INDUSTRIOPHILE
Tailored and robust cell-factories for the next-generation Industrial Biotechnology
Motivation
Climate change, dwindling availability of fossil fuels and global problems such as the ubiquitous presence of (micro-)plastics in the environment have boosted the demand for robust and efficient microbial factories for the manufacturing of drop-in, bio-based products from renewable feedstocks.
Microbial chassis used in bioprocesses have been historically selected based on their presence in fermented foods and other traditional processes, not because they perform well under the harsh conditions in large-scale chemical production. To perform well and to ultimately render the process economically feasible, these chassis must to maintain the production of bio-based chemicals in the presence of high substrate and product concentrations, in the presence of solvents, at elevated temperatures, under shear, etc.
However, current chassis are often not appropriately equipped for these harsh industrial conditions. Therefore, industrial biotechnology has worked for decades with “imperfect” chassis, ad-hoc engineering them to produce novel compounds or convert novel substrates. Integration of rational, systematic and engineering-based strategies is warranted to improve chassis physiology, but both a lack of knowledge of networks underlying the desired traits and their embedding, as well as limited genetic tools have thus far precluded this.
Advances in systems and synthetic biology as well as in computational sciences now make this possible, namely through the deployment of a Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) engineering strategy, entailing also strong bioprospecting and digital twinning components.
We aim to explore and rationally engineer industrially desired traits into existing and novel cell-factories allowing them to fulfil the requirements for next generation bioprocesses in different industrial sectors. It underpins research that will possibly enable technically and economically competitive translation into industrial applications, and it is strongly embedded in a Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) and Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI) framework. Thereby, it will meaningfully contribute to the lay the basis for a shift from a petrochemical to bio-based economy.
Project coordinator
Prof. dr. ir. Vitor A.P. Martins dos Santos (Wageningen University)
Our partners
Consortium partners (next to HAN)
- Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- RIVM
- TU Delft
- Universiteit van Amsterdam
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Wageningen Universiteit & Research (penvoerder/penholder)
- ADM GmbH
- ALTAR
- EV Biotech
- Gecco Biotech
- Ingenza Ltd
- Isobionics (BASF)
- KraftHeinz
- Mitsubishi Chemical UK
- NPI
- Al4b.io
- BiotechAcademyDelft
- BiotechBooster
- DSMZ
- ELIXIR
- IBISBA
- Ministerie van Infrastructuur & Waterstaat
- PlanetB.io
- UNLOCK
Biobased Innovations
The researchers of the Biobased Innovations lectorate, together with students, conduct practice-oriented research. This research focuses on how we can make responsible and smart use of living nature. In doing so, we investigate the entire chain of biodiscovery.
