Pablo I. Nikel earned a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During graduate school, his research focused on engineering Escherichia coli to produce biopolymers and biofuels. After working in USA (Rice University, supported by the ASM), Pablo moved to Europe as a post-doctoral fellow funded by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of the European Commission. He is now leading the Systems Environmental Microbiology Group at DTU Biosustain. Pablo’s team aims at rewriting the core bacterial biochemistry through synthetic metabolism for the biosynthesis of novel compounds with a focus on new-to-nature fine chemicals. The ambition of this research programme is expanding the very limits of microbial biochemistry—granting access to compounds that, as of today, are exclusively produced via traditional chemistry nowadays. Pablo, a Full Professor at DTU, received the Ascending Investigator and Distinguished Innovator awards from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the MSCA Award on Innovation. Among other obligations, he is Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Biotechnology and editor for five other journals including Metabolic Engineering and Microbial Biotechnology, and a cofounder of BioHalo, a spin-out company from his laboratory pursuing bioproduction of fluorochemicals, along three other companies.