2008 Projects

Title: Smart small-scale devices: systems for controlled delivery of bioactive molecules, cell expansion and for sensing cell environment

Starting Date: 01-04-2009
Expected Completion Date: 31-03-2012

Principal Investigator: Ana Isabel Nobre Martins Aguiar de Oliveira Ricardo

Institutions/Research Centers involved:

REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT/UNL)

Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico (IBB/IST/UTL)

Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil (IPOFG)

MIT

Hospital involved: Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil (IPOFG) under collaboration with Professor Manuel Abecasis

Companies involved: Hovione and ECBio

URL:www.dq.fct.unl.pt/scf/projects.htm

Keywords: smart materials, controlled delivery, ex-vivo cell expansion, cell sensing beads

Abstract:

In this project, different hydrogel-based smart small-scale systems will be developed (i) for in vivo drug delivery (smart microporous particles); (ii) for ex vivo cell expansion (3D matrices or scaffolds); and (iii) for monitorization of cell environment (bioactive beads).

Title: Structural and functional study of the proteins mediating electron transfer between microorganisms and solid substrates with relevance for bio-energy production

Starting Date: 1/6/2009

Expected Completion Date: 31/5/2011

Principal Investigator:Ricardo O. Louro

Institutions/Research Centers involved: ITQB-UNL, FCT-UNL

Companies involved: EDP Inovação

See the video of PI Ricardo Louro describing the project on the science program Falar Global (in Portuguese)

Abstract:

The demands of energy by society must be met by a portfolio of sources that reduce the current reliance on fossil fuels. It has been argued that microorganisms, and in particular microorganisms growing in unusual habitats can help provide a solution to this problem.

The recent genomic efforts to characterize a wide variety of microorganisms have revealed that some bacteria display a metabolic versatility that may be harnessed for bioengineering purposes. Anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria have been notorious for decades because they can use the excess reducing power provided by sunlight to generate hydrogen. More recently some of these organisms were shown to be able to use metallic compounds such as iron ores in sediments, as a source of electrons to sustain their anaerobic photosynthetic activity. This opens the possibility to develop solar powered microbial fuel cells.

Bacteria belonging to the class of photosynthetic purple alpha-proteobacteria are capable of using iron oxides as electron sources for anaerobic photosynthesis. However, the key proteins in this process have not been characterized, which is a major obstacle to the development of practical applications of these organisms. One of the team members identified the operons in the bacterial species Rhodopseudomonas paluatris and Rhodobacter strain SW2 that are responsible for electron uptake when growing photoautotrophically.