Descripció del projecte
BACKGROUND
Plastic pollution is a pandemic and growing problem 1. Most of the plastic is provided by petrochemical industry, very little is recycled, and the majority is accumulated in landfill, incinerated, or contaminate natural environments. The emergency of the situation pushed the European commission to adopt strategies to replace conventional plastic by biodegradable bioplastic to reduce plastic waste level by 2030 2. In recent years, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic has emerged as a promising sustainable alternative to fuel-derived plastics as both have similar chemical proprieties 3,4. This polymer is naturally synthetized by some bacteria as a reserve of carbon and energy. VEnvirotech is developing a biotechnological solution that use a mixed microbial culture to transform industrial waste into PHA biodegradable bioplastic. This circular economy process is particularly challenging as VEnvirotech seeks to own highly efficient bacterial mixed adapted to each industrial organic waste to valorize. Insight and improvement of microbial mixed is one turning point to the success of VEnvirotech mission.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The doctoral project aims to design bacterial consortia of “Super PHA-producer strains” highly adapted to a specific industrial residue. The thesis will be developed in collaboration with Eurecat Technology Centre of Catalonia which has a long-standing experience in genetic and multi-omics sciences, bringing a unique value to the project. The PhD student will be enrolled in the doctoral program of “microbiology” at the UAB and will perform its research activities at both, VEnvirotech and Eurecat installations.
