R&D in Microbiology

Biotechnology is one of the key factors of the revolution in knowledge-based economy.  The progress of the biotechnological research improves new scientific disciplines, provides answers and generates applications with multiple socio-economical impacts. Research in this field is a very important activity for the success of any plan to improve the health of citizens, to revitalize agricultural and food production technologies, energy production, sustainable development, conservation and environmental improvement.

The technological revolution is allowing, on the one hand, the fast exchange of knowledge, and on the other, thanks to contacts with other sciences, to transfer research results into directly transferable applications to the use of society and industry. In this sense, BIOT group has developed different lines of research and development:

• Line 1. Biotechnology for health.
  - Discovery and development of new drugs.
  - Development of cellular and animal models, in vitro and in vivo, for physiopathological studies.
  

• Line 2. Agricultural and food biotechnology.
  - Production of functional foods and nutraceuticals.
  - Nutrition and disease prevention.
  - Industrial Fermentations.
  - Biomolecules from microorganisms for food preservation.

• Line 3. Industrial biotechnology.
  - Improvement of microbial strains and selection processes for biotransformation and bioproduction.
  - Development of enzymatic and microbial processes for the production of biodegradable polymers.
  - Synthetic biology for recycling, decontamination or production of biomaterials.

• Line 4. Development of bioenergy and biofuels.
  - The use of microbial systems for power generation.
  - Development and optimization of new species for the efficient production of bioenergy.
  - Revaluation of products and by-products for the generation of biofuels.

• Line 5. Environmental biotechnology.
  - Bioremediation of soil, water, waste and pollutants.