iBB IDMEC and INESC-ID
Description of main R&I activities
iBB contributed to the isolation, exploitation and development of microorganisms as cell factories and advanced bioprocesses for the production of Bio-based chemicals and other bioproducts from renewable resources and organic wastes towards a sustainable bioeconomy. . Superior yeast strains (multistress tolerant and improved metabolic ability) were developed informed by physiological genomics strategies and exploring genome engineering approaches. Bioprocesses were developed for the production of bioethanol and other bio-based chemicals from renewable substrates and residues. The development of bioseparation processes, the production and engineering of bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) (rheology modifiers, gelling agents) from agro-food industry residues and the development and integration of mixed-culture bioreactors in domestic and industrial wastewater treatment systems and their in situ monitoring using spectroscopy, are other areas of expertise. IDMEC contributed to topics directly related to energy such as biomass ignition, combustion, gasification and pyrolysis; INESC-ID contributed to artificial intelligence, data analysis, and environmental governance and modelling of socio-ecological systems that characterises the transition to a bioeconomy.
Key contributions for the CoLAB
IST will contribute to: 1) Isolation and development of efficient microorganisms, especially yeasts, (exploring microbial biodiversity, microbial physiology, physiological genomics and genome engineering approaches) and advanced bioprocesses (exploring process conditions, enzyme catalysis, bioreactor design, membranes, absorbers) envisaging the production of bioproducts (e.g. biofuels and other bio-based chemicals enzymes, biopolymers, biosurfactants) from renewable substrates and recycled urbane, forest, and agroindustrial residues; 2) Impact of inorganic elements on the pyrolysis and gasification of biomass; Particulate matter formation during biomass gasification; 3) Artificial intelligence, data analysis, and environmental governance, together with the understanding and engineering of the socio-ecological systems.
International Networks / Associations
IST is an Innoenergy (http://www.innoenergy.com/) partner. COST Action CA18229 “Non-Conventional Yeasts for the Production of Bioproducts” (Isabel Sá-Correia, Management Committee) and other international research collaborations with TU Delft (Helena Pinheiro), MIT (Frederico Ferreira); Marie Curie International Training Network (ITN) ALFF (ALgal Microbiome: Friends and Foes) and The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium (Rodrigo Costa). I FEMS (Federation of the European Microbiology Societies) Council delegate (I. Sá-Correia and EFB (European Federation of Biotechnology) Applied Biocatalysis section delegates (Frederico Ferreira, Luís Fonseca). EraNet Industrial Biotechnology-IB-2, 5th call project “YEASTPEC - Engineering of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for bioconversion of pectin-containing agro-industrial sidestreams” (PI at iBB/IST: Isabel Sá-Correia; other partners: GlobalYeast; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd; Jacobs University and Technische Universität München, Germany).