Universiteit Van Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) will participate in ENGICOIN via the research group of Molecular Microbial Physiology of the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS-MMP) led by Filipe Branco dos Santos. This group combines advanced expertise on both modelling and experimental physiology of cyanobacteria, with its application to the development of photosynthetic cell factories capable of converting CO2 directly into products of interest (e.g. lactic acid).
It aims to integrate knowledge on the biochemical and biophysical properties of signal transduction and metabolic networks that regulate and underlie fermentation, respiration and oxygenic photosynthesis, with physiological strategies for survival and growth.
Team role and expertise in the project:
UvA will have a primary role in WP4 in the metabolic engineering of the Synechocystis (MF1). There it will be responsible for engineering and screening lactate-overproducing strains and along with increasing its product tolerance, for instance, using laboratory evolution approaches. UvA has pioneered the production of lactate directly from CO2. More recently, UvA has also been using laboratory evolution to improve industrial traits .
UvA will also have a major role in WP9 on the metabolic modelling of Synechocystis to ensure high-level production of lactate.
