Plenary Speakers

We are very honoured to present our plenary speakers for this edition of HTCD2026!

 Dr. Paco Laveille

Dr. Paco Laveille is an experienced scientist specializing in materials chemistry, catalysis, and self-driving laboratories. He holds a master’s degree in Biochemistry from Université de La Rochelle and a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from Université de Montpellier.
In 2010, following a postdoctoral fellowship at IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), he joined the Catalysis Center at KAUST (Saudi Arabia) as a Research Engineer, where he led high-throughput experimentation initiatives and contributed to catalyst design research in the group of Prof. Jean-Marie Basset.
He later served as a Senior Scientist at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), leading applied research on catalytic technologies for both conventional and renewable fuel production at laboratory, pilot, and commercial scales.
Since 2021, Dr. Laveille has been the Managing Director of SwissCAT+ at ETH Zurich, where he established and now leads a national technology platform for data-driven, automated high-throughput experimentation in catalysis. His work focuses on integrating laboratory automation, experimental data digitalization, and machine learning tools to accelerate the discovery and optimization of heterogeneous catalysts for the production of sustainable fuels and chemicals.

 Prof. Toshiaki Taniike

Pr. Toshiaki Taniike received his Ph.D. in Science from the University of Tokyo in 2006, specializing in solid catalysis and computational chemistry. In the same year, he joined the School of Materials Science at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2020.
His primary research interest lies in the implementation of Materials Informatics through the integration of high-throughput experimentation, data science, and computational chemistry. He currently serves as the project leader of a Japanese governmental initiative on reaction exploration.
At HTCD2026, he will propose a lecture titled “Scaling up Catalyst and Catalysis Exploration by High-Throughput Experimentation and Descriptor Generator.”

 Prof. Zbynek Prokop

Zbynek Prokop is a Professor at the Loschmidt Laboratories, Masaryk University, where he leads a research team focused on understanding the fundamental principles of protein chemistry, biomolecular mechanisms, and kinetics. His current research focuses on protein engineering for stroke and Alzheimer’s disease therapies, integrating advanced biophysical and microfluidic methods. He earned his Ph.D. at Masaryk University and conducted postdoctoral and research stays at the University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, TU Wien, and the University of Groningen. Professor Prokop has co-authored over 140 scientific papers (h-index 39), several international patents and delivered more than 30 invited and plenary lectures at conferences and universities worldwide. He is also a co-founder of the biotech spin-off Enantis Ltd, which specializes in protein therapeutics and enzyme technology.

 Dr. Isabel Oroz-Guinea

Isabel Oroz-Guinea did her PhD at Dr. García‑Junceda’s group (Organic Chemistry Institute from the Spanish National research Council), where she focused on the design of stereoselective chemo‑ and multi‑enzyme cascades. After defending her PhD Thesis, she joined Prof. Bornscheuer’s group (Greifswald University) as a Postdoctoral researcher. There, she worked on the development of engineered lipases with enhanced selectivity for the biocatalytic isolation of long chain fatty acids from renewable resources. In 2018, she moved to Prof. Kroutil’s group (Graz University), with a Postdoctoral contract to develop biocatalytic processes with industrial interest. After a year, she was appointed as University Assistant (Institute of Chemistry, Graz University) to design and implement our automated high throughput screening platform. In 2024, she was promoted to Senior Scientist. Her current research includes the application of high throughput processes to projects dealing with enzyme engineering, bioremediation processes, development of therapeutic proteins, and biosynthetic chemistry.