Scientific activities Institute of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology

Research topics at the Institute of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology

Industrial Biochemistry

Biocatalysis

• Enzymes application in plant biomass conversion: optimization of various industrial by-products and wastes of plant origin enzymatic saccharificationconditions
• Characterization of hydrolysates and residues from hydrolysis in terms of chemical composition and usage in fermentation processes
• Application of enzymes in enantioselective conversion of chemical compounds
• Identification and quantification of selected chemical compounds, e.g. glucose and other monosaccharides, alcohols and organic acids using specific enzymatic tests

Biotransformations

• Biosynthesis of various microbial enzymes, including glycoside hydrolases (cellulases, pectinases, chitosanases, amylases), triacylglycerol lipases and proteases in submerged and solid statecultures
• Production of enzymatic preparations, including immobilization of enzymes and cells
• Interactions of microbial enzymes with carbon nanotubes and graphene
• Optimization of conditions of agri-foodwastes (containing carbohydrates, fats and proteins) enzymatic conversion into value-added products
• Biotransformationsin non-aqueous media using immobilized biocatalysts (cells and enzymes)
• Biosynthesis and conversions of lipid substances
• Biotransformations of chitosan into industriallyusefulcompounds

Bioremediation

• Brown coal biosolubilization
• Bioremediation of soil contaminated with crude oil-based products (diesel oil, transformer oil, pyrolysis oil, fractions derived by crude oil distillation)
• Innovative bioremediation technologies (enzyme preparations, sorbents, biosurfactants)
• Monitoring of bioremediation processes based on biochemical and physicochemical parameters
• Biodegradation of waste materials (rubber)
• Isolation, screening and application in bioremediation of endophytes
• Biodegradation of biodiesel

Molecular biotechnology

Taxonomic identification of microorganisms on the basis of molecular biology techniques

• Finding homologous sequences of DNA and phylogenetic trees creation

Recombinant DNA technology in vitro

• Isolation and analysis of nucleic acids ofdifferent origins (plasmid, chromosomal and metagenomic DNA and RNA of microorganisms)
• Microbial gene libraries construction
• PCR and sequencing
• Restriction analysis of DNA fragments, performing restriction maps
• Expression of recombinant DNA  in bacteria and yeast

Bioinformatic analysis of the DNA sequence of entire microbial genomes

• Assembly of contigs from short sequences, scaffolding
• Comperative genomics
• Sequence genome annotation through homology of known sequences, discovery of new genes

Proteomics

• Analysis of the protein profiles of wild-type microorganisms and their mutants using two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D)
• Identification of differentiating proteins using appropriate computer software, e.g. PDQueast

Protein engineering

• Selection and analysis of mutations in the target protein on the basis of sequence alignments and structural alignments with template proteins,
• Application of protein engineering methods in enzyme design(directed evolution, site-directed and site-saturation mutagenesis)
• Application of homologous modelling and in silico docking in protein design

Bacterial nanocellulose

Application and molecular aspects of biosynthesis

• The mechanism of Gluconacetobacter  xylinus motility and its influence on bionanocellulose structure
• The Gluconacetobacter  xylinus bionanocellulose synthesis mechanism and its regulation (genetic and bioinformatics studies)
• Identification of Gluconacetobacter xylinus genes involved in bionanocellulose biosynthesis
• Expression, purification and characterization of  Gluconacetobacter xylinus selected proteins
• Bionanocellulose biosynthesis intensification and structure modification in termsof novel biomedical and industrial applications 

Proteomics/Structural biology

• Structural studies of biologically active compounds  for the medical or biotechnological purposes – biomolecules crystallization, crystallographic studies of native proteins and their complexes with ligands as well as peptides and synthetic small molecules
• Crystal structure determination basing on diffraction experiment performed on monocrystals
• Protein-ligand interaction analysis, e.g. enzyme-inhibitor, antibody-ligand, protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid
• Crystallographic studies for determination of protein structures that are potential therapeutic targets
• Determining properties of the biotechnologically useful proteins basing on structural data
• Usage of crystallography and solid state NMR as complementary techniques in structural studies of biomolecules
• The development of crystallographic methods: optimization of crystallization process,   synchrotron measurements, and derivative technique for measuring protein with MAD and SAD procedures

Biochemistry of food and nutrigenomics

• Characteristics of raw materials and industrial fruit and vegetable products in terms of qualitative and quantitative contents of vitamins, plant dyes, amino acids, organic acids and polyphenolic compounds
• Defining of antioxidative activity of standard substances and antioxidative potential of food in vitro (ABTS, DPPH, FRAP, TBAR’s)
• Assessment of food ingredients stability under conditions of in vitro simulated digestion
• Assessment of polyphenolic compounds and digestive enzymes interactions
• Characteristics of pro-health activity of vegetable and fruit ingredients (polyphenols, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, terpenes) and synthetic compounds in vitro (cell cultures) with special focus to metabolic syndrome and other diseases of affluence
• Assessment of cytotoxicity, efficiency and molecular basics of activity of chemotherapeutics against various cancer cell lines
• Performance of biocompatibility test in terms of cell toxicity in vitro
• Studies on methods promoting neovascularization within chronic wounds – the therapeutic angiogenesis

The Institute of Technical Biochemistry Collection of Microorganisms 

Contact: Aneta Białkowska, PhD. (aneta.bialkowska@p.lodz.pl; tel. +48 42 631 34 29)