GOODBYO - Multi-commodities microbial-driven BiOrefinery based on food-processing industry wastes, biogenic CO2 and bioprocess wastewaters (HORIZON-JU-CBE-2023)

GoodByO aims to develop a new generation of biorefinery system that integrate agri-food waste, biogenic CO₂ and bioprocess wastewater to produce bioproducts.

The project will implement this visionary concept at the bio-plant of Dutch company ChainCraft BV, in order to exploit gaseous and liquid residues as sustainable raw materials at zero cost. Thanks to the metabolic diversity of microbial catalysts, GoodByO will develop and validate four different microbial factories at TRL5.

The project will also design an in silico renewable energy model capable of supporting the variable energy demand of the entire system integrated over time, exploiting the biomethanation process as an energy grid balancing system. GoodByO will produce bio-octanoic acid, bio-hexanol, carotenoids, microbial proteins and organic fertilisers in order to meet growing market demand at competitive prices compared to benchmarks.

The ultimate goal is to encourage end-user companies to replace fossil oil and palm oil-based products with bio-based ones, helping to increase the EU’s global leadership in the manufacturing industry and also advancing the biotechnology sectors for CO₂ capture and utilisation.

EU-IBISBA - European Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Synthetic Biology Accelerator

EU-IBISBA is a pan-European research infrastructure dedicated to Industrial Biotechnology that provides a single access point to researchers from academia and industry across the globe to integrated services for end-to-end bioprocess development. By federating European expertise and state-of-the-art research and development facilities, we promote standardization and best data practices as core elements of service reproducibility and interoperability. In doing so, EU-IBISBA accelerates the production and translation of cutting-edge knowledge into innovation for biomanufacturing.

IBISBA-IT serves as the Italian Node of EU-IBISBA, playing a distinct role across four key domains: Synthetic Biology, Green Chemistry, Sustainable Bioenergy, and Functional Food. IBISBA-IT contributes to the overarching goals of EU-IBISBA by bolstering the Italian scientific research in Industrial Biotechnology, supporting national and local authorities, and fostering training and educational initiatives.

CYAO-CYAnobacteria platform Optimised for bioproduction

The development of economically and environmentally sustainable strategies for the production of renewable fuels and chemical supplies is perceived as one of the most burning issues in modern society. In particular, the generation of bioproducts from renewable sources having high associated quality value is a core task of bioeconomy. The principal aims of the CYAO project are:

– the development of cyanobacterial strains having improved growth yield and biomass accumulation by the engineering of their light-harvesting capacity;

– the development of cyanobacterial strains producing and accumulating high levels of the antioxidant carotenoid astaxanthin (Asx);

– the evaluation of the feasibility of rainbow trout aquaculture in which the bioproduct Asx, extracted from the engineered cyanobacterial strains, is used as feed supplement.

PNRR ITINERIS - Development of a structural biology platform as part of the IBISBA European research infrastructure network

Protein function can be understood through protein structure. The structure of a protein can inform the design of modifications resulting in increase or reduction of activity, depending on the desired goal. The service we are developing is a structure determination pipeline (from gene to protein structure). The design of synthetic proteins needs both validation by structure determination and it need to be inspired by structures of the proteins – either the ones to be modified or the products of the initial stages of design.  The user will provide either the gene encoding the protein of interest, or vector/expression system and purification protocol for producing it recombinantly, or purified protein.  The service will provide either of the following deliverables:

• Crystal structure.
• Cryo-EM structure (for targets with Molecular Weight MW greater than 200 kDa).

PRIN 2022 PNRR DYE ART- In vivo incorporation of organic DYE to ARTificially enhance photosynthetic efficiency in green algae and cyanobacteria

Grazie a una maggiore efficienza di fissazione dell’anidride carbonica rispetto alle piante terrestri, le microalghe possono svolgere un ruolo fondamentale nella futura economia a basse emissioni di carbonio e il loro potenziale ha suscitato un crescente interesse da parte del mondo accademico e dell’industria per lo sviluppo di tecnologie di cattura e utilizzo della CO₂.

DYE ART mira alla sperimentazione di una nuova e promettente tecnologia basata su coloranti sintetici che agiscono come sistemi antenna artificiali per migliorare l’efficienza fotosintetica di alghe verdi e cianobatteri. L’obiettivo è quello di superare le attuali limitazioni della crescita autotrofa delle microalghe nei fotobioreattori, per rendere sostenibili i processi biotecnologici basati sulle microalghe, riducendo l’impronta di carbonio e aumentando la produttività complessiva.

DYE ART integra competenze multidisciplinari all’avanguardia nel campo della biologia, della biotecnologia e della fotonica. Il progetto si propone di caratterizzare, verificare e convalidare l’approccio delle antenne artificiali in due gruppi di microalghe – alghe verdi e cianobatteri – entrambi di importanza fondamentale per lo sviluppo di un’ampia gamma di processi biotecnologici e caratterizzati da una diversa configurazione dei complessi pigmento-proteina che raccolgono la luce.

PNRR AGRITECH (SPOKE 8) - CIRCULAR ECONOMY in AGRICULTURE THROUGH WASTE VALORIZATION and RECYCLING

The research activity carried out at IBBA is part of Task 8.1.2 ‘Valorisation of waste through biotechnological processes to obtain high-value molecules or new products’ and focuses on the exploitation of photosynthetic organisms, such as microalgae (Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella vulgaris) and duckweeds (Lemna minor, Lemna gibba) for the treatment of dairy wastewaters coupled with the production of biomasses that can be valorised for their protein content and high added-value compounds.

The project also envisages the metagenomic characterisation of microbial consortia associated with the photosynthetic organisms during wastewater treatment and the isolation and characterisation of local microalgal strains from the dairy plant washing waters.

PNRR ITINERIS - Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System

The most critical challenges currently faced by our society include pollution, land use and climate change, and their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, which urgently require quantitative knowledge to be translated into actionable strategies. Given the complexity of these challenges, a multidisciplinary Earth System approach is essential, combining field and laboratory measurements, experimental analyses, data management and modeling tools across interconnected environmental domains. In this framework, ITINERIS was established as a thematic network bringing together 22 environmental Research Infrastructures to build an integrated national system for the observation and study of atmospheric, marine, terrestrial biosphere and geosphere processes.

Within WP6 – Terrestrial Biosphere, CNR-IBBA contributes to the development of harmonized and distributed platforms for metagenomic analyses, biomolecule production, and structural and functional characterization.

By promoting interoperability and data standardization in line with the IBISBA-EU roadmap, ITINERIS supports a long-term, innovative vision of Italian and European environmental research.

PNRR ONFOODS (SPOKE 2) - SMART and CIRCULAR FOOD SYSTEM and DISTRIBUTION

As part of the ONFOODS Partnership, CNR-IBBA is deeply involved in SPOKE 2, where it conducts research related to the development of innovative technologies for the recovery and valorisation of agri-food waste and the use of biomass obtained for the formulation of new solutions for sustainable, bio-based food packaging.

In particular, in WP2.1 ‘WP2.2: New technologies for food waste recovery’ IBBA coordinates for the CNR in Task 2.1.1 the BIOCOIM-BIOCOnversion of agro-industrial food and waste by Insects and Microalgae project and participates within Task 2.1.3 at the projects NEWPRO-NEW food and non-food PROducts from agrifood wastes and VALUE_PRODUCT-EVALUation of prototypEs from by PRODUCTs/waste. In WP2, IBBA participates in Task 2.2.1 in the projects BIOPACK-New solution for sustainable BIO-based food PACKaging; FUNPACK-Assessment of bio-FUNctional properties of new smart and sustainable PACKaging solutions and PILOT_PACK-PILOT-scale PACKaging solutions; and within Task 2.2.2 in the BIOSAN-BIOchemical technologies for SANitization of fresh food products project.