Anfang April lud acib zum österreichischen Stakeholderevent aus dem Open Innovation Test-Bed (OITB) Projekt Bionanopolys ein. Acib ist Mitglied in diesem 27 Partner starken Projektkonsortium, das sich mit der Entwicklung von bio-basierten Nanomaterialen beschäftigt.

What does food have to do with climate change? Quite a lot, because as population density increases, so does the demand for food. At the same time, resources are being consumed, posing even greater challenges to our environment and climate. With its “Food 2030” priority, the European Union is pursuing the goal of ensuring innovative research for the future viability of our food system. Within the framework of its research program, acib GmbH already contributes to the development of suitable solutions for sustainable and healthy nutrition. Here are some examples and project ideas from the field of biotechnology:

What if you could produce something valuable out of the pesky greenhouse gases? What if you could even use them to tackle important global challenges? This is exactly the mission of acib’s spin-off company Econutri. The small company has developed a bioprocess that uses carbon dioxide as a source to produce high quality protein. A crucial part of this process is the microorganism, Cupriavidus necator: it is grown in a gas fermentation process where hydrogen produced from green energy is needed for the microbial transformation of CO₂ into protein.

Plastic materials are products of our daily life. Their various properties make them useful in many fields, such as packaging industry. Since the emergence of the Green Chemistry and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) concepts, many scientists have decided to engage in the development of greener chemistry to produce greener plastics. Among these, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a very serious avenue of research.

The terms “sustainability” and “greenness” are omnipresent, whether in advertising for clothing or in project proposals for the funding of academic research. However, “greenwashing” and the careless use of these terms blurs our understanding and turns them into rather abstract concepts that are nonetheless necessary. In the following we will take a closer look at the meaning for biocatalysis and more specifically on the example of the Horizon 2020 funded EU project CARBAFIN.

Weihnachten naht, und mit den Geschenken droht der Verpackungsmüll wieder Überhand zu nehmen. Nichtsdestotrotz ist Plastik eine der größten Materialinnovationen des letzten Jahrhunderts, und es gibt Plastik sogar in “bio”! Im Rahmen unseres Life is Science Podcasts “Die BioTexperten” unterhalten wir uns mit acib Forscherin Dr. Anita Emmerstorfer-Augustin, die Teil des Teams rund um das EU Projekt BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE ist. Wir klären wichtige Begriffsdefinitionen wie “bio-basiert” oder “bio-abbaubar” und schauen uns an, wo Bio-Plastik heutzutage schon Anwendung findet.

UPLIFT is a project funded from the European Commission in the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program. The overall concept of the project is to boost the development and validation of novel enzymatic and microbial processes for the sustainable use of plastics in food and drinks packaging applications, which will be tested and evaluated from a technical, environmental and socio-economical point of view, thereby contributing to the development of a more circular European plastic packaging industry.

Sustainability and use of renewable resources represent an important part of any production process with regard to circular economy and for the sake of our planet. With all the biomass available, utilization thereof offers a variety of applications. The European project CARBAFIN has developed a radically new value chain for the use of sucrose from sugar beet biomass. Specific enzymes convert sucrose into new compounds, such as functional glycosides or platform chemicals. These are relevant for different industry sectors, which are highlighted below.

Climate protection, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and saving of fossil resources are key elements for a more sustainable future. Potential alternatives to fossil-based materials are so called biomaterials. However, these substances must offer functional properties for high-volume applications and need to perform even better than their fossil counterparts and still have to get cheaper in order to drive their adoption by industry and end users. In order to provide biomaterials with the requested properties and make them more interesting for an industrial use, the EU-project Bionanopolys was founded.

An enzyme called tyrosinase, which is responsible for triggering a protective mechanism in plants and turning apples brown, even possesses further, previously unknown properties: For the first time, acib researchers have used the proteolytic abilities of tyrosinases to improve another enzyme – so that it can degrade plastic.