News

October 2026

• Dr. Sebastián Espinel Ríos attended the AI in Science Summit 2026. More info.

• New preprint. Ensemble-based modelling of optogenetic bioprocesses under phototoxicity. arXiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.14974

• Welcome Ning Song! (PhD student in Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering).

September 2026

• New preprint. Multichromatic dynamic control of multi-membered microbial consortia compositions for chemical production. bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.28.754827.

• New preprint. "Automated feature-region selection for soft-sensor development from spectral-like measurements", available on arXiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.27082.

• New publication. "Combining Automated Kinetic Model Selection with Robust Optimization and Application to Maximize Cell-free Production of UDP-GalNAc", available in Metabolic Engineering Communications: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mec.2026.e00287.

• Welcome Chris O'Leary! (ME Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering student; master's research thesis).

August 2026

• Dr. Sebastián Espinel Ríos attended the 23rd IFAC World Congress in Busan, South Korea. He gave a talk on advances in reinforcement learning for smart bioprocesses. Specifically, he outlined strategies for optimising pulse-width-modulated inputs, such as those commonly encountered in optogenetically driven biosystems. More info.

• Dr. Sebastián Espinel Ríos was invited by Invert to share some of the motivation behind the research the group is currently pursuing and envisioning at UCD, as well as some selected research directions and projects. More info.

• Fully funded PhD opportunity on generative AI for novel bioprocess design (downstream-focused) open for applications.

July 2026

• Dr. Sebastián Espinel Ríos presented at Process Systems Engineering (PSE) Mexico 2026, hosted by UAM Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. He shared some of his work and vision for integrating systems biology with process systems engineering to advance smart bioproduction and support the digitalization of the biotechnology industry. This vision is a central driver of our research group. More info.

June 2026

• Our group will be part of the new €60M 'Rinn Pharma and Biopharma' national centre for Research and Innovation in Making Medicines. We will be contributing to bioprocess digitization research! More info.

May 2026

• Welcome Sam Ferrer! (Visiting undergraduate from ENSIACET, France).

• New preprint. "Noise analysis of derivative-action biomolecular topologies", available on bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.06.723344.

• Welcome Yufan Liu! (PhD student in Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering).

April 2026

• The paper "Switching-time bioprocess control with pulse-width-modulated optogenetics" (preprint on arXiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.22893) was accepted at the 23rd IFAC World Congress to be held in Busan, Republic of Korea (August 23-28, 2026).

• Spotlight by the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems.

January 2026

• The group formally begins activities!

December 2025

• New preprint. "Switching-time bioprocess control with pulse-width-modulated optogenetics", available on arXiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.22893.

October 2025

• Fully funded PhD opportunity open for applications.

June 2025

• Spotlight by the Control and Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory (CCPS) at TU Darmstadt.

• The Systems Engineering for Biotechnology research group will begin activities in early 2026, in the School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering at University College Dublin.