Annual report 2010

Transcription

Annual report 2010

Department of Biotechnology
Lund University, Sweden
Annual Report 2010
Department of Biotechnology at a glance
The Department of Biotechnology at Lund University was founded
in 1985 by Professor Bo Mattiasson and is located at the Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in Lund. During the
past 26 years, both the number of research areas and number of
people have grown. Today the department consists of about 60
researchers, PhD students and staff, and hosts around 10 master
students and 30 international guest researchers every year. The research activities at the department are focused on various aspects
of environmental-, analytical-, food- medical- and industrial biotechnology and consist of both fundamental and applied research.
The department is heavily involved in teaching at the Biotechnology programme and takes active part in the International Master’s
programme in Biotechnology at Faculty of Engineering (LTH), Lund
University. Department of Biotechnology is actively initiating collaborative projects with industry and other academic institutions
and is promoting entrepreneurial activities among its researchers.
Another important goal is to spread information about ongoing
activities to the surrounding society.
Foreword
We publish this report to share information about the activities carried out
at the Department of Biotechnlogy during year 2010. It is made as an effort
to increase the dissemination of information about activities in academic research laboratories to surrounding society. It is our hope and wish to satisfy
the need for information felt from the society in general, from the funding
bodies and from present and future collaborators.
This report describes the ongoing research in a range of fields, from the very
basic issues to some very applied, as well as teaching and other activities. It is
indeed a privilege to be active in a field with so close contact between fundamental science and applications, and at the same time in fields with great
potential for the future and where the development is very fast.
We hope that the information presented in this report will stimulate new
thoughts and a wish to know more about some specific issues. Please use
the contacts given to the individual scientists, or contact the editor of this
document.
Cover photos: Left: Immunofluorescence micrograph of myoblast cells cultivated in a plasma based cryogel (Photo: Linda Elowsson), Middle:
plastic carriers by Kaldnes (KPC) prepared with cryogel used for capturing pollutants and hormones (Photo: Linda Önnby), Right: clover growing on a ley dedicated to growth of biomass for biogas production (Photo: Lovisa Björnsson).
CONTENTS
Head of Department´s report‌
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5
Avdelningen för Biotekniks
External communication5
Start-up companies7
Services for external customers
8
Research activities10
Function and stability of enzymes
11
Green chemicals and materials 12
using industrial biotechnology Polymer materials for biotechnological 14
and biomedical applications
Bioseparation of biomolecules and 15
environmental pollutants
Bioanalysis
16
Biodiversity - source of valuable 17
activities and and products
Bioremediation 18
Biotechnology for production of 19
healthy foods Bio-based renewable energy 20
Education21
Courses21
International Master’s Programme
22
in Biotechnology
Master thesis projects 22
bi kupa
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12
International collaborations23
Staff 24
Lab assistants24
Post Docs and Researchers
25
PhD students26
Visiting researchers and students
27
Funding and grants28
Publications29
Journal articles 29
Doctoral degrees and theses31
Conferences
31
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Dept. of Biotechnology Annual Report 2010
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Head of Department´s report
plications, etc., have increased. A number of projects
involve close collaboration with industries and other
research groups. As you will note, some research has
also attracted media attention. An interesting collaboration with FDA has been started by Bo Mattiasson
and Martin Hedström for detection of viruses. Research at the department has also given birth to some
start up companies by our scientists. In 2010, some
new projects, funded by EU and national funding
agencies, were initiated.
Prof. Rajni Hatti-Kaul together with Arti Ozarkar during a
visit to Pune, India in 2010.
Department of Biotechnology has grown since its
inception in 1985 to become one of the largest departments at the Faculty of Engineering of Lund University. Hosting between 90 and 100 researchers and
students annually, it is a vibrant and multicultural
place of work.
2010 will be remembered by us as the year when the
Department moved to renovated labs and offices after
many years of waiting and uncertainty. The move has
meant a great improvement for our environment. We
have been successful in getting rid of our financial deficit and have maintained a healthy economy.
This annual report is meant to provide you with a
glimpse of the research and education, and various
other activities conducted by the department. Although industrial- and environmental biotechnology
have been the research areas involving a major part
of the department, research in bioanalysis, functional
foods, materials for environmental and biomedical ap-
We have employed few young scientists in different
projects at the department. Four graduate students
defended their theses and 10 new students joined the
department. We received 23 guests scientists and students from Egypt, India, South Africa, Germany and
other countries. Around 15 undergraduate students
have been doing their advanced courses and theses
projects at the department during 2010.
An important milestone of 2010 was the end of our research programme Greenchem after nearly eight years
of activity. A well attended final conference in Lund
City Hall, highlighting industrial biotechnology as a
platform for sustainable growth in Sweden, marked a
fine ending of the programme.
I thank all my colleagues for making 2010 a good year
for Biotechnology. I hope that you will enjoy reading
this annual report and will be inspired to get in touch
with us.
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
12 March 2011
Head of Department Prof. Rajni Hatti-Kaul informs her colleagues about various issues at a department meeting, held in the new kitchen facilities. Photo: Eva Nordberg Karlsson.
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External communication
The Department of Biotechnology is a scientific institution providing an inspiring environment where scientific work and education go hand in hand with interactions with society. We consider engagement with
business and industry as well as spreading information to the wider community as very important in being
able to meet the needs and expectations from the surroundings.
and Lund University innovation system
Academia - industry collaborations
During year 2010, the department
in collaboration with Lund municipality in 2010. You can read more about
was actively engaged in several EUthe spin-out companies that have been
projects and other collective research
started by researchers at the department
programmes involving collaboration
with industry. The Mistra sponsored
on page 7.
Greenchem programme as well as the
Final year of the Greenchem proVinnova supported Industrial Biotechgramme
nology projects are such examples. BeIn 2010, the research programme
sides taking part in research programmes
and other scientific collaborations where
Greenchem reached the end after seven
and a half successful years of extensive
industrial partners are participating, the
department takes on contract research Martin Hedström receiving the Venture Cup collaboration with industry and other
academic partners. As during earlier
assignments, training of company per- Business idea prize for CapSenze. Photo:
Kronvall Foto
sonnel and offers specialized courses.
years, external communication has been of high priorTwo technology coordinators have the task of encourity and quite extensive. The main activities included a
aging the interactions between academia and industry
highly appreciated conference on “Industrial Biotechand being ambassadors for entrepreneurial activities at
nology - A platform for sustainable growth in Sweden”
the department.
held in Lund in November. The conference attracted
participants from both industry and academia and
Spin-out companies from the department
they were welcomed by LTH principal Anders AxelsCommercialization of research ideas with market poson. The conference was set out with a talk by Lena Ek,
tential is encouraged at the department and a course
member of the European Parliment.
in entrepreneurship is given to support such activities
among researchers and PhD students. During 2010,
several start-up companies were born out of the department and together with previous ones formed a
small unit, the Biokupa (Bee(o)-hive). The Biokupa is
a small pre-incubator where the companies interact,
support eachother and meet with external partners.
Avdelningen för Biotekniks
bi kupa
Together with nine other companies one of the startups, CapSenze, was awarded prize for best business
idea by Venture cup in late 2009. They also received an
honorary award and 50.000 SEK when the innovation
prize was handed out by Price Waterhouse Coopers
The conference ”Industrial Biotechnology - A platform for sustainable
growth in Sweden” (Photo: Malini Hatti).
Media coverage on Greenchem was focused on discussing the importance of a biobased economy and
the future golden opportunities for production industry to capitalize on the transition from fossil-based to
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renewable raw materials. A debate article written by
participants in the Greenchem programme was published in “Dagens Industri” with the title “Don´t waste
the leading edge in industrial biotechnlogy”. In 2010,
Greenchem´s programme director Rajni Hatti-Kaul
received the Swedish Chemical Engineers Association
award for her contribution in Green chemistry. All
these events, together with the Greenchem homepage
(www.greenchem.lu.se), have helped to spread the
knowledge about industrial biotechnology to scientists, politicians, business people and the general public. This further helps to introduce a paradigm shift
and convince traditional industry of the advantages
and opportunities in shifting to a biobased economy.
Unexpected research results generated media buzz
It is encouraging when the research we perform gets
attention from the surrounding society. In the spring
of 2010, the research by PhD student Julia Svensson
gave headlines in both newspapers and television. Her
tailor-made oil with alfa-linolenic acid which is an important source of the fish fats DHA and EPA got lots
of media attention when her study also showed that
butter leads to considerably less elevation of blood fats
after a meal compared with olive oil and the new type
of oil.
r
ö
”Sm
ger
re
läg
te
fet
d
blo
n
rä
lja”
livo
”Ny olja kan bli
framtidens fett”
o
”Butter leads to lower blood fats than olive oil”
d
darsy
äd
”Skr
r i ny
tte
da fe
oc
ttig
h ny
lja”
mato
Julia Svensson surrounded by some of the headlines that her research generated during spring of 2010. Photo: KG Pressfoto.
The Biogas area continued to draw attention
The use of biogas as one of the important future sources of fuel and energy continued to attract interest and
lead to collaborative initiatives during 2010.
The department is active in LU Biofuels, a multidisciplinary research platform that brings together researchers from across faculties, departments and cen-
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tres at Lund University. In October 2010, LU Biofuels
organised a workshop on cross-disciplinary research
opportunities.
Lund University researchers participating in the workwhop “Cross disciplinary
research opportunities” arranged by LU Biofuels. Photo: Gunnar Lidén.
In 2010, the region (Skåne) was appointed by the
goverment as pilot region for climate and renewable
energy issues. In relation to this, researchers from the
department are actively engaged in the work with
Färdplan Biogas. This is a project initiated by Biogas
Syd to promote the regional development in the biogas
area, and it is a collaboration with all major regional
actors in the biogas field.
The research station at Anneberg attracts many visits of
study groups and during such events biogas as well as
biorefinery concepts are discussed, often in relation to
agricultural activities.
Spreading the word
Several of our researchers have been invited to give lectures at different seminars, conferences and meetings
in academia as well as at industries, both in Sweden
and abroad, which can be read in later pages of this
annual report.
For more and updated information about recent
activities visit the home page of the Department of
Biotechnology at www.biotek.lu.se!
Start-up companies
Commercialisation of research results is a very direct way of making important findings and knowledge available
to the society. By performing research in an academic climate which at the same time is allowing the screening of
business opportunities, inventions can find their way out from the lab bench and become useful to society. At the
department of Biotechnology, the exploration of business ideas among researchers is encouraged, for instance by
providing the course “Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology”. During 2010, several new companies have seen the
light at the department and at the same time the activities in companies started earlier have increased. Below are
listed a number of start-up companies that have spun out from the department.
A company that started in the beginning of 2006. It
grew out from the research in monitoring and control
of anaerobic digestion for production of biogas. The
company has successfully commercialized a novel
lab equipment for measuring biogas potential from
different biomass samples and has a pipeline of new
products to be commercialized. The company also
cooperates with established engineering companies
operating large digesters by helping them to improve
operational stability and increase the profitability.
Contact: Jing Liu.
Cap
Senze
Devenz AB is a researcher-owned company spun-out
from the research programme Greenchem. Devenz
develops and markets a new family of mild and
beneficial surfactants produced by enzymatic catalysis
from renewable raw materials. Devenz combines
knowledge in material chemistry with enzyme
technology to design and produce unique fine- and
specialty chemicals that are difficult or impossible to
produce with conventional chemistry. Contact: Maria
Andersson
TM
Long term research on capacitive biosensors has led
to development of a new type of biosensors. The
step from academic research to equipment that can
be used by untrained personnel is long, complicated
and expensive. In order to bridge this gap, Capsenze
was formed. External expertise was engaged and the
hardware as well as much of the programming has been
dramatically improved. At present a demonstrator
unit is developed and a prototype series is under
development. Contact: Martin Hedström.
Unique technology to prepare supermacroporous
materials has been covered by patent applications and
several potential areas of exploitation have been studied.
A few lead projects are studied and negotiations with
partners are ongoing. Contact: Harald Kirsebom
Envirum is a knowledge based company, applying
current research in practice. Envirum works with
biotechnology combined with economy and systems
analysis. Together with their customers they design
biogas systems that are sustainable from an economic,
technical and environmental perspective. Contact:
Lovisa Björnsson.
The company started with consultancy work some years
back. During the last few years new developmental
projects have been initiated concomitantly with the
acquisition of a good fermentation capacity (total
volume above 25 m3). The company has one fulltime
employee and some working part-time. Contact: Bo
Mattiasson.
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Services for external customers
Department of Biotechnology offers services to other academic institutions and industry in different areas where
the department has expertise and possesses special equipment or research facilities. We have the possibility to run
pilot scale fermentations upto 400 litres scale, design and perform biogas production and biorefinery processes,
assist in running mass spectrometry experiments or perform other type of evaluations and optimizations of biotechnological processes or technologies.
Contact persons are indicated under the description of each service below. For general inquiries please contact
technology coordinator Maria Andersson, [email protected], phone: 046-222 36 73.
LC-MS/MS Mass spectrometer
The mass spectrometer at the Department of Biotechnology is of the type Quadrupole-Time Of Flight, QTOF (Q-Star, Applied Biosystems), which is connected to a LC-system. The mass spectrometer is equipped
with an electrospray (Turbospray) ionization source
and a nanospray system. The nanospray system can be
connected to syringe pumps in order to get a continuous nano-system equipped with capillary columns for
separation on a column packed with C18 or other packing material of interest. It has also a Maldi ionization
interface.
Responsible: Martin Hedström ([email protected], phone: 046-222 75 78).
DSC - Differential Scanning Calorimeter
The differential scanning calorimeter (VP-DSC) at the
department is a sensitive, easy to use instrument, with
an active cell volume of approximately 0.5 ml used
for studying samples in solution. The operating temperature of the instrument is in the range of –10ºC to
+130ºC, and the instrument has a selectable scan rate
in the range of 0ºC to 90ºC per hour (upscan), allowing studies of fast or slow transition processes.
It can be used to measure the intramolecular stability
of a broad spectrum of biomolecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and detergent micellar systems. The VP-DSC provides fast, accurate transition
midpoint (Tm) determination, as well as a thermodynamic profile that can provide
insight into the factors that affect conformation and stability.
Responsible: Eva Nordberg Karlsson ([email protected], phone:
046-222 46 26).
Small scale fermentation
At the department we can perform cultivation of microorganisms in shake flasks
or small scale fementors (1-5 l). For large scale fermentations see Biorefinery to the
right.
Responsible: Eva Nordberg Karlsson ([email protected], phone:
046-222 46 26).
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Anneberg Research station
The department’s research station is situated
at the Anneberg Farm in Svalöv municipality
and is equipped with a pilot plant for Biogas
production and a pilot scale Biorefinery. To utilize biomass for the production of a plethora of
chemicals is a trend in industrial biotechnology
today. At the same time the parts of the biomass
that cannot efficiently be converted into specific chemicals can be transformed into bioenergy
such as biogas.
Biorefinery
In the biorefinery, chemicals can be produced from biomass using microorganisms or by enzymatic catalysis. The
facilities can also be used for the production of microorganisms in large scale. The intentions are to operate in good
pilot plant scale (several 100 litres up to a few m3). Besides suitable vessels for the conversions, there is equipment
for isolation and purification of the compounds
produced. A well equipped service lab is available.
The unit is now in operation with the smaller reactors. The larger ones will successively be connected.
A few processes will be transferred from the research
labs in Lund and scaled up. At the same time a more
holistic view on yields and energy efficiency will be
applied. A few of the unit operations that will be
essential in the future will initially be established in
this new unit.
Responsible: Bo Mattiasson (bo.mattiasson@biotek.
lu.se, phone: 046-222 82 64) and Martin Hedström
([email protected], phone: 046-222 75
78).
Martin Hedström and Marie Andersson at the scaling up process for
production of platform chemicals. Photo: Bo Mattiasson.
Biogas production facility
The biogas research station at Anneberg is an important site for demonstration and for getting increased acceptance
of farm based biogas technology.
The research station is equipped with biogas reactors of different designs in 1-80 m3 scale, with good facilities for
on-line monitoring and data collection. A fully equipped control laboratory is also available on-site.
Responsible: Lovisa Björnsson ([email protected], phone: 046-222 83 24).
Photos from the biogas production facility at Anneberg research station. Photos: Josefin Ahlqvist
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Research activities
In a time when the awareness of climate change is increasing, oil prices are raised and access to clean water for a
growing population is limited, it becomes evident that there is a need for more environmentally sustainable approaches to satisfy the basic needs of people. Biotechnology is becoming increasingly more important as being
one of the important key technologies that will contribute to a more sustainable future. At the Department of
Biotechnology, our research has been directed towards developing environment friendly processes for many years,
and in recent years these efforts have attracted more attention and had a higher impact on the surrounding society.
The knowledge at the department within enzyme technology, gene technology, cell cultivation techniques, bioseparation, and bioanalysis forms the base for research activities in diverse areas. INDUSTRIAL (“white”) biotechnology has evolved as an important field related to environmental sustainability to position our research in. In
the future, biotechnology will play an important role in replacing chemicals and materials based on fossil carbon
with renewable feedstocks. This goes hand in hand with the search for alternative energy sources, where biogas
production is one of the attractive alternatives. Together with wastewater treatment and bioremediation, energy
production constitutes the activities in the important area ENVIRONMENTAL biotechnology. The other areas of
interest at the department are MEDICAL biotechnology involving projects on development of materials for tissue
engineering, production of pharmaceutical proteins, diagnostics and process analytical technology, and FOOD
biotechnology involving antioxidants and production of food components with improved properties.
Green
chemicals and
materials
Function and
stability of
enzymes
Biodiversity
Biobased
renewable
energy
Industrial
biotechnology
Bioseparation
Medical
Biotechnology
Polymer
materials for
biotechnology and
biomedicine
Environmental
Biotechnology
Food
Biotechnology
Bioanalysis
Bioremediation
Biotechnology
for production of
healthy foods
Overview of the research activities at the Department of Biotechnology. Illustration by Maria Andersson.
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Function and stability of enzymes
Stable and selective catalysts are prerequisites for efficient biocatalytic processes.
Development of novel enzymes paired with a good understanding of the target
proteins is thus an area of importance for creation of future biocatalysts.
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Professor
Gashaw Mamo
Research Associate
Eva Nordberg
Karlsson
Associate Professor
Projects
• Specificity design of glycosidases
• Sustain-X-Enz (see also Green
chemicals and Materials)
• GreenChem (see also Green chemicals and Materials)
• A thermostable carbohydrate binding module as a general scaffold
for diversity and specificity
• To explore and understand how
xylanases gain high potential as
industrial biocatalysts
• Improving oxidative stability of
lipase
• Structure-function of Bacillus sp.
phytase
Project worker:
Christina Wennerberg
PhD-students:
Samiullah Khan, Tania Pozzo, Rawana
Alkhalili, Tran Thi Thuy, Yasser Gaber
Post Docs
Suhaila Hashim
Extremozymes
We specialize in research on enzymes from extremophiles, i.e. microorganisms
adapted to extreme ecological conditions (heat or cold, high or low pH, or high
salt concentration). We use recombinant enzymes, allowing genetic development of
the biocatalysts with a desired stability, reaction specificity or production yield. As a
natural complement to enzyme development, batch and fed-batch cultivations for
their heterologous production are utilized. Our aim is development of biocatalysts
for environment friendly processing, e.g. for the production of green chemicals.
Carbohydrate modifying enzymes
Carbohydrates are essential components in life, and biomass contains an array of
structural and storage polysaccharides (e.g. starch, cellulose and hemicellulose) also
important in industrial applications. Enzymes acting on these materials are glycoside hydrolases (GHs), which hydrolyse glycosidic bonds between two or more
carbohydrates or between a carbohydrate and a non-carbohydrate moiety. These
enzymes are subject of growing interest due to a wide range of possible applications
contributing to environment friendly processes. Rational and random engineering
strategies are utilized to transform a number of GHs into
more perfect biocatalysts also
structural biology resources are
used to understand the molecular reasons for the changed
properties. Carbohydrate binding modules are other interesting targets for specificity development. Use of wild type and
developed xylanase is explored Detail of homology model of beta-glucosidase from Thermotoga
neapolitana showing enhanced binding affinity with the substrate
in a project with a South Afri- cellatetraose after mutation of residue N221 (blue) to S (yellow).
Figure by Eva Nordberg-Karlsson.
can University.
Lipase as catalyst fot synthesis of specialty chemicals
Candida antarctica lipase B is the most frequently used biocatalyst for synthesis
of chemicals. Low activity with certain substrates such as polyhydric alcohols and
poor stability during process conditions with high temperature or presence of oxidizing agents pose economic limitations on the industrial application of the biocatalyst for chemicals like complex fatty acid esters, epoxides and cyclic carbonates.
We have earlier investigated the structural changes occurring in the enzyme when
exposed to oxidizing conditions, in order to use the knowledge for designing stable
biocatalyst preparations. Furthermore, using molecular modelling tools, sites for
mutagenesis are identified to provide enzyme variants with better activity.
Thermostable alkaline phytase for animal feed
Phytase is an enzyme used to degrade the antinutritional compound, phytate in
animal feed with concominant increase in availability of phosphorus. Our studies
involve a highly thermostable alkaline phytase from a Bacillus sp. isolated by us.
The high thermal stability allows the enzyme to be included in the feed during
pelleting. A number of enzyme variants have been generated by site-directed mutagenesis to improve the activity and stability under acidic conditions.
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Green chemicals and materials
using industrial biotechnology
Patrick Adlercreutz
Professor
Carl Grey
Research Associate
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Professor
Martin Hedström
Researcher
Olle Holst
Professor
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Eva Nordberg Karlsson
Associate Professor
Sang-Hyun Pyo
Researcher
Projects
-- Greenchem
-- Biodegradable plastics
-- Industrial biotechnology for production of platform chemicals
-- Development of process technologies for immobilized biocatalysts
-- Lignin based formaldehyde-free
wood adhesives
-- Extraction and enzyme modification of compounds from agricultural waste (Sustain-X-Enz)
Researchers
Cecilia Orellana-Coca, Gashaw Mamo,
Javier Linares Pastén, Mohammad Ibra-
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Industrial biotechnology has a promising role as an enabling technology for production of chemicals, materials and energy from bio-based renewable raw materials. The production processes are based on fermentation or biocatalysis using whole
cells or enzymes, and are characterized by reduced energy consumption and waste
generation, and biodegradable products. At Department of Biotechnology, activities in industrial biotechnology have proliferated during the past years. Biocatalytic processes are developed for synthesis of speciality- and fine chemicals and for
modification of raw materials; enzymes are screened primarily from extremophilic
microorganisms and developed for use in the reactions. Fermentation is also used
for production of chemicals and polymers.
Speciality chemicals from renewable resources - Greenchem
The research program Greenchem
financed by Mistra (Swedish
Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research) focuses on the
production of “green” chemicals
targeted for applications in environment-friendly surface coatings, lubricants, consumer care
and cleaning. The programme is
Sugar beets are excellent as renewable raw material for
production of green chemicals and materials and the waste
interdisciplinary involving coopcan be used to produce biogas. Photo: Lovisa Björnsson.
eration between biotechnology,
environment systems analysis and innovation systems analysis, and also with industries representing an integrated value chain from raw materials to the users of
industrial chemicals. Biocatalysis is used for synthesis of the chemicals, preferably
under solvent-free conditions. Immobilized enzyme preparations are developed inhouse whenever necessary.
The different products that have been synthesized using biocatalysis include fatty
epoxides, glycidyl ethers and polyester acrylates for use in surface coatings, complex
fatty acid esters as biolubricants, alkyl glycosides and alkanolamides for use as biosurfactants. Lipase immobilized to different matrices and crosslinked lipase aggregates have been tested with an aim to develop cost-effective and stable biocatalyst
preparations. During 2010, immobilized lipase was used as a catalyst for synthesis
of six membered cyclic carbonates to be used as monomers for polyurethanes, as an
alternative to the process using toxic phosgene and isocyanate. Cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases (CGTases) and other enzymes have been used to elongate the carbohydrate part of alkyl glycosides, thereby giving products which were previously
impossible to synthesize. A patent application has been submitted and the methodology is currently further improved to increase efficiency and to decrease process
him, Natalia Volkova, Ravi Kiran Purama, Ulrika Törnvall, David Svensson,
Daniela Zehentgruber, Fatima Plieva
Project workers
Elin Brun, Marie Andersson, Regine
Wuttke, Pontus Lundemo
PhD students
Daniel Guzman, Hector Guzman, Marlene Munoz, Ramin Sabet, Roya Rezaei,
Tarek Dishisha, Victor Ibrahim, Yasser
Gaber, Gustav Rehn
Post Docs
Teresa Alvarez Aliaga, Ravi Kiran Purama, Javier Linares Pastén, Catherine
Paul, Konstanze Stiba, Sang-Hyun Pyo,
Suhaila Hashim, Daniela Zehentgruber
costs. Thermostable enzymes from hyperthermophiles have been
evaluated for the synthesis of alkyl glycosides.
Platform chemicals from renewable resources
In a VINNOVA (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) funded project, by-products of agriculture and
biofuel industry are used as raw materials for production of organic acids using industrial biotechnology. The organic acids serve
as building blocks for other important secondary chemicals. The
project is co-ordinated by Perstorp AB and involves 5 other companies. Lab-scale processes based on free- and immobilized cells
have been developed for production of propionic acid from glycerol. A new green route for synthesis of methacrylic acid has been
developed.
Immobilized biocatalysts on titan oxide with different charges from
0.5 - 10%. Photo: Carl Grey
Development of process technologies for immobilized biocatalysts
In this VINNOVA funded project methodology for the immobilization of enzymes and whole cell catalysts is developed.
The project is coordinated by Cambrex Karlskoga and involves three other companies. Demonstration processes for production of chiral amines, dihydroxyacetone and 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde are developed.
Halophilic bacteria as a source of biodegradable plastics and compatible solutes
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers produced by several bacteria as energy reservoirs. PHAs can
be used as disposable plastics in several areas ranging from packing commodities to medical devices. We have isolated a
number of novel moderately halophilic PHA-producing bacteria from saline lakes in Bolivia. Production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) by Halomonas boliviensis has been investigated and improved significantly. Hydrophilic PHB scaffolds
have been produced by low temperature phase separation and enzymatic modification for application in tissue engineering applications. Also, a highly productive process for production of the compatible solutes – ectoine and hydroxyectoine
using H. boliviensis has been developed.
Extraction and enzyme modification of compounds from agricultural waste (SuReTech)
This research program involving researchers from Lund [Biotechnology (E Nordberg Karlsson), Environmental systems
analysis (P Börjesson), and Organic chemistry (C Turner)] and Uppsala universities [P Sjöberg, T Fornstedt] funded by
Formas, aims to make an impact in recovery of high-value compounds from agricultural byproducts/waste using environmentally sustainable techniques. Fundamental studies are performed around supercritical carbon dioxide and pressurized
hot water extraction, targeting industrially and nutritionally valuable compounds (a first target antioxidative molecules)
in for example onion skin, and birch bark. Thermostable enzymes are used in high-temperature/pressure processes to convert/derivatize target compounds to facilitate analytical determination as well as increase the yield. Life cycle assessment
(LCA) is applied to evaluate proposed processes and utilization of waste materials.
Lignin based formaldehyde-free wood adhesives
This project aims to look at the possibility to modify the lignin enzymatically to make it more reactive for cross-linking
with other molecules and to evaluate the modified structures for gluing properties. Cross-linking of the modified lignin
with other molecules will be based on the knowledge on the structure of proteinaceous “super-glues” produced by marine
organisms such as mussels and barnacles to anchor themselves to rocks. Development of strong and environmentally benign wood adhesives from lignin would thus potentially result in a reduction in the use of formaldehyde based adhesives.
During 2010, lignin model compounds have been used as substrates in order to understand the modifications due to action of lignin modifying enzymes.
Engineering extremophiles for production of energy carriers
This collaboration project [between Biotechnology, Lund University (E Nordberg Karlsson) and the company Matis on
Iceland (GO Hreggvidsson)] funded by Formas, is focusing on the use of thermophilic microorganisms as cell factories
for the production of energy carriers and other potentially interesting intermediates. Efficient lignocellulose degraders are
known among the thermophiles, and among those as well as known producers of e.g. ethanol, a few organisms are selected
for the development of transformation tools allowing engineering of the pathways.
13
Polymer Materials for Biotechnological
and Biomedical Applications
Combining polymer technology and biotechnology yields a range of new materials
with interesting properties for use in areas such as bioseparation, medical biotechnology and biocatalysis.
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Harald Kirsebom
Post Doc
Projects
• Fundamentals of cryopolymerization
• Cryostructuration of suspensions
• Cryogels with bimodal pore distribution
• Cryostructured microorganisms
• Autologous cryogels for tissue
engineering
• PHB based scaffolds
• Protein based cryogels
• MATISS - An EU project utilizing
cryogels for skin regeneration
PhD students:
Oksana Zaushitsyna
Gry Jespersen
Daniel Guzman
Marlene Munoz
Post docs:
Dimitry Berillo
Rita La Spina
Chunyu Yang
Linda Elowsson
Visiting Students
Séverine Cozzi
A material prepared by cryostructuration of a
suspension of poly N-Isopropylacrylamide (NIPA).
Photo: Harald Kirsebom
14
Cryogels
These gels are highly porous hydrogels which are formed by a process which is
inspired from how sea water freezes. An interesting property of freezing water solutions is that a two phase system is formed in which the major phase is the ice crystals and a small phase is a non-frozen phase with a high concentration of any solutes. The cryogels produced are thus formed as a result of polymerization reactions
or chemically crosslinking in a partially frozen system in which the ice crystals act
as porogens. Projects within this area involve fundamental research and application
of the materials. Fundamental studies are being done in order to clearly understand
how the process works and thus optimize its properties.
Biomaterials
Cryogels made from proteins and other biopolymers are being evaluated as potential scaffolds for tissue engineering. Blood and plasma have been evaluated as a
source of proteins which could be used for preparation of potential autologous scaffolds. These scaffolds have then been evaluated for the cultivation of muscle cells;
the in vitro experiments have been very promising. These studies are carried out in
collaboration with Prof. Madeleine Durbeej at BMC, Lund University.
Cryostructuration of suspensions
Superporous materials formed from freezing suspensions and simultaneously
crosslinking the particles have been prepared from either microbial cells or from
synthetic particles. This produces materials which might be interesting in a number of different applications such as biocatalysis or as adsorbents. Materials from
bacterial cells offer the potential of a high cell density and an efficient mass transfer
within the structure. By varying the chemical used for crosslinking the cells the
viability of the cells can be tailored. These structures are currently being evaluated
either for production of butanol or for chiral amines.
Stimuli-responsive polymers
Stimuli-responsive polymers change their macroscopic behaviour as a result of a
small change in an environmental parameter. By aggregating stimuli-responsive
polymers into small particles that later are ordered into a superporous structure,
dramatic shifts in behaviour of the formed gels are seen when the temperature
changes over the transition temperature.
Immunofluorescence micrograph of myoblast cells
cultivated in a protein based cryogel. Photo: Linda
Elowsson
Superporous material prepared from bovine blood
with the red blood cells embedded in the polymeric
structure. Photo: Harald Kirsebom.
Bioseparation of Biomolecules and
Environmental pollutants
Our research in the area of bioseparation deals with development of procedures for
isolation of specific biomolecules.
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Professor
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Harald Kirsebom
Post Doc
Sang-Hyun Pyo
Researcher
Projects
• Phages as affinity ligands in
cryogels
• Environmental separation
• Carbosorb; An EU project utilizing
carbon particles and cryogels for
environmental separations
• Isolation of PUFA from industrial
waste streams
• Isolation of phosphorylated
peptides
• Separation of proteases from fish
waste
• MONACO-Extra an EU project
working on blood purification
using cryogels
• Industrial biotechnology for production of platform chemicals
PhD students
Tarek Dishisha
Solmaz Hajizadeh
Gry Ravn Jespersen
Betty Mbatia
Zulma Perez
Roya Rezaei
Neida Rios
Deepti Sahoo
Linda Önnby
Post docs
Aarti Ozakar
Chunyu Yang
Rita La Spina
Visiting Students
Ally Mahadhi
Marissa Punzi
Wuraola Akande
Development and applications of new materials for bioseparation
- Cryogels encased into Kaldnes plastic carriers are developed for operation
in stirred tank reactors combining the
robustness of plastic carriers with high
porosity and facilitated mass-transport
within cryogels. Applications are both
in protein separation and in environmental separation for enriching target
molecules from crude feed streams.
- Tailor-made cryogels are developed A material prepared by cryostructuration of
a suspension of bacterial cells. Photo: Harald
for enzyme and cell immobilization al- Kirsebom
lowing processing turbid feeds due to
large interconnected pores within cryogels.
- Macroporous gels with embedded activated carbon particles have been prepared
by cryostructuration of suspensions which allows retention of the adsorptive properties of the carbon. These carbon containing materials are
being investigated for environmental applications.
- Removal of heavy metals from
waste water is being addressed
by developing cryogels either
with chelating groups or as
composite materials. Molecularly imprinted polymers are also
being studied for the removal
of heavy metal ions from waste
water.
- Cryogels with ion-exchange
properties are being evaluated
for the purification of proteins
from crude extracts.
Composite cryogels filled in Kaldnes carriers for
bromate-removal in water. Photo: Solmaz Hajizadeh
- Work is ongoing in an EU FP7 project to develop a macroporous cryogel which
can be utilized for the removal of toxic compounds from blood.
Efficient processes for purification of biomolecules
- The process for isolation and purification of poly-unsaturated fatty acids from fish
waste has been developed.
- Isolation of surface active compounds after enzymatic synthesis presents a lot of
separation challenges. A new chromatographic process has been developed and is
now evaluated in simulated moving bed (SMB) mode.
- Recovery of platform chemicals like propionic acid and 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde using different separation techniques is investigated to choose the most effective one for further scale up.
15
Bioanalysis
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Martin Hedström
Researcher
Projects
• Development of analytical systems
for the trace-amount detection of
bacterial toxins
• Analytical approach for the monitoring of affinity column ligand
leakage
• Monitoring of HIV capsid p24 protein
• Development of an affinity sensor based on application of intact
membrane proteins
• A process analytical technology
(PAT) approach for the concomitant on-line monitoring of target
proteins and bacterial contaminants present during purification
• Monitoring and control of host cell
proteins (HCPs) during recombinant production using a capacitive
biosensor
• Monitoring and control of recombinant human growth hormone
during fermentation and downstream processing using capillaryLC/MS
• Developments of cell-based flow
devices for process control
PhD students
Mohammad Mazlomi
Kinga Zor
Visiting researchers and project
workers
Shabana Basheer
Marie Andersson
Kosin Teeparuksapan
Bioanalytical techniques for quality control
Quality control with regard to chemical composition involves analysis. The more
sensitive analysis, the better control can be offered, provided that the analysis is
simple, robust and quick. Several different applications are studied:
•
continuous integrated sampling and monitoring of fermentations
•
quality control of food and feed
•
monitoring of trace amounts of microbial toxins
•
tracing viral infections via ultrasensitive assay of viral proteins
•
monitoring of trace impurities during biopharmaceutical production
A few basic technology platforms have been developed:
•
flow-injection binding assays
•
capacitive affinity biosensor for ultrasensitive monitoring
•
electrochemical affinity sensors
Trace amount of impurities are attracting a lot of interest today among pharmaceutical companies producing proteins/peptides for injection. This is addressed in several projects and involves monitoring of endotoxin, host cell proteins and ligands
that have leaked from affinity adsorbents used (e.g. protein A from purification
of monoclonal antibodies). Furthermore, a new technology for detection of low
levels of truncated proteins during the production of recombinant proteins has
been developed, which allows quick detection and facilitates harvest of the valuable
compound as soon as the levels
of truncated molecules start to
rise.
In-process control using flow
injection analysis (FIA)
Flow-based assays with exceedingly high sample reproducibility can be a valuable tool
when monitoring a bioprocess.
A plethora of different unit operations can be implemented in
the assay architecture to facilitate the performance, e.g. direct Prototype of capacitive biosensor for analysis of viral markers.
sampling, cell disintegration, Photo: Martin Hedström
dialysis etc. One important area within the bioanalysis group is to develop tools
and methods based on FIA. A versatile, highly flexible and fully automated flow
system has recently been developed which will be used for monitoring and control
of monoclonal antibody production from a mammalian cell cultivation.
Process analytical technology (PAT)
Regardless of detection principle, it is within the concept of process analytical technology (PAT) of great importance to be able to perform integrated sampling, transportation and processing of the sample taken from e.g. the fermentation vessel in a
well-defined and controlled way. Hence, research activities within the bioanalytical
area require significant automation which is now addressed clearly by us.
Capacitive biosensors for medical applications
Together with Food&Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, we are developing an
ultrasentitive immunochemical assay for a capsid protein p24 from the HIV coat.
Several other applications are being evaluated at present.
16
Biodiversity - source of valuable
activities and products
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Professor
Olle Holst
Professor
Gashaw Mamo
Research Associate
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Projects
• Isolation and characterization of
extremophiles from highly alkaline
and saline environments
• Anaerobic microorganisms for
biotechnological applications
• Screening for antimicrobial substances from thermophiles from
hot spring in Jordan
• Screening for polysaccharide
producing LABs from Indian indigenous foods
PhD students
Rawana Al Khalili, Rosa Aragão, Georgina Chavez, Carla Crespo, Daniel Guzman, Victor Ibrahim, Laura Mendoza,
Serena Bisagni
Post Docs
Teresa Alvarez Aliaga, Javier Linares
Pasten
Visiting student
Ami Patel
Microbial diversity existing in nature is extremely vast. Only a small fraction of
the natural microorganisms have so far been identified. Microorganisms inhabiting
extreme environments, the so called extremophiles, have been of interest both for
understanding the mechanisms used by them for survival as well as for exploiting their potential for applications requiring extreme conditions. Over the years,
a diverse group of extremophiles have been
isolated at Department of Biotechnology from
samples of alkaline soda lakes in East African
Rift Valley, hot springs in Iceland, and saline
Altiplano region of Bolivia. A number of novel
microorganisms belonging to genera Bacillus,
Dietzia, Brevibacterium, Halomonas, Amphibacillus etc have been identified. The studies
on biodiversity have involved collaborations
with universities in the respective countries.
Some interesting hydrolytic enzymes from exBacteria isolated from sewage
tremophiles have been investigated for use in
water. Photo: Nagwa Elnwishy
applications such as animal feed, production of
chemicals, etc.
Some halophilic bacteria are being used for the production of biopolyester, polyhydroxybutyrate and compatible solutes. Some other novel microorganisms including
Dietizia sp. isolated from alkaline environments have been screened for the presence of monooxygenase activities, and an assay for rapid screening of cyclohexanone consuming bacteria has been developed. The gene encoding a monooxygenase in Dietizia sp. is partially sequenced.
Isolation and characterization of thermophiles from hot springs in Jordan is going
on with special attention to production of antimicrobial substances. Several strains
(Bacillus sp.) exhibiting activity have been found and their antimicrobial profiles
are currently being investigated.
Anaerobic microorganisms play an important role in many cycles of elements in nature, however, they are poorly understood. During the year the work has continued
to isolate new organisms producing enzymes with special properties. The isolation
is based on the microdroplet technique, which allows many more organisms to
be isolated and identified than that achieved by classical techniques. Several new
species e.g. some new Clostridium species, have been isolated. Genes from some
anaerobes are being cloned and expressed for use in the production of platform
chemicals.
White-rot fungi are often efficient at degradation of aromatic structures. Among
several fungi isolated from the tropical regions of Bolivia good producers of oxidative enzymes including peroxidases and laccase have been found. One example is
Galerina sp., which has been investigated for its capability of producing laccase.
The enzyme has been characterized and evaluated for modification of lignin and
lignin model compounds, and, decolorization of textile dyes.
Indian local foods and plant material are being screened for polysaccharide producing lactic acid bacteria in collaboration with Agricultural University Anand, India.
Currently ca 20 isolates (e.g. Weissella and Lactobacillus) out of several hundreds
are selected for further characterization. The polysaccharides will be further investigated for applications in foods.
17
Bioremediation
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Marika Murto
Research Associate
Projects
• Enrichment of heavy metals on
chelating matrices before release
and precipitation
• Capture of arsenic from water
environments using different
adsorbent materials
• Enrichment and destruction of endocrine disruptors in wastewater
• Development of separation tools
and systems specially adapted to
waste water treatment
• Recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewaters
• Degradation of textile dyes in
wastewater from textile industries
• Photochemical oxidation of
organic pollutants as a pre-step to
biodegradation
• Biosensor for environmental
analysis
PhD students
Maria Jonstrup
Linda Önnby
Maryam Latifian
Removal and degradation of hazardous compounds
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) include a large variety of substances such as
pesticides, surfactants and wood preservatives as well as products released from
industrial activities. Heavy metals belong to another group of compounds causing
severe environmental problems. The department has focused much attention on
developing biotechnological methods, either alone or in combination with physical treatment, to degrade or immobilize these hazardous compounds. Sometimes
the concentrations are very low, and then an enrichment step can be used before
treatment. This is especially useful for removal of endocrine disruptors and pharmaceuticals, which has come into focus in recent years.
To immobilize environmental pollutants, different strategies can be used and
one is to use adsorbents. Adsorbents for
environmental applications should be
reusable, mechanically stable and efficient in removing the target pollutant.
At the department of biotechnology,
different adsorbents are being developed, characterized and evaluated for
capture of heavy metals and metalloids,
such as copper and arsenic, to be used
in large scale. Most of the adsorbent
systems are based on porous, spongy
and highly interconnected gels, cryogels. In recent projects, carbon based
adsorbents have been used as well. The
adsorbents can be applied in columns
or in stirred tank reactors, depending
on where the environmental pollutant
is found. Removing pollutants from
water environments is one step towards
Novel adsorbents based on macropurous gel are
a sustainable development.
prepared inside plastic carriers in order to gain
mechanical strength. With chelating ligands attached to
the gel matrix, metal ions like copper can be captured
from water solutions. Photo: Linda Önnby.
Visiting researchers
Marisa Punzi
Alejandro Bravo Hermida
Treatment of textile dyes
Another area where biotechnological
methods can be used is in the treatment
of textile dyes. In textile industries, considerable amounts of water and chemicals
are used. During the dyeing process about 20% of dye is lost to the wastewater and
wastewaters from textile industries contain large amounts of dyes as well as organic
matter and salts. The focus of the project is degradation of dyes using white rot
fungi or bacteria combined with advanced oxidation processes such as photocatalysis or photo-Fenton oxidation. The aim is to deliver a viable treatment method to
the textile industry for cleaner production.
Removal of phosphorous and nitrogen from wastewaters
Formation of magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate (MAP) also known
as struvite, which often happens spontaneously in many wastewater treatment
plants, has gained much attention for the recovery of both nitrogen and phosphorus. The target of this project is to further study the factors influencing struvite
crystallization, optimizing crystallization processes and also to evaluate the slow
nutrient releasing properties of struvite to be used as a fertilizer.
Struvite scales formed in Wastewater
Treatment Plant. Photo: Maryam Latifian
18
Picture (top): Plastic carriers by
Kaldnes (KPC) prepared with cryogel used for capture of pollutants
and hormones. Photo: Linda Önnby
Biotechnology for production
of healthy foods
Recent advances in biotechnology have increased the possibilities to make food
components with improved properties. Enzymatic methods are used to tailor-make
lipids containing health-promoting fatty acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids. Likewise enzymes can be used for preparation of health-promoting carbohydrates from
plant material.
Patrick Adlercreutz
Professor
Olle Holst
Professor
Carl Grey
Research Associate
Eva Nordberg
Karlsson
Associate Professor
Projects
• Safe food products containing
long-chain omega-3 fatty acids
• Health promoting lipids containing
alfa-linolenic acid
• Antidiabetic carbohydrates by
enzymatic transformation of plant
material
• Microbial dietary fibers for human
health and well-being
PhD students
Cecilia Lindström
Julia Svensson
Peter Falck
Betty Mbatia
Post Docs
Mushtaq Ahmad
Shiva Shanker Kaki
Optimisation of the health properties of alfa-linolenic acid
The department is involved in one project within the FUNCFOOD program organised by the Functional Food Science Centre at Lund University. The PhD student Julia Svensson is jointly supervised by Patrick Adlercreutz and by Åke Nilsson
and Lena Ohlsson at the Medical Faculty.
The project concerns lipids rich in the omega-3 fatty acid, alfa-linolenic acid. There is
evidence that the preferential oxidation
of alfa-linolenic acid may be beneficial in
fighting obesity and diabetes. Starting from
natural fats and oils such as rape seed oil,
linseed oil and butter oil, enzymes are used
as catalysts for making new products with the aim to optimise the health promoting properties of alfa-linolenic acid. The physiological effects of the new products
in humans are studied as part of the project at the Medical Faculty.
New tailor-made
cooking oil could
become the fat
for the future
Enzymatic modification of carbohydrates
The department is also running two projects within the Antidiabetic food center
(AFC). In one project, we (Patrick Adlercreutz, Eva Nordberg Karlsson, and Henrik Stålbrand from the Biochemistry department) are using glycoside hydrolases
for selective hydrolysis of plant material (focusing on agricultural byproducts). The
carbohydrate products obtained are evaluated with respect to physiological effects
in animals and ability to promote growth of probiotic bacteria. Research in a related area is also supported by VINNOVA (Bioform).
Health benefits of polysaccharides
Consumption of beta-glucans from e.g. oat has been shown to reduce cholesterols
levels in blood thereby reducing the risk for coronary vascular diseases. Other soluble fibers from plant material have also been demonstrated to have similar effects.
We are now exploring possible health beneficial effects of microbial soluble fibers
(polysaccharides) in a
project together with
Prof. Per Hellstrand
and Dr Krisitina Andersson at Dept of
Experimental Medical
Science, Lund University and Aventure
AB and with support
from
Antidiabetic
Food Center. Various
commercially available
products as well as our
Chromatogram showing the effect of amylase treatment on the
own isolates (see “Biomonomeric sugar composition in rye bran. This is a pretreatment step
diversity”) are evalubefore selective preparation of oligosaccharides from the hemicellulose
fraction is made. Figure by Eva Nordberg-Karlsson.
ated in animal models
for their effects.
19
Bio-based renewable energy
Lovisa Björnsson
Associate Professor
Jing Liu
Research Associate
Bo Mattiasson
Professor
Marika Murto
Research Associate
Projects
• Crops 4 biogas: an interdisciplinary
project on the sustainability in production of biogas from energy crops
• Wrams Gunnarstorp: optimizing large
scale co-digestion
• Challenges in large scale production
of biogas from energy crops
• Dry anaerobic digestion of marine
substrates in two-stage systems
• Biogas collaboration Sweden-China
• Biogas production from oat and oat
processing residues
• Biological hythane production from
biomass
• Enzymatic upgrading of biogas
• Counteracting ammonia inhibition in
anaerobic digesters by struvite crystallization
• Thermophilic microorganism catalyses production of ethanol from glucose
and/or xylose
• Project for developing the concept of
“Intelligent Biogas Plant”
• Measurement of biogas potential using a multichannel device for registration of potential and kinetics
A sustainable bioenergy system should: 1. be resource efficient, 2. have a
high energy efficiency, 3. have maximized environmental benefits and 4.
be cost efficient. These four issues are addressed in the bioenergy research
at Department of Biotechnology. Biomass based production of ethanol,
hydrogen, methane or combinations hereof are studied, with focus on the
microbial methane production process. Challenging research issues are how
to improve microbial and operational efficiency of the systems, which in
our research is addressed by:
• Improved energy efficiency, giving higher energy output. This is
achieved by optimized process design, improved process control, or
pretreatment of substrates for higher conversion rates.
• Quantification and optimisation of the environmental benefits inherent in the process.
• Biorefinery concepts, where high-value products are produced, combined with energy production from the residuals to ensure sustainability.
Project leader for ”Crops 4 biogas” Lovisa
Björnsson at energy crop cultivation trials at SLU
Alnarp. Biofertilized hemp and jerusalem artichoke,
high yielding crops for the production of chemicals
and energy carriers. Photo: Emma Kreuger.
PhD students Ivo and Betty outside the biogas plant
at Wrams Gunnarstorp where they collected samples
for a joint project on fat extraction and biogas
production from fish waste. Photo: Lovisa Björnsson.
PhD students
Malik Badshah, Carla Crespo, Nges Ivo
Achu, Emma Kreuger, Maryam Latifian,
Valentine Nkongndem Nkemka
Lam Minh Duong, Xinmei Fu, Sten
Strömberg
Research engineers
Dalibor Jovanovic
20
PhD student Malik Badshah studying the biomethane potential of different organic
biomasses in Automatic Methane Potential System (AMPTS) from Bioprocess control.
Photo: Zeeshan Nasir.
Picture top: Industrial
hemp can be used
for bioconversion to
ethanol and biogas.
Photo: Lovisa Björnsson.
Education
Courses
In 2010 the department was responsible for eleven
courses at Master’s level and three courses belonging
to the LTH independent course program. The number
of students has increased over the past years which has
resulted in a slightly higher work load for responsible
teachers but also created a larger pool of students available for master thesis projects and as possible recruits
for PhD positions. Courses offered during 2010 are
listed below. Moreover, during the summer of 2010,
the department hosted the much appreciated BESTcourse for 26 students coming from other countries in
Europe. BEST is an acronym for Board of European
Students of Technology and the course covered the role
of biotechnology in a sustainable society
Course
Laboratory exercise in the course Environmental biotechnology, KBT080.
Photo: Lovisa Björnsson.
Code
Credits
(hp)
No. of students
Responsible teacher
Programme related courses
Bioanalytical chemistry
KBT050
7.5
34
Maria Andersson
Bioprocess technology
KBT115
7.5
65
Olle Holst
Biotechnological separation processes
KBT060
7.5
32
Olle Holst
Biotechnology, process and plant design
KBT042
15
28
Olle Holst
Biotechnology
KKKA05
15
67
Olle Holst
Biotechnology, Advanced course
KBT410
15
3
Olle Holst
Environmental biotechnology
KBT080
7.5
25
Lovisa Björnsson
Enzyme technology
KBK031
7.5
43
Patrick Adlercreutz
Green chemistry and biotechnology
KBTF01
7.5
32
Degree project in biotechnology for a
Bachelor of Science
KBTL01
15
1
Olle Holst
Engineering training course
KBTF97
15
1
Olle Holst
Entrepreneurship in biotechnology
TNK021
7.5
30
Maria Andersson
Green chemistry and biotechnology
TNK280
7.5
2
New solutions to old problems - biotechnology for a sustainable society
TFRF35
3
28
Olle Holst
3
3
Martin Hedström
Independent courses
PhD courses
Mass spectrometry
21
International Master’s programme in Biotechnology
In 2010 the Department of Biotechnology took active part in teaching and supervising students in the International Master’s programme in Biotechnology. Besides participating in several of the courses offered by the department,
some of the students chose to do their master thesis projects at the department. The objective of this programme
is to offer courses focused on modern methods of Biotechnology. Prof. Olle Holst is the coordinator of the programme. Several European students supported by Erasmus programme also chose to do their Master thesis projects
at the Department.
Master thesis projects
BHUTADA GOVINDPRASAD
Nutrient dependent physiological
characterization of Pichia stipitis CBS
6054
CARLQVIST KARIN
Development of a FIA-system for simple on-line quantification of glycerol
using a cryogel with immobilized Gluconobacter oxydans
DISHISHA TAREK
A bioprocess for production and purification of rifamycin B
HAJI ALLY
Enrichment of phosphorylated proteins using Fe(III) polyacrylamide nitrilotriacetic acid monolith cryogel
with subsequent mass spectrometric
analysis
HALLQUIST JAKOB
Acidogenic fermentation of industrial
wastewater
JOHANSSON SANDRA
Towards development of an oat based
yoghurt
KARABEGOVIC LAMIJA
Nutrient recovery from anaerobically
digested and thermally pretreated
waste activated sludge liquors by
struvite precipitation
LARSON JOHN
High-yield fed-batch production of
Bacillus subtilis spores
PALMEROS PARADA MARÍA DEL MAR
Biogas production from oat and oat
processing residues
PERSSON ELIN
Prediction model for co-digestion effects on biogas production. Development and evaluation with experimental data from biological methane
potential tests
PUNZI MARISA
Assessment of biological, chemical
and combined treatments for color removal and COD reduction of azo dyes
at lab scale.
STRÖMBERG STEN
Development and evaluation of numerical models for anaerobic digestion
TEIXERA CRISTINA Steam and xylanase treatment of oat husks for applications as prebiotic.
WANG YANMING
Comparative study of the secretory
expression of two insulin analog precursors in S. cerevisiae
A multicultural meeting place
International
celebration of
Lucia and visit by
Santas in Dec.
2010. Photo:Rosa
Aragao and
Siv Holmqvist
Celebration of Diwali with our Indian students
and researchers. Photos: Shiva Shanker.
At the Greenchem conference held
at Lund city hall, Nov. 2010.
22
Group meeting in the DSP group.
International collaborations
During 2010, the department collaborated with universities, institutes and companies in about 30 countries worldwide. The collaboration included both minor initiatives such as student exchange as well as large research programmes spanning over several years. The collaboration covered all major research areas at the department.
North, Central and South America
NICARAGUA
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua,
Managua
BOLIVIA
Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz
Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabam
ba
ARGENTINA
University of La Pampa, Santa Rosa
US
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn
University, Alabama
Europe
ICELAND
Matis (Prokaria), Reykjavik
GREAT BRITAIN
University of Bath
University of Brighton
University of Southampton
MAST Carbon International Ltd
Clinimed
Electrochemical sensor technology ltd.
FRANCE
Evaluation technologiquee ingénierie et applica
tions
DENMARK
Technical University of Denmark
Risö DTU National Laboratory for sustainable
energy
HUNGARY
Budapest University of technology and economics
MFKK invention and research center services ltd.
Hungarian grain and feed association
Dunagabona grain and fodder trading ltd.
GERMANY
Technical University, Braunschweig
Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel
Polymerics GmbH, Berlin
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
GREECE
Association Hellenique des commercants de
cereales et d’aliments de betail
Union of Agricultural cooperatives of Rethymno
Dimitriaki Societe anonyme – Trade of agricultural
products – ship brokers
Center for support and promotion of organic
products
HOLLAND
CLEA Technologies, Delft
BELGIUM
KuLeuven Campus Kortrijk
Beroepsvereniging van de Handelaarsin
Graangewassen en andere Landbouwproducten
VZW
Hogeschool Gent
Universiteit Gent
AUSTRIA
Technical University, Graz
PORTUGAL
University of Algarve, Faro
SPAIN
Valladolid University, Valladolid
Confederacion Espanola de Fabricantes de
Alimentos Compuestos para animales
Asociacion Espanola de Fabricantes de masas
congeladas
Africa
BOTSWANA
Botswana International University of Science
and Technology
EGYPT
Suez Canal University, Ismailia
Cairo University, Cairo
Beni-Sueif University
Nuclear Research Centre, Cairo
KENYA
University of Nairobi, Nairobi
TANZANIA
University of Dar es Salaam
SOUTH AFRICA
Durban University of Technology
University of Limpopo
Asia
TURKEY
Hacettepe University, Ankara
IRAN
Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan
INDIA
Agharkar Research Institute, Pune
Central Food Technology Research Institute,
Mysore
Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat
SRI LANKA
University of Jaffna, Jaffna
SAUDI ARABIA
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Miner
als
THAILAND
Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok
Prince of Songkhla University, Hat Yai
VIETNAM
Hanoi University of Education, Hanoi
MALAYSIA
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor
CHINA
Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Bejing
Zhejiang University of Technology
Figure (right): The Department of Biotechnology has
collaborations in about 30
countries. Illustration by
Dept. of Biotechnology.
23
Staff
Josefin Ahlqvist
Annette Bennvid
Programme Secretary
Technology Coordinator
[email protected]
+46-46-2224838
Economy Administrator
+46-46-2229307
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Martin Hedström
Researcher
[email protected]
+46-46-2227578
Siv Holmqvist
Olle Holst
Professor
Head of Department
[email protected]
+46-46-2224840
Jing Liu
Gashaw Mamo
Research Associate
[email protected]
+46-46-2224741
Bo Mattiasson
Marika Murto
Frans Peder Nilson
Research Associate
[email protected]
+46-46-2228347
Research Associate
[email protected]
+46-46-2228193
Research Engineer
[email protected]
+46-46-2224948
Shukun Yu
Amin Mollaahmad
Regine Wuttke
Patrick Adlercreutz
Maria Andersson
Professor
[email protected]
+46-46-2224842
Technology Coordinator
[email protected]
+46-46-2223673
Carl Grey
Research Associate
[email protected]
+46-46-2228735
Associate Professor
[email protected]
+46-46-2224626
Adjunct Professor
[email protected]
+46-06-2228157
Professor
[email protected]
+46-46-2228264
Secretary
[email protected]
+46-46-2229856
Lovisa Björnsson
Associate Professor
[email protected]
+46-46-2228324
Professor
[email protected]
+46-46-2229844
Christina Wennerberg
Research Engineer
[email protected]
+46-46-2224681
Lab assistants
Marie Andersson
Laboratory Assistant
[email protected]
24
Elin Brun
Pontus Lundemo
[email protected]
[email protected]
Post Docs and Researchers
Teresa Alvarez Aliaga
Mushtaq Ahmed
Mohammad Ibrahim
Suhaila Hashim
[email protected]
Sang-Hyun Pyo
Ravi Kiran Purama
[email protected]
Sindu Mathew
Shiva Shanker
[email protected]
[email protected]
Chunyu Yang
Daniela Zehentgruber
[email protected]
Dimitry Berillo
[email protected]
[email protected]
Javier Linares Pastén
Shabana Basheer
Harald Kirsebom
[email protected]
Linda Elowsson
[email protected]
Rita La Spina
[email protected]
Cecilia Orellana Coca
Aarti Ozarkar
Fatima Plieva
David Svensson
Ulrika Törnvall
Natalia Volkova
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
25
PhD students
Rawana Al-Khalili
Rosa Peralta Aragão
Malik Badshah
malik.badshah@biotek.
Serena Bisagni
Hugo Cavero
[email protected]
Georgina Chavez
Lizarraga
Carla Crespo
Abolgashem Danesh
Tarek Dishisha
Peter Falck
Reza Faryar
Daniel Guzmán
Hector Guzmán
Alvaro Rojas Gutierrez
Anna Hagström
Solmaz Hajizadeh
Yasser Gaber Hasan
Victor Ibrahim
Gry Ravn Jespersen
[email protected]
Maria Jonstrup
[email protected]
MA Kumar
Maryam Latifian
[email protected]
Cecilia Lindström
[email protected]
[email protected]
Laura Mendoza
Fernandez
Marlene Munoz Gaitan
Nges Ivo Achu
Zulma Perez
Tania Pozzo
Gustav Rehn
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Samiullah Khan
Emma Kreuger
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mohammad Mazlomi
Betty Mbatia
mohammad.mazlomi@
biotek.lu.se
Valentine Nkemka
[email protected]
26
[email protected]
abolgashem.danesh@biotek.
lu.se
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Roya Rezaei
[email protected]
Neida Manrriquez Rios
Fabian Rundbäck
Ramin Sabet
Julia Svensson
[email protected]
[email protected]
Deepti Sahoo
[email protected]
Kosin Teeparuksapun
Thuy Tran Thi
Kinga Zor
Oksana Zaushitsyna
Linda Önnby
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Name
University
Country
Alejandro Bravo Hermida
Universidad de los Andes
Colombia
Ami Patel
AAU, Anand
India
Andre Leistner
Polymerics GmbH
Germany
Betti Kondor
CLEA Technologies
Holland
Bruno Viguier
Universite de Perpignan
France
Daniela Zehentgruber
Research Centre Julich
Germany
Jana Schilling
TU Braunschweig
Germany
Katarzyna Nuszkiewicz
Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Poland
Lam Minh Duong
Hanoi National University of Education
Vietnam
Lesedi Lebogang
Botswana International University of Science and Technology
Botswana
Luca Rossoni
University Bicocca di Milano
Italy
Marisa Punzi
Universita Di Pavia
Italy
Natasha Birijlal
Durban University of Technology, Durban
South Africa
Petra Gronemeyer
TU Braunschweig
Germany
Sacha Taboza Vaz
South Africa
Sanaa Haroon
Fayoum University
Egypt
Séverine Cozzi
ENSCR
France
Shaaban Kassuwi
University of Dar-Es-Salam
Tanzania
Shiva Shanker Kaki
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
India
Sindhu Mathew
Kerala University
India
Stephanie Govender
South Africa
Tim Börner
TU Braunschweig
Germany
Vasanthy Arasaratnam
University of Jaffna
Sri Lanka
Vashni Gramany
South Africa
Wuraola Akande
University of Brighton
UK
Xinmei Fu
Southwest University of Science and Technology
China
27
Funding and grants
As many other departments and institutions at the university, the Department of Biotechnology is dependent
on funding from external sources for carrying out the research. External funding accounted for 73% of the total
income during 2010 while 18% was provided through faculty funding and 9% as educational contribution. The
two largest external contributors were Vinnova and Mistra in the group of Public Authorities and Foundations
respectively while Formas (The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning), SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Energy
Agency were other significant external contributors. During 2010 several EU-projects were initiated and generated
an increase in EU-funding.
The distribution of sources is shown below. Besides the
funding included in the table to the right, several visiting scientists and PhD students were supported directly
from external funding agencies.
Source
Faculty
8 705
Education
4 433
Research councils
7 530
Public authorities
6 780
Foundations
13 694
EU
2 377
Industry
3 282
Total
Faculty; 18%
Funds (kSEK)
49 533
Education; 9%
Foundations; 21%
Public authorities;
14%
EU; 5%
Industry; 7%
Research councils;
28%
28
Publications
Journal articles
During 2010, 39 research papers were published in peer reviewed journals and four PhD theses were published and
defended. Scientific results were also presented at several conferences. For reprints of papers contact Siv Holmqvist,
[email protected].
Adlercreutz D., Tufvesson P., Karlsson A.J., HattiKaul R. (2010) Alkanolamide biosurfactants: technoeconomic evaluation of enzymatic versus chemical
production. Indust. Biotechnol. 6: 204-211
Gaber Y., Törnvall U., Orellana-Coca C., Amin
M.A., Hatti-Kaul R. (2010) Enzymatic synthesis of
alkanoyl-n-methyl glucamide surfactants: Solvent free
production and environmental assessment. Green
Chem. 12: 1817-1825
Gräber M., Andersson M., Rundbäck F., Nordberg
Karlsson E., Adlercreutz P. (2010) A novel direct
screening method for alkyl glucoside production by
glucosidases expressed in E. coli in 96-well plates. J.
Biotechnol. 145: 186-192
Grey C., Widén C., Adlercreutz P., Rumpunen K.,
Duan R-D. (2010) Antiproliferative effects of sea
buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) extracts on
human colon and liver cancer cell lines. Food Chem.
120: 1004-1010
Gullfot F., Tan T-C., von Schantz L., Nordberg
Karlsson E., Ohlin M., Brumer H., Divne C. (2010)
The crystal structure of XG-34, an evolved xyloglucan-specific carbohydrate-binding module. Proteins:
Struct. Funct. Bioinform. 78: 785-789
Guzman D., Quillaguaman J., Muñoz M., HattiKaul R. (2010) Halomonas andenense sp. nov., a
moderate halophile isolated from the saline lake Laguna Colorada in Bolivia. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.
60: 749-753
Hajizadeh S., Kirsebom H., Mattiasson B. (2010)
Characterization of carbon- cryostructured particle
macroporous gel for phenol removal. Soft Matter 6:
5562-5569
Hajizadeh S., Kirsebom H., Galaev I. Yu., Mattiasson B. (2010) Evaluation of selective composite
cryogel for bromate removal from drinking water. J.
Sep. Sci. 33: 1752-1759
Hatti-Kaul R. (2010) Biorefineries – a path to sustainability? Crop Sci. 50: S152-S156
Immerstrand T., Deraz S., Rosenqvist A., Paul
C.J., Böök Mårtensson O., Ljungh Å., Blücher A.,
Öste R., Holst O., Nordberg Karlsson E. (2010)
Characterization of the properties of Pediococcus
parvulus for probiotic or protective culture use. J.
Food Protect. 73: 960-966
Jonstrup M., Wärjerstam M., Murto M., Mattiasson B. (2010) Immobilisation of TiO2 for combined
photocatalytic-biological azo dye degradation. Water
Sci. Technol. 62(3): 525-531.
Kirsebom H., Topgaard D., Galaev I. Yu., Mattiasson B. (2010) Modulating the porosity of cryogels by
influencing the non-frozen liquid phase through addition of inert solutes. Langmuir 26(20): 16129–16133
Kirsebom H., Mattiasson B., Galaev I.Yu. (2010)
Ultrafast responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel
produced by cryostructuring of self-crosslinkable
polymer microgels, Macromol. Rapid Commun. 31:
1095–1100
Kreuger E., Prade T., Escobar, F., Svensson, S.E.,
Björnsson, L. (2010) Anaerobic digestion of industrial hemp – Effect of harvest time on methane energy
yield per hectare. Biomass Bioenergy 35: 893-900.
Labib, M., Hedström, M., Amin, M., Mattiasson,
B. (2010) A novel competitive capacitive glucose biosensor based on concanavalin A-labeled nano-gold
colloids assembled on a polytyramine-modified gold
electrode. Anal. Chim. Acta 5: 194-200.
Labib, M., Hedström, M., Amin, M., Mattiasson,
B. (2010) Competitive capacitive biosensing technique (CCBT): A novel technique for monitoring low
molecular mass analytes using glucose assay as a
model study. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 397: 1217-1224.
Lindahl S., Ekman A., Khan S., Wennerberg C.,
Börjesson P., Sjöberg P.J.R., Nordberg Karlsson
E., Turner C. (2010) Exploring the possibilities to use
a thermostable mutant of b–glucosidase for rapid
hydrolysis of quercetin glucosides in hot water. Green
Chem. 12: 159–168
Loyprasert S., Hedström M., Kanatharan P.
Thavarungkul P., Mattiasson B. (2010) Ultrasensitive detection of cholera toxin using a label-free
29
capacitive immunosensor. Biosens. Bioelec. 25: 977983.
tial and future prospects. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.
85: 1687-1696
Mamo G,. Kasture S., Faryar R., Hashim S., HattiKaul R. (2010) Surfactants from xylan: Production of
n-octyl xylosides using a highly thermostable xylanase
from Thermotoga neapolitana. Process Biochem. 45:
700–705
Samuelsson E., Carlsson M.C., Osla V., HendusAltenburger R., Kahl Knutsson B., Öberg C.T.,
Sundin A., Nilsson R., Nordberg-Karlsson E.,
Nilsson U.J., Karlsson A., Rini J.M., Leffler H.
(2010) Mutational tuning of galectin-3 specificity and
biological function. J. Biol. Chem. 285: 3507-3509
Mattiasson B., Hedström M. (2010) Sampling and
sample handling for process control. Encyclopedia of
Industrial Biotechnology: Bioprocess, Bioseparation,
and Cell Technology 2: 1–23.
Mattiasson B., Teeparuksapun K., Hedström M.
(2010) Immunochemical binding assays for detection
and quantification of trace impurities in biotechnological production. Trends Biotechnol. 28: 20-27.
Mazlomi M., Hedström M., Mattiasson B. (2010)
Integrated set-up of sampling, sample treatment and
assay of an intracellular protein during fermentation.
J. Biotechnol., 150, 366-371.
Mei J., Yu S., Ahrén B. (2010) Study on administration of 1,5-anhydro-Dfructose in C57BL/6J mice challenged with high-fat diet. BMC Endocrine Disorders
10:(17), 1-5.
Mazzaferro L., Breccia J.D., Andersson M.M.,
Hitzmann B., Hatti-Kaul R. (2010) Polyethyleneimine-protein interactions and implications on
protein stability. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 47: 15-20
Mbatia B., Adlercreutz D., Adlercreutz P., Mulaa
F., Mattiasson B. (2010) Enzymatic oil extraction
and positional analysis of w-3 fatty acids in Nile perch
and salmon heads. Process Biochem. 45: 815-819
Mbatia B., Adlercreutz P., Mulaa F., Mattiasson B.
(2010) Enzymatic enrichment of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in Nile perch (Lates niloticus) viscera
oil. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 112: 977-984
Nkemka V., Murto M. (2010) Evaluation of biogas
production from seaweed in batch tests and in UASB
reactors combined with the removal of heavy metals.
J. Environ. Manag. 91: 1573-1579.
Pozzo T., Linares Pasten J., Nordberg Karlsson E.,
Logan D.T. (2010) Structural and functional analysis
of b–glucosidase 3B from Thermotoga neapolitana:
a thermostable 3-domain representative of glycoside
hydrolase family 3. J Mol.Biol. 397: 724-739
Quillaguamán J., Guzmán H., Van-Thuoc D.,
Hatti-Kaul R. (2010) Synthesis and production of
polyhydroxyalkanoates by halophiles: current poten-
30
Sánchez L.A., Hedström M., Delgado M.A.,
Delgado O.D. (2010) Production, purification and
characterization of serraticin A, a novel cold-active
antimicrobial produced by Serratia proteamaculans.
136. J. Appl. Microbiol. 109: 936–945.
Sipos B., Kreuger E., Svensson S-E., Réczey K.,
Björnsson L., Zacchi G. (2010) Steam pretreatment
of dry and ensiled industrial hemp for ethanol production. Biomass Bioenergy 34(12): 1721-1731
Svensson, J., Rosenquist A., Adlercreutz P., Nilsson Å., Ohlsson, L. (2010) Postprandial lipemic
response to alpha-linolenic acid rich oil, butter, and
olive oil. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 112: 961-969
Teeparuksapun K., Hedström M., Wong EY., Tang
S., Hewlett IK., Mattiasson B. (2010) Ultrasensitive
detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen using nanofunctionalized surfaces in a capacitive immunosensor. Anal.
Chem. 82: 8406 – 8411.
Tran T.T., Mamo G., Mattiasson B., Hatti-Kaul
R. (2010) A thermostable phytase from Bacillus sp.
MD2: cloning, expression and high level production in
Escherichia coli. J. Indust. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 37:
279-287
Törnvall, U. (2010) Pinpointing oxidative modifications in proteins – recent advances in analytical
methods. Anal. Methods 2: 1638-1650
Törnvall U., Hedström M., Schillén K., Hatti-Kaul
R. (2010) Structural, functional and chemical changes
of Pseudozyma (Candida) antarctica lipase B on exposure to hydrogen peroxide. Biochimie 92:1867-1875
Van Thuoc D., Guzmán H., Hang M.T., Hatti-Kaul
R. (2010) Ectoine production by Halomonas boliviensis: optimization using response surface methodology.
Marine Biotechnol. 12: 586-593
Van Thuoc D., Guzmán H., Quillaguamán J.,
Hatti-Kaul R. (2010) High productivity of ectoines
by Halomonas boliviensis using a combined two-step
fed-batch culture and milking process. J. Biotechnol.
147: 46-51
newable Resources (M. Kjellin and I. Johansson, eds.),
Wiley, pp. 145-165
Book chapters
R. Hatti-Kaul (2010) Downstream processing in
industrial biotechnology. In: Industrial Biotechnology. Sustainable Growth and Economic Success (W.
Soetaert and E.J. Vandamme, eds.), Wiley-VCH, pp.
279-321
Nordberg Karlsson E., Johansson L., Holst O.,
Lidén G. (2010) Escherichia coli as a well-developed
host for metabolic engineering In: The Metabolic
Pathway Engineering Handbook-Fundamentals, CRC
Press, Boca Raton (C. D. Smolke (ed.),
P. Adlercreutz, R. Hatti-Kaul (2010) Synthesis of
surfactants using enzymes. In: Surfactants from Re-
Doctoral degrees and theses
Harald Kirsebom
Preparation and characterization of macroporous
cryostructured materials
Anna Hagström (Petersson)
Lipase-catalysed synthesis of epoxides and ester
Hector O. Guzmán Suarez
Production of ectoines and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate):
High cell-density cultivation of Halomonas boliviensis
Thuy Thi Tran
Thermostable phytase from a Bacillus sp.
Heterologous production, mutation, characterization
and assay development
Harald Kirsebom is congratulated after defending his thesis in
September 2010. Photo: Siv Holmqvist
Thuy Thi Tran surrounded by the opponent, committee and her
supervisors at her dissertation in December 2010. Photo: Siv
Holmqvist
Conferences
Below are listed the national and international conferences attended by Biotechnology co-workers during 2010.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Biogas, Novozymes and LU Biofuels, Lund, Jan.
Bio-based Chemicals Summit, San Diego, USA,
Feb 8-10
Sveriges Energiting, Stockholm, Sverige, March
16
Biogas och betor, Betodlarna, Flyinge, March.
Advances in biodetection technologies, Dublin,
Ireland, May
Vth International Bioengineering Congress, Izmir,
Turkey, June 16-19
2nd Int. Symp. on Probiotic and Prebiotic as
Functional Foods for Human Health promotion,
Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug 4-5
BIOCAT 2010, Hamburg, Aug 29-Sept 2
14th International Biotechnology Symposium and
Exhibition, Rimini, Italy, Sept 14-18
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
4th Symposium on the alpha-amylase family
(ALAMY_4), Smolenice, Slovakia, Sept 26-30.
International Symposium on Biopolymers, Stuttgart, Germany, Oct 3-7
Bioteknik och rötning av grödor, Avfall Sverige,
Kristianstad, October.
Industrial Biotechnology: a Platform for Sustainable Growth in Sweden, Lund, Nov 8-9
Zing’s Polymer Chemistry Conference, Puerto
Morelos, Mexico, Nov 19 – 22
8th EuroFedLipid Congress, Munich, Nov 21-24
Detection Technologies, Arlington, USA, Nov.
Int. Conf. on Traditional Foods, Pondicherry,
India, Dec 1-3
Seminar at Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de
Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, Madrid, Spain, Dec 3
Photo last page: Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Photo: Tarek Dishisha.
31
Department of Biotechnology
Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Lund University
P.O. Box 124
SE-221 00 Lund
SWEDEN
www.biotek.lu.se
Email addresses
Personal addresses are constructed by
name and surname as follows:
[email protected]
Annual report 2010
Publisher: Rajni Hatti-Kaul Editor: Maria Andersson
32

Annual report 2010

Transcription

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