B5461 - MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CIRCULAR PRODUCTION OF MOLECULES OF INDUSTRIAL INTEREST FOR THE PHARMA-FOOD SECTOR AND AS INNOVATIVE BIOMATERIALS

Learning outcomes

The student will learn: - the main principles and approaches of microbial biotechnologies, including the management and control of the biological resources and the setup of tailored fermentation processes for the production of industrial products; - the main multiomics technologies (eg. metagenomics, metaproteomic and metabolomics) applied to the biodiscovery and screening of new bioresources and the regulatory aspects concerning the IPR protection; - concrete examples of circular process for the valorization of industrial side streams for the production of: platform chemicals as VFA, pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals, bioplastics and bacterial cellulose;

Course contents

1. Hints on basic aspects on microbiology, microbial ecology and microbial biotechnology for industrial applications: diversity of the microbial life, genomic, cloning and expression systems for biotechnological applications, fermentation approaches and platforms;
2. Approaches and technologies for the discovery of new microbial bioresources of industrial interest: search, isolation, characterization and functional screening of new bioresources;
3. Regulatory aspects and limits for the usage and exploitation of natural bioresources, valorization of the intellectual property in the context of the Nagoya protocol;
4. Design and implementation of circular process for the valorization of industrial side streams (eg. lignocellulosic biomass and agri-food waste/residues) for the production of molecules of industrial interest (eg. bioactive small molecules as polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides; volatile fatty acids; microbial bioplastics, bacterial cellulose and dyes, among others)

Readings/Bibliography

• Metagenomics. 1st Edition Perspectives, Methods, and Applications Muniyandi Nagarajan Academic Press Inc.(London) Ltd
• R in Action. Third Edition. Robert I. Kabacoff. Manning Publications
• Brock Biology of Microorganisms. 16th Edition. Michael M. Madigan, Kelly S. Bender, Daniel Buckley, W. Matthew Sattley, David A. Stahl Pearson
• Fermentation Microbiology and Biotechnology. Fourth Edition. E. M. T. El-Mansi, Jens Nielsen, David Mousdale, Ross P. Carlson. CRC Press
• Industrial Microbiology, an introduction. Michael J. Waites, Neil L. Morgan, John S. Rockey and Gary Higton. Blackwell Science.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Teaching tools

Board, projector

Office hours

See the website of Marco Candela