Strain Engineering

SCREENING / MICROBIOLOGY

Equipped with state-of-the-art automated liquid handling systems and multi-mode microplate readers, we design, develop and implement a wide variety of miniaturized cellular and biochemical assays to query the extracts or microbial strains in NPL for bioactive compounds, enzymes or strains with functional properties suitable for various industrial applications. Our in silico structure-function modelling approach further enables screening in a more targeted fashion. Once a lead substance or strain has been identified, we use bioinformatics tools to uncover new producers of target compounds, new compound analogues or strains with similar biochemical properties through chemical screening and genome mining.

METABOLIC / PROTEIN ENGINEERING

We develop and apply synthetic biology and metabolic engineering approaches for the engineering of biological systems, at the protein, biosynthetic pathway, and production host levels to address challenges in nutrition, healthcare and biobased chemicals production. Our tools and platforms aim to deliver better technological solutions for biocatalysis and microbial cell factory development.

INTEGRATED BIOFOUNDRY (SPARROW)

While scientists can perform project tasks manually, the biofoundry completes them faster and more efficiently, thanks to its precision and lack of human error. The automated processes allow scientists to focus on other tasks while the biofoundry operates independently, significantly increasing overall lab productivity.

For example, the Strain Engineering department has completed numerous projects where there was a need to generate around 2000 enzyme variants. If done manually, each project cycle would cost a month of the scientists’ precious time and hard work.

However, thanks to the biofoundry automating these processes for them, the scientists now have multiple extra months to work on other important projects.