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H2020Staff exchange2018–2023

PREMIUM · Preservation of microorganisms by understanding the protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2018-01-01 → 2023-06-30
EU contribution
€634,500
Participants
9
Scheme
MSCA-RISE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.

Results in brief

Preservation of microorganisms by understanding the protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a family of micro-organisms widely used for producing fermented foods. The market of concentrated cultures (starters) is continuously growing due to the development of novel health products (probiotics) and the LAB’s ability to use plant proteins as fermentation substrate and convert by-products for green chemistry applications. The manufacturing of starters requires successive operations that generate stress, potential cellular damage, and loss of functionality, especially following the stabilisation processes: freezing, freeze-drying, or spray drying. Furthermore, the involved operations are usually energy-intensive and result in some negative impacts on the environment. The aim of PREMIUM was to completely revisit LAB preservation processes to offer innovative alternatives benefitting companies and Society by considering three main dimensions: product quality, process efficiency and environmental impact. PREMIUM activities targeted the understanding of LAB preservation mechanisms by oligosaccharides as a promising way for proposing different and more sustainable stabilisation processes relevant to industry and, more generally, for biodiversity preservation. During the project we improved existing methods for producing oligosaccharides and stabilised bacteria. We also developed new ones, such as hydrolysis processes for producing oligosaccharides and layer-by-layer encapsulation for protecting LAB. We also progressed in understanding the mechanisms of protection/degradation of bacteria and in the transfer of knowledge and methods to improve the preservation of other cells (namely, mammalian cells). Moreover, we acquired better knowledge of the effect of protective molecules and the production process (particularly on stabilisation steps) on the environmental impacts, and we were able to propose some guidelines for reducing impacts.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Microorganisms offer a large variety of functionalities that remains under-exploited due to the current inability to perform long term preservation at an industrial scale. PREMIUM project is a four-year multidisciplinary project involving a consortium of 5 academic partners from 5 European countries (France, Spain and Portugal) and 1 from third country (Argentina) and 3 industrial partners (France, United Kingdom and Spain). The project aims at developing new strategies to preserve lactic acid bacteria from laboratory to industrial scale. The innovative approaches of the project lay on: i) producing oligosaccharides of original composition for protecting cells; ii) developing novel preservation process based on encapsulation and evaluating the environmental impact of the whole system of production and stabilization of micro-organisms from the laboratory step iii) developing high-throughput characterization and screening tools such as vibrational spectroscopy. A multicriteria analysis approach will be developed to identify the most promising strategies for industrial eco-friendly preservation of micro-organisms. PREMIUM project involves 8 Workpackages (WP): WP1 is dedicated to project coordination and management. WP2 focuses on the production and characterization of a wide range of oligosaccharides. WP3 investigates and optimises new process technologies for preserving lactic acid bacteria. WP4 studies the mechanisms of bacteria preservation by oligosaccharides for defining the relevant composition and structure of oligosaccharides. WP5 focus on the scale up of processes, application to other cells and transfer of technologies to industry. The other WPs are dedicated to communication, networking and outreach activities (WP6), dissemination and exploitation of the results (WP7), ethics requirements (WP8).

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT · ParisCoordinatorFrance
  • ASYMPTOTE LIMITED · CAMBRIDGEUnited Kingdom
  • BIOSEARCH S.A. · GranadaSpain
  • CLOCK-T · NantesCity levelFrance
  • CONSEJO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS Y TECNICAS (CONICET) · Buenos AiresArgentina
  • FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE CIENCIES FOTONIQUES · CastelldefelsSpain
  • INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES ET INDUSTRIES DU VIVANT ET DE L'ENVIRONNEMENT - AGROPARISTECH · PalaiseauFrance
  • UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA · CoimbraPortugal
  • Universidade da Madeira · FunchalPortugal

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union