Industrial Biotech, SynBio, Yeasts, And Outreach | Stefano Bertacchi

What’s the revolution of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering in Industrial Biotech?

Welcome to the latest episode of The Biotech Futurist, where we drive around the fascinating field of industrial biotechnology. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Stefano Bertacchi, a passionate researcher and EU bioeconomy ambassador. Stefano shares with us his journey, from his interest in microorganisms and yeasts to his current research in industrial biotechnology.

Stefano introduces us to the main themes, goals, and research directions in the field of industrial biotechnology. We explore the biotech story behind everyday products that we tend to forget about and the contribution of biorefineries to sustainable and circular economies. We delve into lignocellulosic biomasses, which are interesting in a bioeconomy setting as a preferred feedstock for biorefineries. Stefano explains the concepts of separate hydrolysis and fermentation and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, their timing, and the useful products that can be obtained.

We learn about bioreactors, their workings, and examples of Stefano's favorite microorganisms deployed by biorefineries. Stefano shares how they are discovered, optimized, engineered, and evolved, and the difference between adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) and directed evolution. We discuss the microbial synthesis of organic acids as a key example of industrial biotech processes, evaluating different substrates, and building a new industrial biotechnology, taking into account the value chain, downstream purification, and testing small batches in academia.

Stefano also shares his views on the emerging and revolutionary role of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. We explore Stefano's everyday life as a researcher in industrial biotech and his role as an EU bioeconomy ambassador and public figure in science outreach in Italy. Stefano finally shows us the power of memes for science communication.

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