acib - THE AUSTRIAN CENTRE OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

THE AUSTRIAN CENTRE
OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

acib is an international competence centre, developing new, environmentally friendly, economically and technically advanced processes for the biotechnological, pharmaceutical and chemical industry – all of them modelled on nature. acib is bridging the gap between academic research and producing industry. The big advantage for acib partner organisations is the possibility to translate scientific results into concrete processes and product by using scientific know-how, academic infrastructure or industrial networks. Our platform offers tailor-made solutions for our stakeholders from Academia, Industry and Investors.

LATEST BLOG ARTICLES

Science meets Kids – Biotechnology for at home

The COVID-19 crisis is currently affecting all of us and all eyes are set at the scientific community that is eager to find a drug or a vaccine against the virus as soon as possible. Furthermore, the European Commission has launched the Green Deal concept which includes a research budget within the Horizon 2020 program of 1 billion Euro! Let’s conclude from these two recent examples: Science is important for all of us to move forward and to find solutions to meet the big challenges of our planet. In other words: science affects all of us and life is science!

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Plastic recycling with enzymes – ENZYCLE!

Plastic waste management has become a challenge for our planet. Mankind produces 27.1 million tons per year of plastic waste and only 31.1% can be recycled! More than 65% are landfilled or incinerated. These huge amount of waste comes along with CO₂ emissions of 6.7 million tons per year.

To counteract to these numbers, the project ENZYCLE was launched: it looks for new processes to treat and to recycle plastic fractions that nowadays cannot be recycled. It mainly addresses multilayer packaging, PET trays and clamshell containers and microplastics in waste water. Therefore, the project aims to reduce the amount of plastics that ends up in soil and the oceans.

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Saving sharks by lab-produced squalene

Squalene acts as a booster for potential vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. However, the richest squalene source, shark liver, can and should not be exploited further. acib offers a solution: Yeast cell factories can be designed via biotechnological tools to produce high amounts of squalene.

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Testing COVID-19 drugs

Globally, the search for potential drugs and vaccines is proceeding rapidly. A collaborative acib-research project focuses on the identification, evaluation and pre-clinical testing of a certain group of active ingredients, combining faster availability with high effectiveness. These so-called antiviral drugs have been used in the fights against HIV, MERS and SARS. They can inhibit the multiplication rates of enzymes or prevent virus particles from invading lung cells and consequently avert possible infections. This makes them effective tools in the fight against COVID-19.

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How do magnetic nanoparticles heat?

Some magnetic materials are able to absorb electro-magnetic waves and transform them into heat. But how do they do it? And is there a single mechanism or an optimum frequency for this process? To answer these and other fundamental questions of magnetic heating, first some introductory concepts must be clarified related to the magnetic response of the materials to a magnetic field.

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Top 3 Sustainable (future) Biotech applications for your Household

You have ever been in touch with biotechnology? No? We are quite sure that you have been! Many products we find in our household are made with biotechnology. And we didn’t even reach the end of the story! In this article we present the top three sustainable (future) biotech applications for your household:

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Contactless magnetic heating to control enzymes activity

Contactless magnetic heating may sound scary, but it is part of your daily life experience. Every time you heat-up your morning coffee mocha with an induction cooker, you are using magnetic fields and magnetic materials. But can this kind of heating also be used to solve high-tech problems? This is the question that scientists are trying to answer in the H2020-FETOPEN project HOTZYMES.

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Early detection of sepsis

Whether activating or silencing genes, breaking down defective cells or building new tissue, our body is constantly working to repair itself, even in cases of illness. To fight a disease, our body sends out signals, often long before we ourselves notice the disease. Such signals are, for example, DNA molecules that are released from the body’s own cells, circulate in the blood and are most likely recognised by other cells as a message to stimulate a defence reaction. The identification of these messengers leads to an early detection of sepsis.

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A global fight against COVID-19

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has turned the whole world upside down. After weeks of curfew to relieve the national health care systems, the economic impact becomes more and more perceptible: We are facing a substantial crisis. The only way out of this misery is finding a) an effective drug for the treatment of COVID-19 or b) a safe vaccine, which prevents us from a Coronavirus infection.

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DIY Experiment mit den Enzos: Käseherstellung zu Hause

Wir sitzen nun schon alle seit geraumer Zeit in unseren eigenen vier Wänden fest. Doch wir sind auf gar keinen Fall allein! Unsere Enzymfreunde, die Enzos, sind zu Besuch am Frühstückstisch und während ich mir ein Müsli mit Milch mache, sitzen die Enzos schon da. Die Laktase rutscht aufgeregt hin und her und meint: „Weißt du, dass meine Freunde genau in diesem Moment ganz wichtig für dich sind? Die Laktasen in deinem Darm spalten nämlich den Milchzucker! Menschen mit Lactoseintoleranz haben keine Laktasen und leiden dann an Bauchweh oder Durchfall, wenn sie Milchprodukte essen.“ Die anderen Enzos wollen plötzlich auch mitreden und erklären mir, dass man aus Milch auch Joghurt und Käse herstellen kann. Gesagt – getan: Voller Vorfreude beschließen wir, heute Käse selber herzustellen.

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acib as the largest Austrian research centre for biotechnology is responsible to use its competences and possibilities to conduct solution-oriented fast-track research in the context with COVID-19. The unique constellation of complementary research fields of biotechnology allows us to react very fast …

COMPANY PROFILE AND OWNERS

acib is an industrially oriented private limited company with a non-profit orientation. It is publicly owned by:

THE COMET CENTER acib

Next Generation Bioproduction is funded by BMVIT, BMDW, SFG, Standortagentur Tirol, Government of Lower Austria und Vienna Business Agency in the framework of COMET – Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies. The COMET-Funding Program is managed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG.

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