cameron Armstrong received his MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering with Dr. Tom Roper at Viriginia Commonwealth University in 2021. During this time, he worked on both process development and computational modeling of continuous flow processes. Upon graduating, he joined the Flexible API Supply Technologies (FAST) team at Pfizer in Groton, CT. The focus of the FAST team is enabling continuous manufacturing applications within the Pfizer portfolio, specifically in the small-molecule drug substance space. His research interests include data-rich experimentation, kinetic modeling, and he recently started a role focusing on the tech-transfer of continuous processes from the lab to the kilo-lab scale.

Chris completed his PhD in 2021 from MIT while working with Tim Jamison. This work focused on the automated flow synthesis of APIs and often involved close collaboration with the Jensen lab in the chemical engineering department. Chris then joined Snapdragon chemistry where he now works on process optimization and kg-scale demonstration projects towards small-molecule targets that often leverage flow technology.

Fabian Bruel obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Monochemistry and his Master’s degree in Molecular Chemistry from Sorbonne University. During his Master’s program, he completed a five-month internship in Canada at Professor Thierry Ollevier’s laboratory at Université Laval, focusing on the oxidation of para-substituted phenols using Bismuth(III) and (V) complexes.

And during the second year of his Master’s program he worked with Professor Christophe Len at ChimieParisTech, in collaboration with Thales. His work involved optimizing the synthesis of bio-based chemical compounds in connection with a new microwave/continuous flow device.

Currently, Fabian is working at the Institut de Recherche de Chimie de Paris within Professor Michael Tatoulian’s « Processes, Plasmas, Microsystems » team. His research focuses on the activation of solvents using a plasma microreactor in continuous flow.

Publications:

• Morand, Dedieu, Bruel et al.: “Functionalization of liquid organic substrates by plasma activation”, patent FR2500365, filed on January 14, 2025.
• Bruel, et al. : “Direct C(sp³)–H chloromethylation through CH₂Cl₂ activation using non-thermal plasma”, Green Chem., 2025. DOI : 10.1039/D5GC02405F.

Nikolay Cherkasov received his PhD from Moscow University (Russia) and spend 10 years in academia working on catalysis and continuous processing. He has 50+ research papers in the area of catalysis, process development & automation, and process intensification. The academic work led to the establishment of the company, Stoli Chem, which innovates continuous chemical production achieving efficiency and sustainability.

Jeff Derrick is a process chemist specializing in continuous-flow development and optimization. He earned his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Michigan and an M.Sc. in inorganic chemistry from UNIST (South Korea), where he investigated the roles of metal ions, amyloid proteins, and oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s disease under Prof. Mi Hee Lim. He completed his Ph.D. with Prof. Chris Chang at UC Berkeley in 2022, developing electrocatalytic systems for converting carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals. Jeff currently works in Enabling Technologies at Merck (Rahway, NJ, USA), where he focuses on designing, implementing, and scaling continuous-flow methods for process chemistry.

Hendrik Held started his career in the position as Project Engineer at Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik in April 2024, supporting the process development Team with focus in the field of hydrogenation and reactor modeling.

He studied chemical Engineering at the University of Applied Science Münster and continued in academia as research scientist first at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and continued the work on his PhD at the TU Dortmund in the research group of Prof. Hannsjörg Freund. His research topics were the kinetic measurement and modeling of hydrogenation reactions in trickle bed reactors as well as the application of additive manufactured (AM) periodic open cellular structures (POCS) as reactor inserts

Professor C. Oliver Kappe received his diploma- (1989) and his doctoral (1992) degrees in organic chemistry from the University of Graz where he worked with Professor Gert Kollenz on cycloaddition and rearrangement reactions of acylketenes. After periods of postdoctoral research work on reactive intermediates and matrix isolation spectroscopy with Professor Curt Wentrup at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia (1993- 1994) and on synthetic methodology/ alkaloid synthesis with Professor Albert Padwa at Emory University in Atlanta, USA (1994-1996), he moved back to the University of Graz in 1996 to start his independent academic career. He obtained his “Habilitation” in 1998 in organic chemistry and was appointed Associate Professor in 1999. Since 2011 he holds the position of Professor of “Technology of Organic Synthesis” (Organische Synthesetechnologie) at the University of Graz. He has spent time as visiting scientist/professor at e.g. the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, USA, Professor K. Barry Sharpless, 2003), the Toyko Institute of Technology (Toyko, Japan, Professor T. Takahashi, 2008), the University of Sassari (Sassari, Italy, 2008), the Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Orlando, USA, 2010) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2013).  The co-author of more than 300 publications, his main research interests have in the past focused on multicomponent reactions, combinatorial chemistry and the synthesis of biologically active heterocycles. More recently his research group has focused on the use of enabling and process intensification technologies for synthetic chemistry, including microwave and continuous flow processing.  For his innovative work in microwave chemistry he received the 2004 Prous Science Award from the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and the 2010 Houska Prize (€ 100.000) in addition to a number of other awards.

Education and Career

BS of chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 2007-2011

Master of science, State University of New York at Binghamton, New York, USA 2011-2015

PhD Chemistry, Stony Brook University, New York, USA, 2015-2020

Post-doc, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical Incorporation, USA, 2020-2021

Senior scientist process research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical Incorporation, USA, 2021 – present

Timothy Noël is a leading researcher in synthetic organic chemistry and technology, focusing on the synergy between these fields. He earned his MSc in Industrial Chemical Engineering in 2004 and completed his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Ghent University in 2009. As a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, he worked with Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald at MIT, gaining expertise in flow chemistry.

In 2012, he joined Eindhoven University of Technology as an Assistant Professor, becoming Associate Professor in 2017. Since 2020, he has been Full Professor and Chair of Flow Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam. His work has earned numerous honors, including the DECHEMA Award (2017), IUPAC-ThalesNano Flow Chemistry Award (2020), KNCV Gold Medal (2021), ERC Consolidator Grant (2022), and NWO Vici Grant (2025), completing the rare Veni-Vidi-Vici distinction.

Prof. Noël serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Flow Chemistry and President of the Flow Chemistry Society.

Dr. Rutherford earned her PhD in physical organic chemistry with Prof David Collum at Cornell University.    and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow with Prof Stephen Buchwald at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.      She joined Pfizer in the Chemical Technologies group in Process R&D in Groton, CT, where her work focused on catalysis, automation, flow technologies, and developing and implementing new technologies for the process chemistry environment.      She moved on to a tenure-track position teaching organic chemistry at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, and then to a role as a Product Development Chemist at Restek, a chromatography consumables manufacturer in Bellefonte, PA.   In April 2023, she is joined Takasago International Corporation as a Technical Marketing Chemist.

Dr. Iryna Savych earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Rostock, Germany, and continued as a Postdoctoral Researcher at TU Clausthal in collaboration with Novaled GmbH/Samsung, focusing on OLED materials and fluorinated boron compounds. She later joined GXC Coatings, developing UV-curable (meth)acrylate-based coatings, and subsequently became Head of Materials & Process Engineering and Innovation Team at BBC Cellpack Electrical Products, leading R&D in polyurethane, polybutadiene, and silicone materials. In her current role as Head of Division Flow and Formulation Chemistry at Fraunhofer IMM, she leads research on microstructured reactor and mixer technologies applied to organometallics, electro- and photochemistry, and nanoparticle synthesis, driving innovation and technology transfer to industry.

Steve Wainwright graduated from the University of York, UK, with his PhD in one-pot synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts. He joined Johnson Matthey in 2014 as a Development Chemist, focusing on developing new industrial heterogeneous PGM catalysts for petrochemical and bio-renewable applications from inception, through scale-up and manufacture. In his current role as Heterogeneous Catalyst R&D Manager he responsible for a portfolio of PGM heterogeneous catalysts, supporting the development and manufacture of new and existing catalysts within the Life Science Technology business.

Dr. Wen-Chun Zhang is a Senior Director of Chemical Development at Asymchem, Inc. Asymchem is a comprehensive contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with a complete continuum of support from preclinical to commercialization. Founded in 1997, Asymchem offers integrated solutions spanning the entire drug substance and drug product life cycle, backed by cutting-edge technology including flow chemistry and green manufacturing. With R&D and manufacturing operations in China, Europe, and the U.S. and a team of proven experts, we provide a full range of CDMO services for a global client base.

Wen-Chun is one of the recipients of the US Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2001 for his research on “Quasi-Nature Catalysis: Developing Transition Metal Catalysis in Air and Water”. With over fifteen years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Wen-Chun has built a distinguished career working with global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector. Prior to joining Asymchem, Wen-Chun was a certified Six Sigma Design Excellence Black Belt from Johnson & Johnson, specializing in process development for small molecule APIs. Wen-Chun’s industry career spans the entire spectrum of chemical process development, starting from the process excellence design, process pilot demonstration, and commercialization in the cGMP manufacturing facilities.