Competencies
The microbiology platform develops metabolic engineering approaches of bacterial strains for the production of oligo- and polysaccharides. To date, the platform disposes of more than 200 strains producing various structures: oligosaccharides from breast milk, blood group antigens, etc. and continues to develop new ones with the scientific collaboration of the Chemistry and Biotechnology of Oligosaccharides team.
Its activity is based on a set of competences in the field of biotechnologies:
- -Molecular biology: construction of expression vectors, genomic inactivation;
- -Microbiology: high cell density culture of microorganisms (mainly Escherichia coli but also Pichia Pastoris and Bacillus subtilis);
- Purification and characterization of biomolecules (oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and proteins).
The platform expertise, coupled with the CERMAV environment, allows the development of the metabolic pathway necessary for the bacterial production of a specific target: The pathway building by molecular biology techniques, the culture of the developed strain at high cell density, the purification and characterization of the product formed.
The platform projects can be of different levels:
- Obtaining a molecule from an existing strain, in the framework of research collaborations or services;
- Metabolic engineering for the construction of new oligo- and polysaccharide-producing strains, with the collaboration of the Chemistry and Biotechnology of Oligosaccharides team;
- Methodological developments in microbiology.
Equipment
The microbiology platform is composed of 6 bioreactors:
- Two 500 mL bioreactors Infors®
- Four 3 L bioreactors: two Applikon® and two GPCBio®
- A 7 L bioreactors compatible with Applikon® system.
The platform is also equipped with standard molecular biology equipment (PCR thermocycler, electrophoresis system, etc.) and microbiology equipment (laminar flow hood, autoclave, incubators, etc.).
Access
This platform is open to the scientific community (academic laboratories and companies) in the framework of collaborative programs or services.
Contact
Emeline Richard Millot, head of the platform, 04 76 03 76 93, Bernard Priem, scientific manager, 04 76 03 76 48.
