Sustainble Microbial and Biocatalytic Production of Advanced Functional Materials
The Sustainble Microbial and Biocatalytic Production of Advanced Functional Materials (Bioproduction) IP  aims at the development of novel sustainable bioprocesses for the production of functional bioproducts (e.g., lactic acid- and PHA-based polyesters, chitosan and alginate biopolymers, polysaccharide-based biosurfactants). To address this challenge, the following radical innovations will be pursued:

• Novel biocatalysts: exploration of native/manipulated microorganisms for the low-cost production of a wide spectrum of enzymes with tailored substrate specificity, thermal stability and optimum pH. Use of bioinformatics in design of specific enzyme targets. Improvement of enzyme stability and catalytic efficiency using immobilization technologies. Biocatalysis in organic media.
• Metabolic pathway engineering of multiple reactions to generate novel metabolic products, for enhancing naturally occurring pathways to generate intermediates and to broaden the utilizable substrate range to various renewable and waste carbon sources.
• Innovative downstream processing operation for the recovery of bioproducts.
• Digital bioproduction and bioprocessing: the application of advanced modeling, monitoring and control methods to bioprocesses will bring new prospects for substantial improvements in production efficiency and product quality.