Production of functional bacterial cellulose by a circular biotechnological platform
Why
In the last decades natural polymers or biopolymers, produced from natural sources (plants, animals, microorganisms) and biodegradable, have gained popularity.
Cellulose, the most abundant polymer on earth, is attracting attention because of its excellent physical and chemical properties, being also sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable.
Cellulose has long been produced from plant sources, where it is often mixed with other polymers as lignin, hemicellulose, or pectin.
An appealing alternative is bacterial cellulose (BC). BC is synthesized in high amount by some bacterial species (such as Komagataeibacter sucrofermentas), sharing the same chemical composition to plant-derived cellulose while being characterized by higher purity and superior physico-chemical and mechanical properties.
What
The aim of FUN CLUB project is to develop novel BC-based functional materials for various applications by exploiting a full biotechnological platform.
This project is a collaboration with Dr. Francesca Berini and the microbial biotechnology group from Università degli Studi INSUBRIA Varese-Como.
Immacolata Serra is the PI of the project and is leading the work packages dedicated to the enzymatic synthesis of modified building blocks and to the production of functionalized bacterial cellulose, characterization and exploitation.
How
To achieve the project’s goals, a sustainable, green, and circular pipeline will be employed.
This pipeline will utilize residual biomasses as sources of building blocks for bacterial cellulose (BC), enzymes to selectively modify these building blocks, and BC-producing bacteria to assemble these modified building blocks into a functionalized biopolymer.
As a proof-of-concept, the resulting modified BC will be used to support enzyme immobilization.
Who
Researchers involved in the project
Immacolata Serra (PI) – Martina Dramis – Claudio Dona’
This project has received funding from PRIN 2022 PNRR – D.D. n. 1409 of 14/09/2024 MUR CODE: P20229H3P9
