The insufficient UV photoprotection of approved sunscreens and the negative impact of their compositions on ecosystems and human health makes the utility of sunscreen questionable. Therefore, discovering UV filters with significant antioxidant activity and improved topical performance and photostability is crucial. The use of nanosized natural molecules incorporated in sunscreens has been a scientific hot topic, since they provide a synergistic effect with synthetic UV filters, improving overall SPF and antioxidant activity, higher epidermis retention, and less toxicity. Pedro Fonte from iBB and colleagues reviewed about formulations containing nanosized flavonoids with improved safety and UVA photoprotection becoming promising sunscreens.

Mónica da Luz Galocha defended her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences, titled “Unveiling new pathways of genomic evolution towards drug resistance in Candida glabrata”, on the 13th of February 2023, at Instituto Superior Técnico. During the previous four years, and under the supervision of Miguel Cacho Teixeira from BSRG-iBB, Mónica studied the genomic basis of the evolution towards antifungal drug resistance in the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata, uncovering fascinating new mechanisms of azole drug import and transcriptome-wide remodelling in the dependency of mediator complex components.

On the 16th of February 2023, Joaquim Cabral, former presidente of iBB,  gives a lecture at Sessão da Classe de Ciências of Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. This lecture will be entitled “The Role of Bioprocess Engineering and Cellular Therapies and Regenerative Medicine”. This session will be chaired by Professor Carlos Salema and will also feature a lecture given by Professor Conceição Peleteiro and several guests.

The CryoEM-PT - National Advanced Electron Microscopy Network for Health and Life Sciences facility inauguration was held in February 2nd at the INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, in Braga. The inauguration took place in the presence of Interim INL Director General - Paulo Freitas, the Scientific Coordinator of AEMIS Facility - Paulo Ferreira, the Alderwoman of Braga - Olga Pereira, the FCT President - Madalena Alves and CCDR-N President - António Cunha, along with the representatives of the multiple nodes of this network. Profs. Berberan Santos (iBB President), Fábio Fernandes (IST Node) and Manuel Prieto (iBB) attended the inauguration. IST is one of the nodes of the network and iBB is the authorized user of the equipment on behalf of IST within this network.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane vesicles fundamental for cellular communication processes. Either by taking advantage of EVs innate properties, or by loading them with therapeutic agents, EVs have emerged as cell-free strategies with diverse clinical applications. Indeed, when compared to mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), similar or better therapeutic benefits have been reported for MSC-derived EVs, thus explaining the increased interest in EVs over the years. Despite appealing features, EVs implementation in the clinic is still limited by technical difficulties, like robust isolation methods capable of delivering a high-quality product with high yield. In this work, published in the journal Separation and Purification Technology, we described anion exchange chromatography as a robust and better alternative to already implemented techniques. Following this strategy, more than 85% of injected EVs could be recovered, while complying with the stringencies set by regulatory agencies. This study developed at the Stem Cell Engineering Research Group (SCERG) and Bioengineering Research Group (BERG) at iBB was led by Dr. Ana Fernandes-Platzgummer and Prof. Ana Azevedo and co-first-authored by PhD students Ricardo Silva and Sara Sousa Rosa.

The Academic Jubilee of Isabel Sá-Correia, Distinguished Professor at the Departamento de Bioengenharia (DBE) and researcher at the iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences will take place on the 7th February, at 5 p.m., in Instituto Superior Técnico congress centre.

Programme:
5 p.m. – Opening session – João Pedro Conde – Head of DBE
5.05 p.m. – Rogério Colaço – President of Técnico
5.10 p.m. – Jorge Pedrosa – Presidente da Sociedade Portuguesa de Microbiologia
5.15 p.m. – Joaquim Cabral – DBE
5.20 p.m. – Arsénio Fialho – DBE
5.25 p.m. – Jorge Leitão – DBE
5.30 p.m. – Isabel Sá-Correia – 30 min “As Ciências Biológicas numa Escola de Engenharia” (“Biological Sciences in a School of Engineering”)
6 p.m. – Luís Ferreira – Rector of Universidade de Lisboa
6.05 p.m. – Closing session and "Porto de Honra"

Cell and gene therapies (CGT) have reached new therapeutic targets but have noticeably high prices. Solutions to reduce production costs might be found in CGT storage and transportation since they typically involve cryopreservation, which is a heavily burdened process. Encapsulation at hypothermic temperatures (e.g., 2–8 °C) can be a feasible alternative. In this study, we determined the ability of alginate encapsulation to maintain cell viability, identity, and function in the context of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-based therapy manufacturing. MSC encapsulation was proven possible for a remarkable 12 day period, showing its potential to act as a serious competitor to cryopreservation for short to medium time periods. This study developed at the Stem Cell Engineering Research Group (SCERG) at iBB was led by Dr. Ana Fernandes-Platzgummer and Prof. Cláudia Lobato da Silva and first-authored by PhD student André Branco.

The use of Mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), a group of biosurfactants with excellent biochemical properties, in bioremediation in marine and terrestrial environments has been envisioned. However, knowledge regarding their ecotoxicity is limited, and the current production costs are too high to make them competitive in the surfactant market. In an effort to facilitate the use of MELs for marine bioremediation purposes, the team from 2BRG/iBB studied MELs production using seawater in medium formulation as reported on “Towards Mannosylerythritol Lipids (MELs) for Bioremediation: Effects of NaCl on M. antarcticus Physiology and Biosurfactant and Lipid Production; Ecotoxicity of MELs”, published in Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. The cells were exposed to different levels of NaCl during fermentation and the effects of increased salinity on the cells and their performance were monitored. In addition, the cells were briefly exposed to osmotic shock by introducing pure NaCl into the broth to measure their physiological responses. Although the overall effect of NaCl in the medium was negative, cells produced more lipases in these stress conditions. Furthermore, the changes triggered by osmotic shock caused changes in the cell surface and affected their hydrophobicity, reducing the levels of MELs adsorbed to the cells, which in turn led to an increase in the formation of MEL-rich beads. Marine-level salinity (3.5%) was found to be sufficient to enable the production of MELs under non-sterile conditions and to inhibit the introduction of bacterial contaminants. Finally, the toxicity levels of MELs in a model marine organism and plant model were lower than those of other biosurfactants and a commercial chemical dispersant used for bioremediation.

This publication has as first-author the (now former) PhD student Petar Kekovic of the MIT-Portugal Program in Bioengineering - and as a corresponding author Frederico Ferreira and Nuno Faria.  Additionally, the co-authors and a team from Sintef – Roman Netzer, Umer Farooq and Ariadna Szczybelski submitted a patent application for formulation of a novel MEL based oils spill response agent, reference number 117583.

Marine microbiomes are prolific sources of bioactive compounds of pharmaceutical value. A new study, published in Marine Drugs, inspected two culture collections comprising 919 host-associated marine bacteria belonging to 55 genera and several unclassified lineages. The study identified numerous isolates with a potentially rich secondary metabolism and inhibitory activities towards human-pathogenic bacteria and fungi. These culture collections, available at iBB-IST and Aveiro University, are a valuable resource of understudied marine bacteria that hold promise for a future, sustainable production of novel drug leads. The work was developed within the SymbioReactor project (DGPM | Fundo Azul program), first-authored by MSc João Almeida and coordinated by Dr Tina Keller-Costa and Prof Rodrigo Costa. The study also involved PhD student Matilde Marques, Dr Dalila Mil-Homens, Prof Miguel Teixeira and Prof Arsénio Fialho from iBB as well collaborators from Aveiro University and Biocant.

Xylonic acid (XA) is on the list of the 30 platform chemicals to be produced from biomass, as identified by the US Department of Energy.

The group of researchers Maryna Bondar, Teresa Cesário and Manuela Fonseca (iBB-2BRG) was the first to report the capability of a bacterial species belonging to Safety Level 1, Paraburkholderia sacchari, at the time classified as Burkholderia sacchari, to produce large amounts of XA from xylose. XA is thermally stable and biocompatible, non-toxic, water soluble and non-corrosive, with properties similar to Gluconic Acid (GA). Its use in the pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries in general has been addressed with success.

While GA is produced from glucose, XA is obtained from xylose (sugar not used for human consumption). The invention relates to a biological process for XA production using xylose or lignocellulosic hydrolysates as substrate and a bacterial strain as biocatalyst. With this bioprocess, XA concentrations between 370 g/L and 390 g/L were obtained, corresponding to volumetric productivities from 4.8 g/(L.h) to 7.1 g/(L.h). The yield of XA on xylose ranged from 89% to 100%.

CellAgri Portugal, the Portuguese Association for Cellular Agriculture Development, is a recently created independent non-profit organization, headquartered at IST-TagusPark.

The mission of CellAgri Portugal is to facilitate and encourage the cooperative development of cellular_agriculture in Portugal as well as to inform the public about the industrial, scientific, and technological developments in the field involving the Portuguese community worldwide.

Joaquim Cabral is the president of CellAgri Portugal and Carlos Rodrigues is the executive director. CellAgri Portugal also counts with the iBB researchers Frederico Ferreira, Ana Fernandes-Platzgummer, Paola Alberte, and the iBB PhD students Diana Marques and Hélder Tavares.

Microbes are known to contaminate money. In the project CleanCoin, funded by INCM, Carla C.C.R. de Carvalho (iBB-2BRG), Telmo Santos (UNIDEMI, UNL) and Maria José Caramujo (cE3c, FCUL, UL), studied the bacterial population present at the surface of coins. In a recently published white paper, the research team and collaborators from INCM, present the results and compare the number of viable bacteria in coins with those found on other objects such as bank cards and mobile phones.

Metagenomics is an expanding field within microbiology and related disciplines. The number of metagenomes deposited in public databases is exponentially rising, but data mining and interpretation can be challenging due to mis-annotated metadata entries. The new Marine Metagenome Metadata Database (MarineMetagenomeDB) helps researchers to identify marine metagenomes of interest for re-analysis and meta-analysis and is a valuable resource for non-bioinformaticians to find marine metagenome samples with curated metadata. The study, published in Environmental Microbiome, was led by Dr Ulisses Nunes da Rocha and team from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Germany), and counted on specialist guidance in marine metadata standardization from iBB/DBE PhD-student Sandra Silva and researchers Tina Keller-Costa and Rodrigo Costa. The user-friendly web app is publicly available at here.

Organized at Instituto Superior Técnico by Isabel Sá-Correia and Jorge Leitão, a joint workshop of two FCT-funded doctoral programs in which  DBE and iBB participate or direct, AEM-Applied and Environmental Microbiology and BIOTECnico- Biotechnology and Biosciences, took place at the Zoom platform on February 15 (dedicated to AEM) and 16 (dedicated to BIOTECnico). The external supervisory committee (ESC) of the two programs were present and participated very actively. They are highly renowned academics in the areas of the PhD programs: Tom Coyne from Gent University, William de Vos from Wageningen University, Jack Pronk from Delft University, Prof Steve Oliver, University of  Cambridge, Michael Hoare, University College London. 

PhD students and alumni of both programs were present and program that we set up via Zoom allowed us to demonstrate the work carried out in terms of advanced training in the framework of BIOTECnico and AEM programs. The ESCs were very impressed about the way how “the two fabulous programs were designed and managed and built a culture that encourages PhD candidates to take initiative, grow and prosper.” Congratulations to the directive boards of both programs, the students, the alumni, and their supervisors and collaborators.

A Wednesday afternoon spent learning about cutting-edge science while enjoying a beer with friends in a "Hygge" setting is undoubtedly appealing. This is the value proposition from the “PubHD” initiative. In this week’s edition, the IBB/IST will be represented by Rui Oliveira-Silva.

To enhance the performance of (bio)sensors and obtain information about a given system at a specific time, Rui concentrated on the development of nanomaterials during his doctoral studies. The availability of these (bio)sensors, enable early detection, process control of pharmaceuticals, or assess the effectiveness therapies and to follow-up patients. These (bio)sensors render information that was previously impossible, and are increasingly crucial in contemporary precision medicine.

A new article provides a genome-based roadmap to facilitate the selection of coral probiotics, also known as Beneficial Microbes for Corals (BMCs), and was just published in mSystems. Probiotics are starting to be investigated as a potential medicine for corals, marine animals that are threatened with extinction by the advance of climate change. Laboratory experiments have already proved the concept that coral probiotics mitigate coral bleaching and reduce coral mortality. This study now employed comparative genomics to identify exclusive BMC traits associated with specific probiotic strains and proposed new BMC mechanisms. The work was led by Prof Raquel Peixoto and her team from KAUST University at the Red Sea and received guidance on genomics of coral-associated bacteria from iBB/DBE researcher Dr Tina Keller-Costa.

Fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy are routine tools in basic and applied biological sciences. An expanding library of organic fluorophores and fluorescent proteins with radically different properties are available, offering great flexibility to the user of fluorescence methods. Still, a considerable fraction of casual users of fluorescence tools do not follow rational considerations when selecting a probe. In a recently published book chapter, Fábio Fernandes (iBB-BSIRG) and Maria Sarmento (IMM) provide an overview of the most important factors to weight when selecting a fluorophore. A list of different fluorophores and a summary of their properties and labeling strategies is presented as a tool to assist in the process of choosing a fluorescent probe.

Biosurfactants, particularly mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), have excellent biochemical properties and a wide range of potential applications. However, for use at an industrial level, it is necessary to develop more sustainable production processes, both in terms of the environment and economy. In this regard, the study “Production of mannosylerythritol lipids using oils from oleaginous microalgae: two sequential microorganism culture approach” led by 2BRG/iBB team, with Tiago Coelho, Miguel Nascimento, Nuno Faria, Frederico Fereira, together with LNEG team, Alberto Reis and Luísa Gouveia, was just published in Microorganisms journal. It reports, for the first time, the production of MELs using oils produced from microalgae. The bio-oil was extracted from Neochloris oleoabundans and evaluated for its use as a sole carbon source or as a co-substrate strategy, using D-glucose as an additional carbon source, on Moesziomyces spp. cultures to support cell growth and induce the production of MELs. Both M. antarcticus and M. aphidis were able to grow and produce MELs using algae-derived bio-oils as carbon sources and, interestingly, there were no significant differences in productivity when oils from microalgae or vegetable oils were used as carbon sources. These results provide new perspectives for the production of MELs in systems that combine different microorganisms.

Human adult stem cells and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells represent promising tools to understand human biology, development, and disease. Under a permissive environment, stem cell derivatives can self-organize and reconstruct their native environment, resulting in the creation of organ-like entities known as organoids. Although organoids represent a breakthrough in the stem cell field, there are still considerable shortcomings preventing their widespread use, namely their variability, limited function, and reductionist size. In this recently published review article in Trends in Biotechnology, Miguel Tenreiro (Ph.D. student in Bioengineering), Prof. Margarida Diogo, and co-authors from SCERG-iBB highlight emerging technologies to fill in the gaps in organoid design and provide insights on how they can be best utilized to fulfill the potential of organoids.

Join us at the 2023 British-Iberian Bioelectronics Workshop (BIBio-e) on the 17th of February of 2023 at the Pavilion of Knowledge of Lisbon to learn how!

This workshop will host top scientists from the UK and the Iberian Peninsula to share their work and address future challenges in bioelectronics with a session dedicated to early-career researchers. BIBio-e will also feature a session dedicated at elucidating a roadmap for our bilateral cooperation and competitiveness in this area to address major societal challenges. See the full program below!

Participation at this workshop is free of charge, however registration is required as attendance is limited to encourage interaction between participants. To attend and/or submit and abstract, click here.

BIBio-e is organised by Frankie Rawson (University of Nottingham) and Paola Sanjuan Alberte (Instituto Superior Tecnico) with the support of the BBSRC Bilateral Research Fund.

The December 16, 2022 Episode of 110 Stories | 110 Técnico objects is dedicated to Técnico’s first registered patent. That 1985´s  patent, entitled "PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NATURAL SPARKLING WINES BY MEANS OF IMMOBILIZED YEAST" also belongs to the history of iBB. Indeed, iBB is the current research unit of the excellent lineage originating from the Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering/CEBQ-Center of Biological and Chemical Engineering. The first author was Júlio Maggiolly Novais, the founding director of that IST research unit. The other IST authors were Isabel Sá-Correia, Joaquim S Cabral and Manuela Cadete. In addition to IST, there were two other applicants: Instituto Superior de Agronomia (co-author: Prof Virgílio Loureiro) and Caves Raposeira LDA.
In this episode of the podcast, two of the authors intervened and explained the objectives and innovation related to the patent. The innovation consisted of immobilizing (sequestering in in an agar-agar gel) the yeast cells that carry out the secondary alcoholic fermentation in the bottle, typical of champagne production (to create the typical "bubbles" of CO2 gas). The objective was to make unnecessary the manual rotation of sparkling wine bottles, for three weeks, to remove the yeasts which, when free, accumulate in high concentrations making the drink very cloudy. During the podcast, it was also recalled the bottling carried out at Caves da Raposeira, applying the methods developed at the Técnico's laboratory to the reality of sparkling wine production. 

Marine bacteria present enzymatic activities that result from extensive evolution necessary for cell survival under the harsh and continuously changing conditions found in the marine environment. Metagenomic techniques and cultivation of not-yet-cultured bacteria, combined with high-throughput screening techniques, have allowed the identification of new biocatalysts and the development of industrial processes. In a recently published paper, Carlos J.C. Rodrigues and Carla C.C.R. de Carvalho (iBB-2BRG) review the latest studies related to growth of marine bacteria under laboratorial conditions, screening techniques, and bioprocess development.

Ana M Melo participated as secondary proposer in the grant application of the COST Action: Non-globular proteins in the era of Machine Learning (ML4NGP). The action was recently funded and started in October 2022. Ana M Melo was selected to be part of the Management Committee and the first meeting already took place with decisions on the budget allocation/organization and future meetings. This COST-action is focused on non-globular proteins that comprise “intrinsically disordered regions, repeats, low-complexity sequences, aggregation-prone and phase-separating sequences, and are implicated in a range of age-related diseases”. The network combines both experimentalists and computational researchers.