UPsYDe · Understanding and Postponing Yeast Death to Improve Production

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

Yeasts are model organisms for eukaryal cell biology studies but are also used to sustainably produce a large variety of compounds. Although unicellular, death spares no one and yeast can undergo regulated cell death (RCD) in response to a wide variety of intra and extracellular signals. In industrial processes, the occurrence of yeast RCD negatively impacts yields and production rates. How yeast cells die under these conditions is however hardly studied nor understood. UPsYDe aims to decipher how yeast cells die under industrial conditions and engineer RCD pathways to postpone cell death and improve production, while simultaneously training the 13 doctoral candidates needed to tackle this kind of challenges. This requires a synergetic approach combining fundamental cell biology, bioprocess engineering, yeast physiology, and systems and synthetic biology. Four different yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Komagataella phaffii, Yarrowia lipolytica and Debaryomyces hansenii, will be studied and engineered in a consortium of 7 beneficiaries and 15 associated partners varying from start-up companies to major biotechnology industries. This consortium offers all the expertise and methodology needed and provides the DCs with a highly diverse, multidisciplinary and intersectorial training plan across Europe. Expected outcomes are novel (rapid) screening techniques to detect cell death phenotypes on site, advanced genome-scale metabolic models, improved yeast strains and more sustainable and profitable yeast bioprocesses. In addition, UPsYDe will deliver the next-generation scientists capable of integrating different knowledge fields to lead the full transition to a sustainable bioeconomy, in academia or industry.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenCoordinatorNetherlands
• ACIB GMBH · GrazAustria
• ACIES BIO BIOTEHNOLOSKE RAZISKAVE IN RAZVOJ DOO · LjubljanaSlovenia
• AIO TECH OU · TallinnEstonia
• BIOINGENIUM SL · BarcelonaSpain
• CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB · GoteborgSweden
• Cambrium GmbH · BerlinGermany
• DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · Kongens LyngbyDenmark
• DSM FOOD SPECIALTIES BV · DelftNetherlands
• IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE · LondonUnited Kingdom
• INTERNATIONAL IBERIAN NANOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY · BragaPortugal
• KONINKLIJKE COOPERATIE COSUN UA · BredaNetherlands
• LANTANA BIO · ToulouseFrance
• LESAFFRE INTERNATIONAL · MARCQ EN BAROEULFrance
• Mycolever GmbH · RheinbachGermany
• NOVO NORDISK A/S · BagsvaerdDenmark
• Octarine Bio ApS · CopenhagenDenmark
• Syconium Lactic Acid GmbH · ViennaAustria
• UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO · BragaPortugal
• UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS · Campinas SpBrazil
• UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS · Belo Horizonte Minas GeraisBrazil
• UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA · MilanoItaly
• UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN · WienAustria

Links

• View on CORDIS