Projects / Programmes
Marine and microbial biotechnology
January 1, 2022
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.06.00 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Biotechnology |
|
| 1.08.00 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Control and care of the environment |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.08 |
Engineering and Technology |
Environmental biotechnology
|
| 1.05 |
Natural Sciences |
Earth and related Environmental sciences |
Biotechnology; microbial biotechnology; marine environment; extreme environments; fungi, Actinobacteria; biofilms; bioinformatics; biomaterials; biodegradation; pollution; health and well-being; glycobiology; antimicrobials; biodiscovery; bioassay.
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 17, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
Data for ARIS tenders (
04.04.2019 – Programme tender,
archive
)
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
368 |
11,810 |
9,620 |
26.14 |
| Scopus |
376 |
13,792 |
11,423 |
30.38 |
Researchers (15)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
The Research Programme ""Marine and microbial biotechnology"" focuses on marine and extreme environments related to low water activity, which are largely unexplored, unexploited and undervalorized. Our vision is to become the regional leaders in marine and extreme biotechnology. To achieve this, we will connect research groups and stakeholders to form national and international collaboration networks tackling acute societal challenges, providing concrete new and innovative solutions, products, and processes. The unique basis for our achievements will be our ""4B approach"" (Biodiversity-Biofilms -Bioinformatics -Bioactivity): 1. Biodiversity: We will continue with our pioneering work on describing the microbial diversity of marine and associated extreme environments, both natural and anthropogenic. We will focus on fungi and Actinobacteria - two groups with the largest biotechnological potential. We have worked with extremophilic fungi for over two decades and will expand this work in the programme, while actinobacteria are significantly understudied on the national level. We will further develop isolation and culture conditions and store the discovered microbial species in the world's largest collection of extremophilic fungi Ex, which has been established and is managed by a member of the Programme team. 2. Biofilms: Microorganisms in biofilms become recalcitrant to treatment with disinfectants or antibiotics, thus causing problems in healthcare and industry. The Programme will be the first on the national level to study marine biofilm composition, formation and eradication. Biofilms will be valorized in these contexts: (i) eradication of unwanted biofouling and pathogen-containing biofilms by designing new antibiofilm strategies, (ii) use biofilms as a source of novel microorganisms, novel understandings of inter-organismal interactions and novel bioactive compounds with wide biotechnological potential. 3. Bioinformatics: Exploitation of the biotechnological potentials of studied microorganisms will be facilitated by an integrated approach of bioinformatics, biostatistics and chemical screening to provide protocols and pipelines for omics data analysis, data integration, statistical modelling, network analysis, effective visualizations and inclusion of physico-chemical traits into models for better interpretation of results and model-driven biodiscovery and sustainable biotechnological exploitation of natural resources. 4. Bioactivity: Using biomass and biomolecules from macro- and microorganisms we will identify new bioproducts helpful in tackling major societal challenges: improved health and well-being (including the urgent need for new antimicrobials), agrifood and farm to fork contribution, waste valorization to enable sustainable development and circular economy. We will particularly focus on enzymatic systems for biodegradation of recalcitrant anthropogenic pollutants, such as plastic polymers.
Significance for science
The ocean, seas and associated extreme environments cover more than 80% of the Earth's surface and still remain to be uncovered and valorized. These environments are not monotonous, but have a wide array of physical, chemical and biological variables. Through billions of years of evolution, organisms have adapted to survival in often extreme conditions with forms and functions that not only allow them to survive but also to thrive in these environments. Hence, marine and extreme environments and their organisms are increasingly being recognized as high potential areas that deserve investment to advance their biodiscovery and applications. Key societal challenges are demanding an increased investment into search for novel organisms and their products to provide novel alternatives and prototypes for mitigation of climate change impacts, provision of novel food and feed, new pharmaceuticals, mitigation measures for plastic pollution and other applications. With this in mind, the Research Programme ""Marine and microbial biotechnology"" is unique: we will focus on marine and extreme environments and the organisms with high biotechnological potentials therein. Our vision is to become the leading and connecting marine biotechnology group in the wider transnational area that will attract national and international collaboration networks to provide solutions for acute societal challenges and provide concrete solutions, products and processes. We will achieve this important goal with our ""4B approach"" (Biodiversity-Biofilms-Bioinformatics-Bioactivity): 1. Biodiversity: The microbial diversity of many marine and extreme habitats has never been systematically investigated before. We will be the first group in Slovenia focusing on microorganisms with highest biotechnological potential: Actinobacteria and fungi. The target of Actinobacteria is new, while on the same time we will continue with our pioneering work on describing the microbial diversity of natural and anthropogenic extreme environments. We will increase the number of microbial species stored in the world's largest extremophilic fungal collection, optimize cultivation conditions and provide a vast resource of biodiversity to relevant stakeholders. 2. Biofilms: The assembly of microorganisms into biofilm represents their survival and protection strategy. As such, biofilms represent a healthcare and industrial problem. Microorganisms in biofilms develop resistance mechanisms and become recalcitrant to treatment with disinfectants or resistance to antibiotics. Our team will pioneer the studies in biofilm composition, formation and dispersion. This knowledge insight will have two facets: (i) eradicate biofilms from surfaces (e.g., food-related or medical environments, ship hulls) and thus prevent the recurrent outbreaks due to persistence of opportunistic pathogens within biofilms, (ii) identification and utilization of bioactive molecules and biopolymers from biofilms (e.g., glycans and other extracellular polymeric substances, secondary metabolites). 3. Bioinformatics: Biotechnology expertise will be coupled with bioinformatics, biostatistics and chemistry to provide protocols and pipelines for omics data analysis, data integration, statistical modelling, network analysis, effective visualizations and inclusion of physico-chemical traits into models for better interpretation of results. 4. Bioactivity: Using biomass and biomolecules from macro- and microorganisms (also valorized from waste) we will identify novel bioactivities and their application in various industrial processes and in industries such as food, feed, health and well-being as well as finding solutions to reduce plastic pollution. Our 4B approach follows the underlying concept of finding answers to our challenges by discovery of solutions already created in nature. We envisage to establish new research directions, not yet advanced in Slovenia, namely marine biodiscovery, glycobiology and extremophile exploitation. Importantly, our Research Programme covers all the actions that have been proposed in the 2016 European marine biotechnology strategic research and innovation roadmap and includes: 1. Exploration of the marine (and associated extreme) environments to uncover their biological diversity and provide a source of novel compounds, activities and processes. Contribution to science: new biotechnologically relevant organisms, sampling protocols, biochemical evaluation, new bioassays, new biomolecules. 2. Biomass production and processing. We will focus on microbial biomass from biofilms and search for valorization of waste biomass. The latter will be valorized either through direct applications or through enzymes and processes originating from extremophilic microorganisms. Contribution to science: novel processes for contribution to circular economy and waste/pollution reduction. 3. Product innovation/differentiation. We will propose novel applications for compounds from organisms originating from marine and other extreme habitats. Target markets include marine origin proteins including enzymes, pigments in human and animal nutrition, antimicrobials, industrial use, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, personal care, the agrifood sector and others. Contribution to science: development of pre-processing and utilization pipelines based on marine and extremophilic organisms and compounds. 4. Enabling technologies and infrastructure. Research Programme members will maintain our excellent ongoing international collaborations. The programme leader is the chair of the first European network for marine biotechnology, organized within the COST Action Ocean4Biotech. Members of this network are committed to joint collaboration through staff exchanges, equipment share and participating in various international proposals preparation. Contribution to science: research publications, joint grant proposals, knowledge co-creation and implementation of international expertise in Slovenia.
Significance for the country
Importance for the development of science/profession The way applied science is conducted is rapidly changing and research teams are now incentivized to be resilient and address societal challenges such as health, well-being, climate change, agrifood supply, among others. To address them, research teams have to maintain their scientific excellence and invest in the development of innovative products and processes. Additionally, they are stimulated to search for novel organisms and their biomolecules that can significantly impact the pharmaceutical, food, feed or cosmetics industries. This demands the creation of novel research collaborations that specialize in the search of novel organisms and uncovering of their metabolic mechanisms, specifically by valorizing extreme environments as a valuable resource for biodiscovery. With this in mind, we assembled our Research Programme team to maintain a baseline of studies that provide a battery of knowledge, organisms, their biomolecules and confirmed bioactivities. Importantly, the unique position of marine biotechnology has been recognized by the policy making sector, presenting the vast, but yet unexploited potential of this field. Our research team that will specialize in marine biotechnology, will thus enable the establishment of this important scientific field in Slovenia. Impact on economic development Circular economy is a recent concept of a closed loop economic system, transitioning from the linear take-make-use-dispose model of production and consumption with a circular model where resources can be reused or (bio)degraded and re-incorporated back into the system (Kershaw et al., 2020, Trends Biotechnol.). Circular economy is a top-down recommendation, introduced in the EU as a high-level strategy to advance the economic growth (Leipold et al., 2018, J. Clean. Prod.). However, it has not yet reached the projected indicators of development in Europe. Hence, the investment into marine and microbial biotechnology concepts in line with the circular economy is an excellent opportunity to make a relevant impact. Use of organisms, technologies and processes that will be developed within the Research Programme can be implemented in many new value chains. This can provide significant boost for European bioeconomy. However, there is a communication and collaboration gap between the scientific community and the industrial sector, that is crucial for advancing in the technology readiness level. It is therefore critical to (i) understand the importance of establishing the collaboration and (ii) maintain this networking between the two sectors. The Research Programme team members will maintain the existing partnerships with the industry using a push-pull mechanism, guided by the most emerging societal challenges and the research with most promising results. The need to advance in the field of marine and microbial biotechnology is confirmed by a number of current global, European and national strategies that recommend investment into this exciting field. Globally, increase of research and innovation focusing on life under water can impact the UN sustainable development goals regarding food, health, innovation, economic growth and climate change. Moreover, year 2021 marks the start of the UN Decade of the Ocean Science that endorses sustainable development while safeguarding the ocean's resources. On the European level, marine biotechnology is a priority area in all newer European strategies, such as Bioeconomy Strategy, Blue Growth Strategy and the Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda within the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry. The Smart Specialisation and Blue biotechnology in Europe report, issued by DG MARE and JRC is of utmost relevance for Slovenia, which was selected as one of only three case studies. Nationally, the content covered by the research programme can be included in the Smart Specialization Strategy. Whenever possible, research programme team members will continue co-creating these strategies with national and European policy makers thus bridging the collaboration gap between research and governance communities. Impact on social and cultural development Marine biotechnology has a significant socioeconomic and environmental sustainability impact. 1. Food and feed. The global human population is increasing and is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050. Novel food and feed resources and their better production are urgently needed to satisfy the growing demand. 2. Health and well-being. The general life expectancy is increasing, which correlates with an increased demand for maintaining the quality of life. In the last 30 years, the marine and other extreme environments have increasingly become treasure troves for searching of new natural products. Our research will promote the OneHealth principle recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. 3. Pollution mitigation. The Research Programme will provide working alternatives to remove, reduce and replace (especially plastic) pollutants. 4. Ecosystem services. Besides the ecological role and as providers of novel biomass and biomolecules, the marine environment can provide cultural ecosystem services that include the interaction with scientific and general public communities (for education or entertainment purposes, such as cultural heritage or entertainment). 5. Members of the research programme, who are all experienced science communicators, organizers of public events and involved in academic mentoring and teaching will thus provide a constant transfer of knowledge to all levels of seniority and expertise. We will organize the first international marine biotechnology conference which will also become a platform for exchange of ideas and establishing new partnerships.
