OMIC-Engine, the National Research Infrastructure on Synthetic Biology, coordinated by the University of Thessaly, dives into the world of Metabolic Engineering.
In our second Webinar, titled “Tailoring Pseudomonas putida for optimal functioning in industrial biocatalysis”, held on Thursday 28th of November 2020, OMIC-Engine welcomes Christos Batianis, PhD candidate at the Laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology of the Wageningen University.
Metabolic engineering is the science of rewiring the metabolism of cells to enhance production of target metabolites. The potential applications of such efforts are wide ranging, including the production of biofuels, foods/feeds, and pharmaceuticals. However, transforming cells into efficient factories is a challenging and costly process, requiring advanced tools such in silico metabolic models, gene editing methodologies as well as robotics. Here, we will discuss the principles and current challenges of metabolic engineering, focusing on how organisms can be engineered for industrial level production of specific chemicals. The examples to be discussed are related to the bacterium, Pseudomonas putida.
Christos Batianis received his BSc degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Thessaly, Larissa, while in 2014 moved to the Netherlands to work in the Research and Development (R&D) department of the multinational company, Danone. At that time, his research was focused on the analytical characterization of the human milk composition, where he had the opportunity to explore the field of analytical chemistry. In 2015, he returned to Thessaloniki for postgraduate studies at the Department Biology of the Aristotle University, attending the MSc in Applied Biotechnology. For his MSc thesis, Christos returned to the Netherlands to join the lab of Systems and Synthetic Biology (SSB) at the Wageningen University. Through his 8-month project, he came across the field of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, focusing on the model-driven metabolic design of ‘industrially-friendly’ Pseudomonas putida strains. After graduating, he was hired by the SSB lab as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Vitor Martin dos Santos. His PhD is focused on the à la Carte metabolic design of P. putida strains with desire characteristics for industry, while his main specializations are related to genetic engineering, DNA design and pathway engineering.
Thursday 28th of January at 16:00 PM EEST we will have the opportunity to meet the world of Metabolic Engineering.
You can register here.
Learn more about the Laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology here, follow Christos Batianis on Twitter by using @ChrisBatianis or contact him by e-mail christos.batianis@wur.nl.