Pablo Ivan Nikel

Pablo Ivan Nikel is a Professor and Group Leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability within the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His work focuses on metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and microbial biotechnology with applications in sustainable bioproduction and environmental microbiology. He leads the DTU Microbes Initiative and actively supervises multiple PhD students in projects involving genome engineering, enzyme discovery, and biocatalyst development.

Research Interests: Nikel’s research integrates computational and experimental approaches to re-design microbial metabolism for industrial applications. Key areas include metabolic pathway engineering in Pseudomonas species, high-throughput screening systems, and the development of synthetic genetic tools for bioproduction optimization. His work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to clean energy and responsible consumption.

Publications Overview: Recent work spans tool development for iterative genome engineering (CIFR system), metabolic sensor design, and improving resource efficiency in Pseudomonas strains. His publications emphasize interdisciplinary methods combining bioinformatics, synthetic biology, and microbial physiology.

Grants & Advising: Currently supervising 5 PhD projects including genome reduction of bacteria chassis, lignin valorization, and non-canonical redox metabolism engineering. His research is supported by grants focused on biodegradation of xenobiotics and industrial biotechnology.

Labs/Teams: Leads a multidisciplinary team at DTU’s Center for Biosustainability, collaborating internationally on projects involving metabolic modeling, fermentation optimization, and microbial strain design.