Industrial biotechnology

As the central item of the Industrial Biotechnology program, we have chosen to use the metabolomics infrastructure present at TU Delft, TNO, NMC and DSM to study the influence of the extracellular metabolome on the intracellular metabolome and vice versa. As the yeast Saccharomyces is the most widely used microorganism in industrial biotechnology this has been chosen in both projects.

Theme leader

Substrate-dependent biosynthesis of taste and flavour compounds by saccharomyces cerevisiae during industrial fermentation

Baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is widely used in industrial biotechnology for the production of biofuels, chemicals, and ingredients for the food and feed industry. The production of yeast extracts from baker’s yeast herewith presents an important example. Those yeast extracts are widely being used to generate a ‘meaty’ taste and to strengthen taste in general. This plays an important role in reducing salt content in various foods, i.e. to prevent development of high blood pressure.

Unravelling substrate dynamics and identifying inhibitors in hydrolysates of lignocellulosic biomass by exometabolomics

Producing bioethanol using lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock has become the trend for biofuel production in the future. The lignocellulosic biomass is pretreated and hydrolyzed to generate hydrolysate, which is used as fermentation media for ethanol production. During the pretreatment step, inhibitory compounds are formed which affect the growth and ethanol production of microorganisms.