Category: Projects

TalTech Bioengineering team and Litegrav started a collaboration project to investigate growth of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in simulated microgravity. The aim of the project is to expose yeast cells to different stimuli and stressors, such as microgravity and radiation that would affect microbes in space. In addition to application in space technologies, a purpose is also to find out whether the conditions relate to an industrial process on Earthly conditions. Until today, most of the research has been conducted on mammalian cells but now is time to look into microorganisms as well. This is a follow-up project to a previous one which researched strain optimization and screening in microgravity and radiation in both liquid and solid cultures. Let´s wish a successful collaboration for Patrik Hollos (Litegrav), Srdjan Gavrilovic, Lev Aleksandr Kolesnikov and Petri-Jaan Lahtvee (TalTech) working on the project.

In the course of the PERFECOAT project, Nemailla Bonturi and Petri Lahtvee visited Technical University of Munich (TUM, Straubing, Germany) to perform for the first time to our knowledge industrial scale (30L bioreactor) cultivations of R. toruloides in xylose-rich hydrolysate (Fibenol, Estonia).

Anja Schmid (TUM), Torben Hüsing (TUM),
Petri-Jaan Lahtvee (Taltech),
and Nemailla Bonturi (Taltech) Redish frozen pellet of R. toruloides
biomass containing high content of carotenoids. Coating material produced
using R. toruloides biomass
as binders.

In autumn 2021, Alina Rekena from our group was visiting Heinemann Lab from Molecular Systems Biology research group led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Heinemann at University of Groningen, the Netherlands, to work on the development of thermodynamics-based computational models for non-conventional yeasts. The visit was supported by Yeast4Bio Short Term Scientific Mission program. Alina learned how to develop computational models integrated with biochemical thermodynamics, including Gibbs energy balance, and worked on a core metabolic model of Rhodotorula toruloides. The productive collaboration with Heinemann Lab will enhance the competences in systems biology of our group, help to study metabolic properties of non-conventional yeasts and to use computational tools to design efficient yeast-based cell factories, which is the topic of Alina’s PhD studies.

Tobias Butelmann, a former member (2018-2019) of Petris’ group will be visiting us next August. The collaboration entitled Local Electron Delivery in Bioinks for Efficient Yeast Cell Factories will provide valuable knowledge and inputs for 3D printing project. This project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany.

Last week (08 and 09/06/21) all partners of the Perfecoat project got the chance to meet virtually during a kickoff meeting. The official Perfecoat website will be launched soon in the meanwhile I encourage you to consult https://www.bbi.europa.eu/projects/perfecoat for more information.

We are excited to announce the start of two interdisciplinary international projects PERFECOAT – High performance bio-based Functional coatings for wood and decorative applications – with funding from Horizon2002 Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking; and SAFE – Sustainable Aquaculture Feed Based on Novel Biomass from Wood By-products, funded by NordForsk.