Isaac Berzin (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: איציק ברזין; born December 12, 1967) is an Israeli

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

and entrepreneur.

Academic and professional life

Berzin is a scientist and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

in the field of sustainable

microalgae Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic scale, microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine life, marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellul ...

. During his early career years, his research was focused on

biofuels Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic ...

, and in recent years his focus shifted to sustainable aquafeed, nutrition and human health products. Berzin is currently the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of VAXA Technologies LTD, producing

Omega-3 Omega−3 fatty acids, also called omega−3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their ...

and

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

rich

for feed and food applications. The microalgae are sustainably cultivated in an integrated process within one of the world's largest geothermal power plants, located in Hellisheiði,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

.
He is a co-author, together with

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

Laureate, William Moomaw, of the Industrial Biotechnology cover paper “Cutting out the Middle Fish”, positioning sustainably cultivated microalgae as next generation superfood. In 2012 Isaac Berzin Founded Qualitas Health Inc. He was Chief Technology Officer of The company that produces and markets the first FDA-approved Omega-3 dietary ingredient ever produced from photosynthetic algae. Berzin founded in 2001 the first algae-to-biofuel company in the world, GreenFuel Technologies Corporation, that aimed to use

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

to eat up

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

and to produce

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

. This company has been closed down in May 2009. Prof. Berzin is an Affiliated Scientist at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, where he worked at the Center for Space Research on a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

sponsored project, developing bioreactors for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. He completed his Post-Doctoral research at

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

lab of Prof. Robert S. Langer lab at MIT. Isaac is a faculty member at the Department of Engineering, Reykjavik University,

and the Faculty for

Marine Sciences Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its Physical oceanography, physics, Chemical oceanography, chemistry, Biological oceanography, biology, a ...

, Ruppin Academic Center,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Berzin was a senior faculty member at the Interdisciplinary Center in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

and established an Israel-based international institute to formulate alternative energy policies. In June 2008, Berzin addressed 130 members of the "Cleantech Israel" business network. He discussed his experience at GreenFuel Technologies and Israel's potential to be a world leader in renewable energy. As a senior fellow at the

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is a center for interdisciplinary study in the humanities and social sciences, and the development of new ways of addressing questions of global concern that hold special importance for Israeli society and the r ...

, Berzin led the Solar-Ketchup Project in 2011: A team of Israeli,

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian researchers, working together to explore the techno-economics of semi-transparent photovoltaic cells for co-production of solar electricity and tomato farming.

Honors and awards

Berzin was named one the 100 most influential people in politics, business and science in 2008 by the

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

for his work in alga-culture. Prof. Berzin's work in sustainable alga-culture has won awards, including the Frost and Sullivan Award, Platts Global Energy Award and American Society of Competitiveness (ASC) Awards.

References

External links

Qualitas Health Inc.GreenFuel Technologies CorporationBerzin sets up new Renewable Energy consortiumBerzin on Green ProphetIsaac Berzin to enlist Israelis into the business of green
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berzin, Isaac Ben-Gurion University of the Negev alumni Israeli chemical engineers Israeli scientists Living people 1967 births Academic staff of Reichman University