Manuel Carrondo, Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, has been involved in animal cell technology research since the mid-eighties, through a couple of sabbaticals at MIT’s Biotechnology Process Engineering Center. Manuel created iBET in Oeiras in 1988 and GenIbet as a spin-off in 2006 to carry out productions of cGMP biopharmaceuticals for phase I/II clinical trials for proteins, viruses for gene therapy and vaccines and cell therapy. Currently, iBET’s vice-president, Manuel Carrondo has recently been distinguished with the Cell Culture Engineering (CCE) Award 2021. Prof. Carrondo has published over 250 papers and supervised thirty-six PhD students (thesis defended).