Improving bioreactor performance through metabolomics

Studentship strategic priority area: Bioenergy and Industrial Biotechnology
Keywords: Metabolomics, Industrial Biotechnology, mass spectrometry, fermentation, bioinformatics

Abstract:

Fermentation underpins modern industrial biotechnology, covering applications as diverse as fuels, medicine and materials science. Synthetic biology will open the door to wider and more effective applications of fermentation, but most fermentations are developed via trial and error: little regard is given to the metabolism of the organisms producing these valuable products, and if regard is given, it is primarily to a handful of parameters. Metabolomics provides the opportunity to obtain a global picture of metabolism, in a quantitative, time resolved manner.

In this project the application of metabolomics to fermentations will be explored. The bioprocess used will be developed in partnership with Ingenza Ltd: an engineered E. coli strain utilised in a batch process to produce succinic acid. Using a combination of techniques, including conventional untargeted hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and highly time resolved flow injection analysis of fermentation in real time (RTMet), biological inferences will be explored: evidence-led improvements to fermentation will be assessed. The potential for using regression and modelling techniques to present and extrapolate from data will also be explored.