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Marine invertebrates together with a plethora of symbiotic and free-living algae, fungi and prokaryotes are amidst the most prolific producers of bioactive compounds in coral reefs and marine environments at large. Their natural products often show astounding structural novelty and complexity, facilitating chemically mediated behaviours and interspecies interactions from competition to cooperation. There is great potential for a minimally invasive and economically reliable exploitation of bioactive secondary metabolites from the highly diverse and chemically complex reef communities. iBB researchers Tina Keller-Costa and Rodrigo Costa (BSRG) are guest editing a special issue on Coral Reef Ecology, Conservation and Inspiration for Marine Drugs Development in the Journal Marine Drugs and cordially invite the scientific community to contribute original research or review articles on the role of natural products in coral reef ecology and conservation, organismal interactions and biotechnology.

The Special Issue “Yeast Biorefineries” edited by Isabel Sa-Correia and Naseem A. Gaur for the Journal of Fungi intends to gather the most recent and original research and review papers on the identification, development, and exploitation of robust, metabolically promising, and genetically engineered yeast strains for advanced biorefineries. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a major cell factory for which vast biological knowledge and genetic tools are available. However, the exploitation of non-Saccharomyces yeasts is recently gaining momentum, making this large and heterogeneous group desirable for the synthesis of a wide range of added-value products, in particular lipids/oleofuels, bioethanol, carotenoids, organic acids, and biopolymers. Papers on the identification, exploitation, and development of robust, metabolically promising, and genetically engineered conventional and non-conventional yeast strains for biorefineries are welcome. Contributions that explore functional and comparative genomics analyses for understanding the physiological genomics of yeasts and the development of bioprocesses, especially those dedicated to the valorization of bioresidues and production of added-value products are also welcome.

Enzymes are acknowledged as effective catalysts, namely, on account of their selectivity, high turnover, and ability to operate under mild conditions. Despite these advantageous features, the industrial application of enzymes still lags behind their use on a laboratory scale. This pattern may be partly assigned to the intrinsic nature of enzymes: these biocatalysts have been optimized throughout the ages to be mostly active in aqueous media and to operate in environments where substrate and product concentrations are much lower than those required for industrial processes to be commercially feasible. In this Special Issue on “Biocatalysis, Enzyme, and Process Engineering”, guest edited by Pedro Fernandes and Carla de Carvalho (iBB-BERG) in Processes, several papers discuss the latest applications of enzymes.

João Carlos Silva and Frederico Castelo Ferreira from SCERG-iBB are guest-editing a special issue for the open-access journal “Polymers” entitled “Advanced Polymeric Scaffolds for Stem Cell Engineering and Regenerative Medicine”. Polymer scaffolds play a crucial role in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications since they can closely mimic the architecture of a native extracellular matrix (ECM) and improve the biological performance of cells both in vitro and in vivo. This Special Issue welcomes full research papers, communications and reviews on recent exciting developments of polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

Jorge H. Leitão from BSRG-iBB is guest-editing a special issue for the open-access journal "Antibiotics” entitled “New insights into antibacterial compounds: from synthesis and discovery to molecular mechanisms of action” . This issue aims to gather papers describing novel antibiotics, originating form chemical synthesis, repositioning of existent drugs, or from natural sources like plant extracts, herbs and spices. Papers on the description of novel structures, discovery of novel targets and mechanisms of action, as well as on the use of Omics approaches in the field of novel antibiotics discovery and characterization are also welcome.

Together with Dr. Naseem A. Gaur, prof. Isabel Sá-Correia is organizing a special issue for The Journal of Fungi. This special issue is focused on the new circular bio-based economy. The development of large-scale bioprocesses for the bioconversion of biomass resources into environmentally friendly biofuels, chemicals, and materials is required to answer timeless societal challenges. Cost-effective microbial conversion processes of renewable feedstock into biofuels and biochemicals are of utmost importance for the establishment of a robust bioeconomy. Therefore, the transition to a sustainable bio-based economy requires further scientific research and innovation to reach those goals. Integrated yeast biorefinery processes have recently gained relevance in envisaging the conversion of forest and agro-industrial residues into environmentally friendly products currently produced by the petrochemical industry. For all these reasons, this is a very active and exciting area of R&D. Deadline for new manuscript submissions is August 31, 2022.

The mild operational conditions typically required by biobased production processes, together with the selective nature of biocatalysts, microbial diversity and tunability, and the century-long record of fermentation, clearly place bioprocesses as the primary contenders, by far, in achieving the generalized implementation of efficient, green manufacturing strategies. Moreover, by overlapping with the biorefinery approach, the foundations needed for bioprocesses to embrace the circular economy concept are set. In this Special Issue on “Bioprocess Engineering: Sustainable Manufacturing for a Green Society", guest edited by Pedro Fernandes and Carla de Carvalho (iBB-BERG) in Processes, the papers will discuss new bioproducts and concomitant bioengineering approaches to achieve a sustainable and environmentally friendly economy.

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the use of biocatalysts in flow reactors. This merging combines the high selectivity and mild operation conditions typical of biocatalysis with enhanced mass transfer and resource efficiency associated to flow chemistry. Additionally, it provides a sound environment to emulate Nature by mimicking metabolic pathways in living cells and to produce goods through the systematic organization of enzymes towards efficient cascade reactions. Moreover, by enabling the combination of enzymes from different hosts, this approach paves the way for novel pathways. In a recent paper published in the journal Processes, Pedro Fernandes and Carla de Carvalho (iBB-BERG) review the recent developments within the scope of flow chemistry involving multi-enzymatic cascade reactions. The paper was published in the Special Issue  "Biocatalysis, Enzyme and Process Engineering" edited by both authors.

Tiago G. Fernandes from SCERG-iBB is guest-editing a special topic for the open-access journal "Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology" entitled "Stem Cell Systems Bioengineering". Advances in the bioengineering field have allowed the manipulation of singular aspects of the cellular microenvironment, and this Research Topic aims to focus on outstanding examples of bioengineering approaches used to promote the self-organization of human cells and the production of tissue-like structure formation.

Pedro Fernandes and Carla Carvalho from BERG-iBB are acting as guest editors of a special issue of the open-access journal "Processes" on “Biocatalysis, Enzyme, and Process Engineering”. The aim is to address novel advances in the development and application of enzymes in the production of goods of interest for large-scale production. Topics include but are not limited to the following: i) Enzyme engineering towards improved biocatalysts; ii) The development of novel process designs for biocatalysis; and iii) Multienzyme cascade reactions. Manuscripts can be submitted via the journal web page until November 30, 2019.