Dr. Marija Mojicevic, has recently joined the Material Research Institute at AIT as part of the EU-China H2020 BioInnovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics (BioICEP) team. Marija completed her PhD in Biotechnology at the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia carrying out experimental work at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Marija has considerable experience in bioprocessing and bioproduct generation. As part of her Masters and Batchelor degree programs Marija has performed and monitored a range of biosynthetic studies on areas including xanthan gum production and wastewater treatment including their modeling and optimization. The primary focus of Marija’s PhD research was isolation of novel Streptomyces spp., their characterization and assessment of secondary metabolite production coupled with the detection, structural characterization and identification of antifungal compounds and optimization of their biosynthesis. As part of the BioICEP team, Marija will lead the biocatalytic and microbial plastic digestion technology stream at AIT. This is an exciting new and cutting edge addition to AIT’s suite of plastics technologies and will be instrumental in keeping AIT at the forefront of developments within the rapidly evolving field of polymers and plastics.